Archangel's Amazing Adventures
by CSS.Stravag
Summary: Mass Crossover fic. Chapter 38 UP! Powerful magic draws the Archangel and the ZAFT Creuset Team into a world of magic and intrigue like nothing imagined by the straight-laced CE residents. Their battles on Cephiro are only the beginning of their nightmarish journey as they give Odysseus a run for his money in the 'bizarre trip home' category...
1. Archangel Of Cephiro?

(Story Title: Archangel's Accidental Adventure)

Note to SEED fans: I use a combination of the manga spelling and the anime spelling, so bear with me, please.

This has NOTHING to do with my other fanfic work, the Jokers Wild series. Well, I should throw in the qualifier "yet" b/c I might have to throw a plot device or two in, or even as an ending. The latter might be a little weird, rest assured.

This story will be a long one. I have a lot of ideas for where to inflict the cast of Gundam SEED. Be afraid. I have taken a hammering for elements in Jokers Wild before, and I am not afraid of criticism. (Note: the 'rules' do not change when crossing dimensions, but the status of the 'game' does. Think of it as two football matches held on adjacent fields. If you watched one to halftime then went to the next, you would expect the teams and scores to be different, but not the conduct of the game, ne?)

GENERAL DECLARATIONS (These apply to all sections, and other declarations may be added in the chapters)

Stravag does not own any part of the Gundam franchise. If I did, you could rest assured GSD would have been a lot bloodier than it was. Not quite as bad as Zeta, but close (har har har). And Stella probably would have survived (not Shin, though), and…

Also note that Stravag does not own any part of any other included works. I intend no offense or copyright challenge to any included works, I'm just tossing things together in a semi-logical fashion here…

Writing note: numbers in parentheses, like this: (0) mean check the footnote for something else I think goes along with the thought. Could be informative, could be humorous, or both.

BAAAAAD LANGUAGE WARNING: Much as in real life, there will be foul language in some sections. Even the best of us let fly a four-letter word when really pissed off, startled, or else. Not to mention that Yzak has a very foul temper and a rather excellent grasp of invective. You can expect Yzak to be the lead scorekeeper in shady language, with Dearka and Athrun a distant second and third respectively.

VIOLENCE WARNING: It is fairly safe to say, regardless of this being a magical mystery tour crossover, or as a direct cause thereto, there shall be an amazing amount of violence. Get used to the thought. Expect strange conclusions to some fights, and expectable conclusions to others.

RELATIONSHIP WARNING: I may normally be fairly light on this subject in my writing, since more of my focus is on the political and military dimensions of the conflict at hand, but in this case there is no political dimension and only some military dimension. Expect to see some canon pairings, some non-canon pairings, and some very, very strange pairings. Fate does weird things to those it favors.

ANTI-POLITICAL-CORRECTNESS WARNING: To strive to be politically correct serves no purpose, for real life makes no such distinction. I will not do so. Death before dishonor. End of story. Please don't ask me to explain this one.

FLAY WARNING: 'nuff said.

And NEG, THERE IS NO CHARACTER BASHING IN THIS STORY! PERIOD! Every character is entitled to some props even if their only purpose in the story is the classic image of deus ex machina. AND THERE WILL BE NO SLASH IN THIS STORY UNLESS IT IS CANON TO THE SERIES IN QUESTION!

And now, on with the story!

* * *

(Phase 01: Archangel of Cephiro?

In the lands of short, inconclusive, and very bloody battles, one nation stood mostly above it all. Their choice to help the _Archangel_ was as much a double-sided coin, however, as they profited in help given by Kira Yamato to Morgenroete. Yet, as is their operational orders, it came time for the _Archangel_ to depart, and they did so with escort from a full fleet of Aube.

The bulk of the crew believed the ruse was working, as they broke away from the Aube fleet they would be lost in the din as they headed northward for Alaska. Kira knew this was a joke, knew that Athrun knew they had been in Aube, and knew that they would be waiting with bared fangs about two minutes after they were clear from the Aube lines. Thus, he was down in the pilot's dressing room, getting suited up for the battle to come.

The pilot's suit was the perfect symbol of the dichotomy that had become his life, for it was with this suit on he was a pilot in a war he wanted nothing to do with. Worse, he was fighting with his so-declared genetic enemies against his best friend and his friends. Though he could trace a direct line of events that had led to this miserable fate, for not the first or the last Kira had to ask himself: _why am I doing this_?

The answer was simple enough. He had friends on this ship, friends that would assuredly not survive if he did not act.

That did not make the answer right, nor did it make the necessity of the answer right. Kira was hoping his backhanded plea to Athrun, made across a security fence at Morgenroete, would quell the upcoming battle and yet the stiff, almost cold response he had received told him otherwise. Athrun would attack, and with him the three other stolen machines.

Kira grabbed up the helmet, crammed it on, and locked it down. If Athrun would not back down, Kira had no choice but to continue the battle, until someone stopped or someone died.

A miserable fate it truly was.

-x-x-x-

Military-grade cat-shots (1) were always unsettling; right down to his bowels it rattled them, but discipline and training covered the feeling well. The feeling of getting a vertical cat-shot was worse, however, as it forced your body down at the same time it roiled one's guts. Such is the life of those who have to go out and do the really strange jobs, however. They don't normally send four ZAFT 'reds' (the really elite pilots) out to fight one ship and one Mobile Suit; that counted as overkill. Well, strictly speaking, this warship needed the overkill; they took down everything in their path, from the Morassim Team to the Waltfeld Team to even the Creuset team, and just kept going, all the way to the point that ZAFT command thought the only way to stop them was with the best.

And that is where Athrun came in. His Gundam now clear of the _Vosgulov_-class carrier sub, he landed on the Guul and set in a course for the _Archangel_, which was south and slightly east of the sub. It did not take more than ten seconds for the rest of his unit to form up, even though they all technically held the same rank (and only Nicol paid any real attention to his commands). They were four knights, basically, not really a team in the sense that they should be. That fact alone, Athrun figured, would cost them dearly since the Strike and the ship worked very well together.

"The Legged Ship goes down today."

"Yzak, Dearka, Nicol, target the ship. I'll draw off the Strike and take him down."

"Yeah, yeah."

"Got it."

"Roger that. Good luck, Athrun," Nicol says as he dives down to just above the surface of the ocean.

"_Archangel_, ahead at 12 kilometers. Here we go!" Just as Dearka was locking together his paired weapons to use them as a sniper rifle, the sight of the four barrels of the _Archangel_'s main guns, the Gottfried beam cannons, locked on to them. "Great."

The transit of the four 225-cm beams roiled the air around them, causing a slight buffet as they spread out. The captain did not seem intent on relent today, as a second and a third burst of the cannons came their way, aimed at first pairs and then individual machines (Buster and Duel). The other weapons fire, mainly the Valiants and the Igelstellungs was a bit uneven, alternately wide by a hellish margin and close enough to slightly worry them.

Aegis, Blitz, and Buster moved right, Duel went left, and began firing at their best available ranges for their weapons. The greatest hazard came from the Blitz and the Buster, who focused solely on the _Archangel_; the Duel, despite their 'commander's' orders, was still after the Strike and its amazing pilot. The Aegis was hunting the Strike exclusively, to the point of ignoring the _Archangel_ almost completely.

They found him the hard way. The Launcher Strike was hiding on the rear deck of the ship, unmoving, unflinching until the first of them crossed his sights, and then he fired. Agni spoke, and the Guul under the Blitz fragmented into two chunks after the fuel tank blew out. Belying his usual nature, Nicol was determined to make an issue of the battle, and instead of taking the fall he fired the rocket anchor toward the radar array on the _Archangel_; when latched on he reeled himself in with the assistance of his main jets.

"There you are, Strike! Your ass is mine!" Yzak shouts as he draws a beam saber and charges in.

_Please help us! Please save Cephiro! O, Legendary Magic Knights!_

"What…what the hell was that?" Dearka asks, as he drifts in closer to the _Archangel_ inadvertently. He had heard it, but he could tell only his mind had heard it, not through his ears. In fact, the activity from the Strike and the Archangel had paused, which…meant they had heard it as well?

To the persons in and around the _Archangel_, the whole of the world went white, bright white, as if they were looking in the general direction of a nuclear weapon. Athrun's last thought was about his mother, and how she had died from the same weapon.

-x-x-x-

"Unhh…well, that was good. What the hell did I do wrong?" Yzak had the sense of mind to look around his cockpit before making any form of assumption, and came to a conclusion that maybe the Fates did not like him. The droning of his power gauge told him that he was down in reserves, not even enough to power his beam rifle or Phase Shift. The front monitor was obstructed by his Earth Alliance pilot's manual, which was so grossly obtuse that he wondered why he still had it. The systems in his cockpit did not seem to have taken any damage. Lastly, he checked himself for any injuries and came up zero.

It was not until he looked through the side monitors that he asked the inevitable question: "What the hell?"

They had been out above the seas, with nary a speck of land in sight, when they assaulted the _Archangel_. Right now, Yzak's machine was hanging over the starboard tail binder of the _Archangel_, balanced rather precariously at its waist. His beam rifle / grenade launcher combo were on the ground, about five meters off the right foot of the Blitz, which was laid out flat just about directly below him. Solid ground converted into a barren crater with the impact of the _Archangel_.

There was no activity whatsoever around them. There were trees aplenty, some birds in the distance, but that was it. Nothing of real note moving anywhere. Yzak again asked himself _what the hell_, this time in the confines of his own mind, as he carefully moved his Gundam's right arm to grab a hold on one of the missile tubes. Just that much movement caused his suit to groan in reply, as it began sliding forward over the inside of the tail binder. The result was inevitable, and rather embarrassing for the elitist: his Gundam slid forward and hit the ground from twenty meters up, giving him a rather massive jarring as he hit the ground.

That much activity seemed to have roused Nicol, whose Gundam shot up and looked around immediately in a half-mad panic. It only took ten seconds, by Yzak's watch: "What the hell?" Followed quickly by: "Yzak, where's Dearka and Athrun?"

"Beats me," Yzak says simply. "Any other dumb questions to ask?"

"Lay off, Yzak." Athrun replies. "We've got bigger problems than dumb questions. And where exactly _is_ Dearka?"

"Wait a second…" Nicol says, then walks back to the engine housing of the warship. "Well, here's the forearm of his Buster."

"Really?" Yzak says, now standing near the engine nacelles himself. It was obvious after a few moments that the forearm was indeed still attached to the Gundam in question. "Well, talk about getting sat on by the fat bitch at the party. Now what?"

"How the hell should I know?" Athrun says, suddenly looking over the back deck of the _Archangel_ down at the remnant of his team. "I mean, we don't have the firepower now to take out the _Archangel_, and where the hell are we?"

"I still have my Lancer Darts and Gleipnir. I can cause some damage to it."

There was one element that they were forgetting, until Athrun looked down and left with his Gundam and saw it just beginning to move. "Where…where are we? Huh?" The Strike looks up to the back deck of the _Archangel_, standing about thirty meters off the outside of the starboard Tail Binder. "Athrun? What're you doing up there? How'd that—huh? What the hell's going on?"

"I'm beginning to believe that is the official question of the day," Athrun notes drolly. "And not far behind is: now what?"

"Well, it's obvious we are not where we were when we started trading shots." Nicol says. "Man, I feel sorry for Dearka, having a massive warship land on your Gundam just has to feel bad."

"Damn you Strike!" Yzak hadn't even gone for his beam rifle, since it was obvious it would be useless, but instead ran toward the Strike and was intending on punching its head clean off.

Yzak made one small miscalculation, even when confused Kira was still an incredibly dangerous foe. Before the Duel was within five paces of the Strike, Kira ejected the Launcher pack, pulled the Armor Schneider knives, and braced for it. The impact was loud and sparking, but in the end the Strike was the one standing, the Armor Schneider blades having been rammed into the sides of the Duel and upward, missing the cockpit but not the power relays that were already almost drained.

"Yzak, knock it off! This is not the time nor the conditions for a battle!" The Aegis shifts its viewpoint: "Kira, stop it! This battle is meaningless!"

"Athrun, you coward!"

"Shut up and think, Yzak! Not one of our machines has power. The amount of working weapons we have can be counted on one hand. We're nowhere near any support we might have had. Even if we win, we still lose."

The Duel finally stopped struggling against the lack of power and landed with a thud, the cockpit blowing open on emergency power. The pilot stormed out and threw his helmet down, bouncing it off the hip plates of his machine. "Damn you Strike! Come down here and fight me man to man!"

"That's…just plain wrong." Kira says, dumbfounded at the obtuseness of the enemy Duel pilot.

"Yzak, for the last time, shut the hell up!" Athrun shouts as he lands the Aegis next to the downed Duel. "Kira, enough." The warning hand toward the Strike was unnecessary, but pro forma.

"I **am** through, Athrun. It's your friend that's got the attitude problem, not me." The Strike was pointing right at Yzak, which gave a significant comedic element to it: their CO and their mortal enemy agreeing on the fact that one of ZAFT's best has an attitude problem.

"Kira?" Nicol asks. "You know him." Not a question, but a solid declaration, and not a pleasant one for all it was calm.

"Yes, I know him." The completely level tone of voice Athrun used was creepy to both Nicol and Yzak. "I have known him for years. Kira Yamato; he's a naïve crybaby coordinator, and I don't have a frigging clue why he's on this ship, but none of that means a damn thing right now."

"Why? He's still an enemy," Nicol says deadpan.

"Because I don't think anyone around here gives two shits about the Earth Alliance **OR** ZAFT. That is, if there is anyone around here." The Aegis was looking around still, though the nature of the forest they had cratered in had not changed.

"What?" From Dearka, who's exposed Mobile Suit hand had finally begun flinching.

"Listen. There are no carrier signals for anyone: ZAFT, Alliance, Aube, East Asia, everything is silent (2). No civilian band radio or television. No electronic noise of any kind. Even out in the middle of nowhere we should still be able to pick up something from the satellites."

"He's right." Kira says. "The Earth Alliance satellite relay and SOSUS relay are dead. Nothing." Kira gets an idea. "_Archangel_ CIC, this is Strike, are you receiving anything?"

"Negative, Strike. All we are hearing is your machine and the four ZAFT Gundams," Captain Ramius replies after a few moments. "We can't see the Carpentaria or Alaska navigation beacons, either."

"Where the hell are we? And why can't I see anything out of my cameras?" Dearka asks.

"Uh, right now, Dearka, you're **under** the _Archangel_," Athrun says deadpan.

"Oh, no, I did not hear that right."

"He isn't lying, Dearka." Yzak says into a survival radio. No longer pissed off, Yzak was now sounding incredibly grave. "We've failed. For fair. And we're lost." He collapses to both knees. "Oh, this is so humiliating! Too humiliating for words!"

"Oh, the drama." Kira could have sworn it was Tolle that had said it; Miriallia had a good snicker over it, but the less expected of the reactions was from the other three ZAFT pilots, who were laughing riotously for reasons varying between them.

"This is not funny, guys!" Yzak fairly cries out.

"This, no. You, certainly." Athrun says.

"What the hell is that supposed to mean, Zala?" Yzak asks far too aggressively for someone whose Gundam was useless right now.

"You're worried about winning or losing in a land where winning or losing as we know it probably doesn't mean shit as far as we can prove. Now, are you through, Yzak?" Athrun says incredibly testily; Kira could tell his patience was wearing very thin.

"No, you coward! I'm not through! Not until that damn Strike pilot is dead!"

"Athrun, just turn him into a greasy spot on the ground. Even I'm starting to get annoyed." Dearka blurts out after a moment. How such would be done was obvious, of course.

"Damn it Athrun! How many of our friends, our comrades have we lost because of the Strike? That warship!"

"Don't remind me, damnit!" Athrun shouts back. "Until we know where we are and how badly we're screwed, we don't have a choice but to—"

"But to _what_, Athrun? Ask **them** for help? Are you fucking nuts? We're ZAFT SOLDIERS!" Yzak shouts.

"If it comes down to that, I would rather be an alive _temporary_ defector than a dead ZAFT soldier." Athrun says quietly. "I'll never forgive the Naturals for Junius Seven, but I know for a fact this ship had nothing to do with that."

"Man, both of you shit up!" Dearka fairly shouts after listening to them arguing.

"Shit up?" Nicol asks.

"The mechanics of that might be rough…huh? What the hell is that?" Athrun asks, now pointing into the sky at distance. The magnifiers were switched on, though Yzak had to grab a pair of binoculars to check it.

"Oh…my…it's a…a Nightmare!" Yzak fairly shouts after about ten seconds.

"A what?" Someone on the bridge of the _Archangel_ asks.

"A Nightmare. It's folklore, the exact opposite of a Unicorn. An incredibly evil horse."

"The lady on it doesn't look all that friendly either." Nicol notes.

"Yzak, are you sure you think that's…whatever the hell it is, right?"

"Well, this day's gone to hell." Kira says. "Flying evil horses, the _Archangel_ in a crater, and we're all lost. Is anything else going to go wrong?"

"Don't say that, Strike, this is very serious business. We're all seeing it, so it has to be real, right?" Yzak says, more to convince himself than anything else. "This had better not be some damn Earth Alliance trick!"

"It's new to us," Captain Ramius notes coldly.

"Great," Nicol says; "is this thing going to be a threat?"

"I don't really want to find out," Yzak declares; "even being a prisoner to the Earth Alliance is preferable to that."

"Talk about a change of attitude," Miriallia declares on the open channel.

"Hey, uh, guys, not to sound too pathetic about this, but can someone come up with a way to get me out from under the _Archangel_ without destroying what's left of my Gundam?" Dearka asks fairly calmly. "I mean, not that I have a frigging clue about the flying horse, but my Gun Launcher doesn't need power to shoot, so it might help here if it gets hostile…"

"Captain?" Kira asks.

"And why should we show any solicitude to a ZAFT unit?" Natarle asks.

"There are soldiers, and then there are soldiers," Nicol notes with a dose of dejection.

"What the hell is that supposed to mean?" Yzak asks, though not in his usual 'pissed-off-and-enjoying-it' fashion.

"What? Is it that hard to figure out?" Nicol asks in retort. "You have soldiers like Athrun, the Strike, probably the Captain of the _Archangel_ as well. THEY understand that on the other side of your sights is a human. Then there's you, and that last officer in the Archangel; those who only see targets, and often don't give a shit if the target is civilian or not."

"What was that you fucking coward?" Yzak shouts fairly loudly into his radio.

"Enough! All of you! Shut up!" Athrun shouts uncharacteristically; Kira could tell he was royally pissed off right now. "_Archangel_, can you at least allow the pilot of the Buster out? We'll leave the Buster and the Duel here, and Blitz and I shall leave. Call it a temporary cease-fire."

"Helm, activate the levitator, no engine power." Captain Ramius says.

The ship was still powering itself up, but there was enough power in the accumulator to activate the levitator. With it juiced and released, the ship raised up six meters from the ground and was gliding gracefully over the crater surface. After a few moments, the cockpit of the Buster blows open on explosive bolts designed for emergency release, and Dearka stumbles out of the cockpit with almost no grace.

"Yzak, Dearka, get your supplies and come on. Do not self-destruct your machines."

"What? Why?"

"Call it a gut feeling." Athrun says. "Well, come on already."

It only took two minutes for the two remaining ZAFT Gundams to disappear into the very heavy rain forest they had found themselves in. Without a parting word, Athrun had disappeared into the new, woolly world that the _Archangel_ had found itself in by accident. The whole matter was beyond bizarre, since Athrun had ordered them not to destroy the Gundams, and they had left without trying anything seriously violent. It was as if Athrun _wanted_ the _Archangel_ to take upon themselves the two Gundams, both of which were in no condition to fight.

-x-x-x-

"Stranger'n hell, really." Murdoch told Mu and Murrue. "Other than the knives the kid put in the sides of the Duel, the damage is mostly armor. The thing's got me, though, why'd they leave 'em?"

"You know the Aegis pilot, right, Kira?" Murrue asks plaintively. The intent of the question was about as obvious as a coal pile on the launch deck, of course: she was testing him as well as asking a legit question.

"Yeah, but this only partially makes sense," Kira muses. "If he thought we'd use them against him, he'd've blown them up. I think he wanted us to pick them up."

"Why?" Mu asks. "Doesn't make much sense since they're now in Earth Alliance hands."

"And where exactly is the Earth Alliance, relative to us?" Kira asks. "I think Athrun had it right: we're no longer somewhere where we can get to the Earth Alliance or ZAFT. We may be on our own." He looks to the Duel Assault Shroud, a unit he had fought hard more than a few times. It had expended its rail gun and missiles fairly quickly, and even fired its grenade launcher at the Archangel. The nature of the battle was absurd but unavoidable, but now they had no cause to fight. "Even if they won, they lost."

"Huh?" Murdoch asks.

"If they had killed the ship, then what? They're still stranded in wherever we are, no source of power for their—that's it! That's what Athrun picked up from that blown out maintenance storage!"

"You saw it too?" Mu asks. "Looked like a wire coil."

"Yeah, he's going to power his two working Gundams with that."

"How?" Murrue was now confused.

"Athrun is the mechanical tinkerer from hell. He made Birdie for me, actually, years before the war broke out." The said bird had just perched on the shoulder of his flight suit. "He can use that wire to build his own electrical generator, using wind or a river. It'll be weak and unconditioned power, but it should work."

"Right, the batteries in these things don't give a shit what you feed them so long as it has amps behind it." Murdoch was grimacing. "Unless he builds a real good generator and has a raging river to power it, it'll take days to charge it."

"And that highlights our own situation." Mu says. "What applies to them applies to us as well. We're cut off from our supply lines until further notice, so we're going to run out of critical supplies and parts sooner rather than later."

"Well, we have enough parts and ammo for the Strike to sortie a couple dozen times, and I can probably jury-rig it after that, but it won't last forever," Murdoch notes after a moment.

"What about the Duel and the Buster? Can you rig one of them so I can pilot it with the M1 Operating System?" Mu asks after his latest attack of the 'clevers'. He did get them every now and again…

"I can, but it'd take some serious modification. The Astray units are more like the Strike than anything else." Kira scratches his head idly. "And they both need some serious repairs." The actual damage to the Buster was armor-level only, but the Duel would take some serious repairs before it could move on its own. "That is an interesting thought, though. If we could field all three, we'd have little problem with, well…come to think of it, I don't know if we have any actual enemies here and now."

"And the Aegis?"

"No." Kira's definitive answer had them all quite stunned. "We may spit and growl like pissed-off tomcats, but neither of us wants this war. We only fight because it seems logical, but in the end, is it?"

"I'm beginning to wonder the same thing." Murrue blurts out.

Flay had entered the bay, seeing now the two forms of the former ZAFT Gundams and just looked. They were three machines, the Strike, the Buster, and the Duel, the three 'heavy hitters' of the five Gundams. Fate would never really give them a straight look at the advance of the GAT-X Series Gundams, but what they held now had some serious firepower. She knew she was not capable of piloting the Strike; she wondered if one of the other two were less complicated…

-x-x-x-

The whole concern of finding somewhere to set up the generator was not a small one, and this whole plan was on the far side of hair-brained. In the end, however, even the most cynical of the four had come to believe that if anyone could set up a makeshift camp and power station, it was them.

"Damn, another light stream." Athrun says.

"Looking from here, the next one looks like it has some power to it." Nicol says over loudspeaker. They were using audible communication because it left no electronic trace that the _Archangel_ could hear.

"Okay, Athrun, I can't take it any more. Why'd you order us not to destroy the Gundams?"

"They'll repair and rearm the machines for us. Then we take 'em back," Athrun says coldly, "and use 'em on them."

"So all that shit about winning not mattering was just that, right?" Dearka asks from the small storage space behind the command couch of the Blitz.

"No. Victory doesn't matter here, at least as far as ZAFT is concerned. The fact is, we're outside the influence of either ZAFT or the Alliance, so live or die doesn't matter because they are already neutralized. But that doesn't mean I am going to pass up the opportunity to sink the _Archangel_."

"And your friend?" Nicol asks as Athrun jumps over the small stream.

The answer took a few seconds. "To hell with him. I've given him a dozen chances to defect, and he threw them all back at me. He goes down with the _Archangel_."

"Easy enough."

"Not even close, Nicol." Athrun cautions as he begins the overland trudge toward the next river. "Kira is an exceptional Coordinator among us. He may be a space case, but if he sets his mind to something, it's over. Never underestimate him."

"Clear, Athrun."

They moved in silence until they got to the next river, which was an actual river instead of something attempting to pass for a slow creek.

"This should do." Athrun stops the Aegis and looks around. "All right, Dearka, Yzak, start in on the trees. Nicol, you can manage the existing supplies and begin unwrapping the wire. I'm going to look for something that passes for dinner."

"Should I use the Blitz to kick some trees over?" Nicol asks, looking around at the area where Athrun was planning the small camp for them.

"Yeah, then begin the rest. Might as well make the machines do the hard stuff. Yzak, use Aegis to help knock down and strip down some trees, but don't damage the hand plugs (3)."

"Got it. And if you bring back lettuce for dinner, I'll step on you with your own Gundam."

"All right, all right, you win." Athrun chuckles as he zip-lines down to the ground. He had his survival pack with him, including the folding knife he went everywhere with and a heavier survival knife. The most important of the tools he had, however, was the ZAFT BHP .357 (Basic Heavy Pistol, .357 Magnum), and that could be used to bring down a deer when used right. The thirty-caliber sub-machinegun he also had was a weapon he wanted to save for those situations that called for taking someone down in one shot.

The area was…serene. Not just calm, not even quiet, it was the total absence of everything except the wildlife. Athrun knew there was some area on Earth like this, but not as much as he had seen in the six hours since he blacked out and sure as hell not in the middle of the Pacific Ocean. Then there was the consideration that if he really was on earth he'd definitely have run into some form of civilization by now. Or been shot at by the Earth Alliance (only in passing did he consider them 'civilization'). Except, there was nothing, no evidence anywhere of anything even remotely like where he wanted to be. He wanted to be home, with Lacus, devoid of the war and able to devote his all to his love. Sadly, he was beginning to think he would never see her again; he had no idea if he could ever get home, or how he got away from there to begin with, at least outside of the whole philosophical issue of the war.

He only had to move about 600 meters from the campsite to find a good candidate for dinner. The range was about sixty meters, so he lined up on the target by bracing against a very large tree. Given that there was a crosswind from his right and the range of the shot, he put the sights just partially above the center of its head and about two inches behind the center. The sound of the safety coming off was incredibly loud to Athrun but did not alert the target.

The echoes of the bird calls, startled to action and flight by the single gunshot, seemed louder and a whole lot longer than the shot. The pistol went back in holster and Athrun approached the deer, which was still breathing shallow. The slug had transited its head just behind the eye, and since he was bound by military convention he was using a full metal jacket slug that exited the far side of the target's head. It hit the ground immediately and moved not a whit again, even as he approached it and holstered his pistol.

Field dressing a deer or animal was something he had learned in survival school, and it was a complex task that he had done with his trusty folding curved-blade knife. That done, he moved to the stream and cleaned his gear off so he did not look like a serial murderer in a pilot suit, and on the way back he grabbed up some sticks he would need to transport 'dinner' to the campsite. With the two branches he had, and numerous smaller ones in the area, he created a flat-bed pallet that he could drag along the ground to transport the deer. Beat the hell out of trying to carry it back.

"Damn, Athrun, already?" Yzak asks as he strips down yet another tree; there were many logs lined up and awaiting the pilots cutting into them to build what they would need.

"No sweat." Athrun dumps the pallet and signals for Yzak to come over and help him finish preparing the deer.

"You know, Athrun, a generator requires a magnet. You have one?" Nicol asks as he kneels his Gundam down and opens the cockpit.

"Yeah. My Gundam has four Beam Sabers, and each one has a powerful magnet in it. I think I'll use the two feet sabers' magnets to do the job."

"Oh, wow," Nicol sounded like he was awed. "I totally forgot about that!"

"Easy enough, once you think about it." Athrun shrugs as his survival knife begins slicing into the deer, cutting off chunks suitable for proper cooking. "I can use strips of armor for the coil housing, and that spool of wire I picked up is going to be triple more than we need to build the generator and cables to the Gundams. And then, after we charge up, I put the magnets back in the legs and we go kick ass."

"And how fast is this supposed to work?" Dearka wasn't all that convinced about this plan…

Athrun stops to think, his knife in mid-slash. "No real clue. Could take hours, could take days. Haven't done the math yet."

"That's a lot better than the alternative." Nicol was now crowded around 'dinner' along with the other pilots. It looked pretty bad, but indeed it beat the hell out of the alternative. It did taste pretty good, though, after it was cooked.

* * *

Author's notes:

If you're not afraid yet, check your pulse. You may be dead.

In all seriousness, though, this is a significant departure from my norm. And so far I am seriously enjoying the experience. Writing in such a fashion that I don't use a certain common thread (read: my prior writing works, most of which'll probably never get finished) is refreshing and motivating. After writing in this one, I probably get about triple the home improvement stuff done :P

So far, I have a good idea on how I am going to do the continuing adventures in this world, and yes it will include both seasons, so the lament will be lengthy. Then, well, I dunno, and even if I did, I would not spoil the surprise. It may crossover with a crossover, I dunno yet.

As to the actual element of how they got there to begin with, well, let's just say Princess Emeraude was a bit more powerful than she thought she was…

Next: Mud monsters, meetings, and someone gets killed, so brace yourself!

(Reviews welcome. Flames are amusing, especially how badly someone can misinterpret or read too far into your writings.)

* * *

Footnotes:

Catapult Shots, the present-day carrier term for the Linear Catapults used by ZAFT, Aube, and the Earth Alliance.

Carrier signals are typically used in establish-link communications instead of best-effort communications. Think of a carrier signal in terms of a telephone conversation: when you pick up and dial a number, you are establishing a carrier signal and logical path to the number you dialed.

Hand Plugs are the way a Mobile Suit interconnects with devices to trade power, data, and commands. They are not strictly speaking fragile devices, but they can be damaged.


	2. The Expert of the Most Wrong Subject

(Phase 02: The Expert of the Most Wrong Subject)

* * *

A/N: This is where the 'FLAY WARNING' takes hold. Be warned.

* * *

Kira had written a simulation mode into the OS he modified from the Strike to run the Buster and Duel. As a result, Tolle and Mu were now in the Buster and Duel, training diligently against simulations of ZAFT's GINN units, and were faring about normal for greenhorns; their units would not take damage from normal ZAFT weapons, but by the same token they weren't all that good at aiming yet. Wholly 80 percent of their shots missed right off the bat, but at the end of their first day of training Kira could see an improvement. Not enough to challenge the Aegis, granted, but an improvement. 

The _Archangel_ had not moved more than ten meters from its initial impact point, since the Strike was not in any position to fight for now; it was basically down for a full charging and a maintenance inspection, which would take ten more hours. The process could be interrupted and in as little as five minutes the Strike could be battle-ready, but Kira got the feeling that would not be needed. So far, there was no sign of an actual enemy anywhere within the sensor range of the _Archangel_, and no sign of humans anywhere.

Out of respect for the original users, Kira had made copious copies of the original OS modules for the Buster and Duel. Of particular note to him was the long-range targeting arrays used for the Buster, and how the system handed off telemetry and fire commands to the Buster's weapons. He had to admit that the way the Buster's pilot had written the array communication protocols were better than how he had set up for the Agni, but not fast enough for general use with the Strike Beam Rifle. The Duel OS was gravy, efficient and lean because it needed be no other; the Buster had long-range battles to contend with, and the Strike had variable mission equipment to use, which meant the latter two were more complex than the Duel. Kira could tell the demarc, though, where Yzak had written the original OS and then added system control modifications and module add-ons for the Full Armor systems. The rail gun and missile pods, plus the extra armor, would be a bit of a challenge for Mu but not insurmountable, and when he got used to it would be incredibly useful in a close-in fight.

Kira was resting in the cafeteria and not doing much of anything right now. And regardless of how he looked at it, sometimes he just needed to stare at a glass of water to clear his mind and rest. It was in this reverie that he was found; he was so spaced out at the time that she approached that he didn't notice until she sat down next to him.

"Kira, I—"

"Wah!" Kira looked to Flay like she had just shot at him. "What the—how—why'd you do that?"

"Oh please," Flay grumped, "It's not like I tried sneaking up on you!" If Flay could act more indignant about it, Kira could not figure out how offhand (with the possible exception of a violent reaction). "Are you going to listen to me or not?"

"Yeah, I will, I will—"

"Good!" She grabs his left wrist and fairly hauls him out of the bench seat. "Come on, follow me."

"Flay—hold on!" Kira brings them both to a jerking stop a corridor and change later, which causes Flay to bounce back and into his side. "What is this about?"

"I—well—I—I just wanted to tell you that—well, I'm sorry for what happened at Morgenroete. And, well, I—"

"Flay, it's not a problem. You were feeling confused and lonely, and I was too busy with work to know better."

"Oh." Flay was expecting to get ripped for trying to make up, but again she realized that Kira was a bit of a softy… "Well, I was wondering…"

"Huh?" Kira was flat-out dumbfounded by her request. "You want to learn how to fly a Skygrasper? Why?"

"Because—well, everyone else is doing something, but I'm not! At least not doing anything for the ship."

"Oh. Flay, you don't have to worry about that, there's a lot of things you can do on the ship without having to worry about fighting."

"Kira, but—"

"Flay, you should never have to fight. You should leave that to the rest of us." An idea hit Kira fairly fast: "Look, I have an idea. I overheard some of the crewmen talking about setting up scavenging teams for local resources—food, water, that kind of stuff. You could join one of them."

"But—"

"He's right, Flay." From behind Flay, the voice had startled both of them.

"Captain?" Kira asks.

"I was just about to ask you to join one of the scavenging parties," Captain Ramius notes to the younger lady in the corridor. "Kira, how long before the Strike is back up and ready?"

"Murdoch and crew are going over it with a microscope," Kira says in a very droll tone. "They'll be at it for another ten hours or so."

"Why? We just did full maintenance on it at Morgenroete."

"They want to be sure. If we get into a battle, I can take it out immediately." His tone told his opinion of that very acutely. There would be no battle, this place was peaceful. It was sad, in Kira's opinion, that he just couldn't step out and inspect the place. He was military now, and bound by it.

For her part, Flay could not understand why they would want the Skygraspers unused for now. She could fight as well as any of them.

-x-x-x-

If ever a case of stir-crazy, Yzak was proving to be a case study in it. After the shelters were built and the generator set up, he had completely gone mad with boredom. Dearka and Nicol had been heard debating if they wanted to try confiscating his knives, at least until he had begun whittling with the knives. That tasking at least got him out of the rest of their hair, so they could begin planning how to retake the other two Gundams. It would not be simple, since they were likely inside the _Archangel_ right now, and that ship would not be easy to get into on the best of days…or easier on the worst?

"We should wait until it rains." Nicol says. "The rain would give us immense cover and concealment. I can use a Lancer Dart to blow into the _Archangel_'s hangar, and you guys can get in and get to the Gundams."

"Then we blow our way out of the ship. Literally." Yzak seemed rather amused about that thought, though Athrun could guess that the insides of the hangar deck would be heavily reinforced, just as were those on the _Nazca_-class ships. The reinforced bulkheads were designed to keep a MS from crashing through into the innards of a ship if it was out of control. It was possible that the bulkheads on the _Archangel_ would be Phase Shift to really prevent a crash incident.

"Part of me doesn't think this is going to work, but…" Dearka was looking over their modeling on the ground. They would attack from two directions at once, to draw the enemy FCS in two different directions. Nicol would approach the ship using the Mirage Colloid, fire one Lancer Dart into the port-side catapult, and literally carry Dearka and Yzak up to the hole he made in their catapult. That done, Nicol (in theory) would provide fire support with what is left of his Igelstellung ammo, then proceed to conduct a main close-in assault against the _Archangel_. The two pilots would reclaim their Gundams, and cut their way out of the belly of the beast in the most violent of fashion possible, then proceed to finish sinking the _Archangel_ and make sure the Strike is destroyed.

The whole premise of taking down this ship was bothering Athrun more than even Dearka's semi-defeatist bleating. Something was nagging at his sense of the unusual here…

"You feel that?" Yzak asks in a most uncharacteristic fashion: civil and calm.

"You do as well?" Nicol asks. "Feels like something is watching us."

"Great. We're all getting creeped out."

"Screw this, I'm taking a walk." More like his usual self; Athrun decided that Yzak was still feeling stressed out about losing and being nowhere near where they wanted to be (the PLANTs, for starters).

"You can come with me, we'll go get another deer for dinner."

"Fine." Yzak checks to make sure he still had his survival knife and pistol. It would be a fateful check.

-x-x-x-

A rain forest their environs definitely were.

A week had passed, and this was the second heavy squall they had suffered. Raincoats had been issued to the scavenge teams, to keep them from getting too wet in the line of duty (1). That much of one of Mu's crazy ideas had coughed up beautifully; what perishable foodstuffs had been consumed in the first week had been replaced, at the cost of turning part of the hangar area into a chicken coop. Granted, a live chicken was about the last thing you would expect to see on an Earth Alliance warship, but when you had to do something, you had to do something. End of story.

In mirror to Kira's friend's plan, Kira had set up a large industrial-grade water turbine generator using a spare beam guide magnet from one of the Gottfried cannons and some S-4 power cable (what was used to feed the Valiant Linear Guns, very heavy-duty power conductor). With the power he managed to work out of that assembly the ship was using almost no engine to power itself, which means its fuel would last longer. In principle, they had no choice but to conserve everything they have and can't get a hold on readily, since they might be…here…for quite a long time.

Wherever the hell 'here' is, that is. Nobody had a clue in any direction, other than the lands were amazingly beautiful.

"Newman, Natarle, you two have command of the scavenging crews. Six hours. Arnold, team one, Natarle on two." Murrue preferred that they did not operate open-ended, since that left a possibility that they might not realize the crew was missing.

"Understood. Restrictions?"

"None." Murrue had also come to the conclusion that she wanted this one done right the first time. That meant that if they were in danger, they shot first, file the paperwork later. Her personnel were finite; she was not going to chance losing them, period.

"We'll be moving in ten minutes, ma'am."

"Mr. Chandra, you have—" Murrue begins, but is cut off by the officer she was preparing to hand off to:

"Captain, I have some activity to port."

"On screen." It shows up on the main screen. "What…the hell is that thing?"

"Uh, a Cyclops, I guess?" It stood about six meters tall, barely mid-thigh on the Strike, had one big eye and was carrying a small tree. After a few moments, it walks up to the side of the _Archangel_ and begins banging on the side of it just below the third port-side upper Igelstellung. The sound of that tree bouncing off the armor was enough to echo throughout the ship.

The bridge was eerily silent, except for the ringing of the bangs on the hull. "Captain, what should we do?" Natarle asks.

"Aim port-side Valiant. Do not hit the side of the ship."

"Port-side Valiant, lock open." Natarle says rather coldly. "Aim rearward, deploy barrel. Precharge."

"Valiant charged." Chandra replies automatically.

"Fire." The sound of the Valiant firing was typical, but the effect was surreal. The slug transited its torso without hesitation, and in doing so it imparted so much energy (it is a rail gun with a _very_ big slug, a 1.1-meter barrel width and double the velocity of a typical chemical cannon) that the body of their assailant literally blew to a combination of bloody chunks and bloody strips. It took seconds for the dust and blood cloud to settle, and on inspection from the Valiant's cannon camera, they could tell the port side of the ship would need some serious cleaning.

"Well, it _was_ the only weapon we had to use on him…" Mu sounded like he was trying to convince himself more than anything else.

"Disgusting," Miriallia notes with a tone that echoed her comment.

"Tolle and I will break out power-washers and clean that off." Mu says as he heads out of the bridge.

"Chandra, you have the…bridge…" Murrue did not move out any faster than normal, but Sai and Miriallia could tell she was severely disgusted with the net effect of having to defend her ship…against that thing.

-x-x-x-

"Not bad, Athrun, one shot." Yzak actually sounded impressed, which was not something Athrun expected.

Athrun did not comment immediately, since his training was mostly for combat purposes, and he really did not want to be here, shooting deer. He wanted to be home, with his fiancée. Preferably kissing his fiancée.

"Well, just doing what we have to do."

A minute later: "It's still breathing? I'll finish—"

"Hold on! Don't shoot twice. It's dead anyways." Athrun pulls his survival knife and gives it a neat butchering job, slicing the neck on the far side of the deer so as to keep most of the blood off his pilot suit. "Never shoot twice, the enemy will know right where you are."

"Huh. I guess that makes sense." Yzak pauses. "Except, who's our enemy today?"

"Is that supposed to be a smartass question or not?" Athrun asks a bit more testily than he intended.

"What? That was on the level, Zala." Back to his usual tone and vehemence, which made Athrun regret his retort.

"Sorry. I'm starting to get stressed out."

It was fifteen silent seconds before either said anything. "We all are."

"Huh?"

"We're all stressed out. We're God-only-knows how far away from Carpentaria, we're out of ammo for our Gundams, two of our machines have been captured by the enemy, we're living off deer meat and lettuce, there's something wrong with this whole damned situation, and I feel like I'm being watched right now. This is creepy."

"Somebody likes us." Athrun says. "Just over my left shoulder. Don't stare, but check."

"I don't know what you're talking about, I can't see anything." Like a pro, however, Yzak was smart enough to speak low, to prevent the person or persons from hearing.

"Check, but use peripheral vision." Athrun makes a few cuts to help drain the deer of its remaining blood.

It only took a few seconds. "Okay, I have them. Three, one with glasses, just watching on the other side of those bushes."

**Crunch, Crunch**. Athrun and Yzak were both quick to look at the source of the sound. For all that Yzak had hobby (and almost fanatical) interest in mystical superstition and combat, Yzak had only a passing thought about what he was looking at and he did not like what he was looking at instinctively.

"What the hell is that thing?"

"It ain't friendly!" Yzak shouts and draws his pistol rapidly. As he took aim the safety came off and his sights centered on the…whateverthehellitis thing's forehead. After each shot he could distinctly hear the girls behind and to his right (now that he was facing the monster) scream; the pistol he had was a 10mm pistol, not a small piece by most rights. And something gave both the ZAFT pilots the impression they had little exposure to firearms.

The net result of the two shots almost caused Yzak to shit a brick. The monster hesitated; after a few moments it made something resembling a hocking sound, and then spit the slugs out. One of them landed next to Yzak's leg, mushroomed but with part of the rifling marks still visible (2). "Aww, fuck, now what?"

"Over here!" One of the Girls was standing and waving to them. Athrun figured they didn't have time to argue about the mechanics—politics—military protocol (pick your angle) of the matter, and snap-decided to go for it.

"Yzak, move your ass! This way!" Athrun was already partway there when the monster tried stomping on Yzak, though all it accomplished was flattening the dead deer. It took them both twelve seconds to get to the brush where the three were hiding.

"What the hell is that thing?" Yzak fairly shouts, a combination of anger and shock to voice.

"It's a monster made out of mud," from the one with the glasses; she had an arrow nocked and fired it square into the center of its head. Yzak was genuinely surprised that someone that mousy was a good shot with a bow; Athrun figured it took _all_ types on this wild and wooly world…

"It'll drown in water! Is there a pond nearby?" The one with the red gems on her armor asks.

"Huh?" Yzak asks in response to the girl that looked about five, six years younger than he did despite the sword and armor.

"A river, two hundred meters behind us." Athrun hauls out his BHP and braces against the tree nearest him. "Cover your ears, now!" He gives them a second to do so, while the monster spit out the arrow in the distance.

The two shots still elicited short, wimpy screeches from the three; while 10mm is bad, .357 is a lot worse in every category from sound produced all the way to striking power. The pressure wave was even felt by all five as the round exited the barrel, proceeded and preceded by the hot gases of the cartridge. The slugs went straight and true into its forehead, and they could even see the result of the shots as gouts of 'blood' came out of the entry holes and out the back of its head as the slug blew straight through.

And still it did not stop.

"Bullshit! It's still coming!" Yzak shouts as he looks around the side of another tree.

"Yzak, we're going to draw it toward the river. How much ammo you have?"

"Probably not enough," he mutters.

"What?"

"Two mags plus what's in it."

"Keep its attention, and keep it moving straight toward the river over there!" Athrun points as he starts moving in that direction. "Do you have a plan?" Athrun asks the nearest, who appeared to be wearing a blue outfit under the tan-colored armor.

"If we get it in the river, it's gone!" She retorts.

"It'll do," Athrun mutters. Yzak fired a pair of shots at the monster, and indeed it was lumbering toward them.

"Where did you get those guns? Who are you?" The one in green asks abruptly, and then fires an arrow into its chest. Like any other projectile they were firing at it, it simply hocked it back toward them, and it was starting to piss Athrun off. Severely. Athrun thought he heard the question from her right, but decided now was not the time to answer.

After a little while, they came to the realization that they did not have to shoot at it any more, since the monster was following them of its own volition and without any needed cadging. All they had to do was make sure at least one of them was visible to it, and it followed in its pissed-off-but-creeping fashion.

After a distance longer than what Athrun estimated, they finally came to the shoreline of the river. There was maybe ten meters between the edge of the trees and the river, which didn't give them a lot of tactical flexibility. In fact, Athrun suspected if they didn't get it right the first time, someone would mysteriously become a greasy spot on the shore's edge.

The tango was not overlong in coming, and naturally it went for the center of the group, being Athrun and Yzak, who had pissed it off the most. When they split up, the enemy was right on the edge of the water, and all that remained was it reorienting itself to face one side or the other. Yzak and the girl in blue had gone left; Athrun, the lady with glasses and the one in red went right. After a moment's hesitation, the tango looked to the larger group, advancing on them but still precariously close to the river…

"Umi! Do it!" The one in red shouts.

"Right!" Umi darts in, her small rapier-style sword flashing from left to right through its right knee joint. The leg severed, the rest of the monster began toppling into the river and landed with a big soggy splash that drenched them all. What was left of it on the shoreline solidified into a stone bulwark, the last testament that a tango died here; the remainder of the monster's muddy form was washed downriver rather fast.

Yzak walks up to the severed, hardened leg, and kicks it once. It neither budges nor crumbles, and he smirks when done, though it did not last long. "Man, what the hell kind of place is this?"

"I'll settle for anything resembling the PLANTs right now." Athrun then shakes his head no. "No, I take that back. I'll settle for part of an explanation, if any of you know?"

"Well, erm, well…" The five had clustered by what was left of the leg.

"Athrun!" The voice was over a loudspeaker, but there was nothing visible. Yzak looked at the far shore, where he thought he had heard it, and noticed an indent in the ground with no object to cause it.

"Zala, Nicol's over there." Yzak points, and sure enough Athrun could just barely see the faint, spectral outline of the Blitz as it was obscured by the Mirage Colloid.

Athrun pulled his radio out and flipped it on. "Nicol, turn the Colloid off. Save it for ops later."

"Who're those three with you?"

Athrun glances quickly at Umi, who was straining her eyes and her whole being toward the indicated shore, trying to see what was of interest, then centers his vision again. "Three locals that saved our hides."

"You serious Athrun?" From Dearka, who was probably still in the Blitz cockpit as well. "They look smaller than you do."

Athrun barks a short laugh. "Yes, Dearka, quite serious. Now, Nicol, you going to save power or not?"

"Yeah, yeah. Hold on a second."

The gasps from the three were evidence enough that they knew they were looking at one very monstrous machine.

-x-x-x-

And then the first real battle for the _Archangel_ in this new (strange) land started, but not in the fashion they all expected it to.

It was assumed widely by the crew that the first vestige of battle would be the last vestige they saw of the last battle they were in, just outside of Aube territory, over the middle of the bloody Pacific Ocean. There was severe question as to how Kira knew that the enemy would be able to power their depleted Gundams, but Kira was rather forth with that information. He knew the pilot, had gone to Lunar Prep School with him, and knew that the pilot of the Aegis was a very apt mechanical tinkerer. Thus, everyone was expecting the Aegis and Blitz were planning on coming back to get the two missing Gundams and deal the final blow to the _Archangel_.

Except, the call to combat came from the lady ('wench' is what Chandra called her after getting a good look at her on his screens) that rode the Nightmare.

The sound of the alarm caught Kira unawares, but not completely unprepared. After saying a very hurried goodbye to Flay, he was in the pilot's lockers and getting suited up as fast as possible. Of course, Tolle and Mu were already in the lockers and half dressed in the standard pilot's suits. "What kept you, Kira?" Tolle asks slyly, leading Kira to wonder…

"I was sleeping." Kira yawns as he throws off his shirt and starts pulling out his pilot suit.

"Right," Tolle says in a tone that quite clearly stated he thought the answer was bullshit. "Ready, sir?"

"Yeah, let's go, kid."

Kira was about a minute behind them, though on startup procedures he was done dead even with the two new guys. "Ensign Yamato, deploy in Aile Strike from the starboard catapult. And come back alive." Kira was not expecting the latter response to his request for deploy orders.

"What's going on, Natarle?" Kira asks plainly.

"You remember the lady on the flying horse the first day here, right?"

"Yeah."

"She's back, and she's taken a violent, if pointless interest in the ship. She's trying very hard to sink us, but she's not getting anywhere with it."

"Right, roger that, Kira Yamato deploying in Strike." Kira was beginning to wonder if anything normal was going to happen to him between now and when hell froze over. After his unit was attached to the catapult, he comes to the conclusion that he was fated to live a strange life. Like today. It started off with a six-hour training session with Tolle and Mu, the three of them against ZAFT regulars in a simulated battle, then he was just starting to rest up and have a good lunch when Flay arrived. Strangely, she didn't want to do anything more than just lean against him while he read an old paperback. That ended with the alarm. And now he was getting a cat-shot to fight against a scanty-dressed lady on an evil unicorn. Right. Cold front in hell; film at eleven.

_There is something seriously wrong with my life_, Kira thought grimly as the catapult signaled 'go'. "Kira Yamato, Aile Strike, LAUNCHING!"

"Mu La Flaga, Duel Assault Shroud, Launching!"

"Tolle on the Starboard Catapult. Time to put all that training to use." Tolle says about as grimly as Kira was thinking.

Outside the ship, Kira's Gundam passes through a hail of ice shards that bounce of the non-phase-shift form of the Strike, even before he powers up the Phase Shift. "She's there!" A quick aim up and to the right, and one beam shot that missed her by a matter of a meter. Close enough to get her attention, though, not close enough to cause damage.

Her staff centered on Kira, and around her appeared dozens of small ice shards, each about as wide as a fist and razor sharp. She miscalculated, though, as the shards were not guided and Kira almost never slowed down when fighting in the Aile Strike. Kira was over a kilometer away when the shards arrived at where he _was_. And she knew it, gauging by her expression.

The transit of a rail gun slug from the Shiva railgun on top of the shoulder of Duel caused some buffet at her flight level; a second slug tore her off the horse, for all that it missed by a meter itself. The horse, realizing its master was missing, dove down and caught her with only a few seconds to spare before she cratered in the forest below; Mu had to admit that the view he got of her on the ascent was rather impressive, despite the fact that she was trying to kill the _Archangel_ with some form of…magic, he guessed. He tried landing in the forest in such a fashion that he didn't spike himself with a tree, and succeeded.

"Tolle Koenig, Buster, Launching! EEEGGGHHH!!!" The buster came out of the launch bay, landed, and stumbled forward three steps before he came to a stop still standing (somehow). "Kira, what's the word?"

"Tolle, turn your Phase Shift on. Don't take chances."

"Roger!" The Buster changes color, and looks around to the area where the nightmare was last seen. "Well now, that should be simple enough." He combines the two weapons of the Buster, the high-power beam rifle and the Gun Launcher, with the launcher in front in a configuration that turned the weapon into a high-power anti-armor shotgun. She pointed her staff directly at him at the same time he put pressure on the trigger. The result was strange, to say the least, as she took no damage; the rounds were turned aside by the shield she had put up, though the sheer impact knocked her clear of the horse. The horse, however, was struck three times by the 40mm charged projectiles and disappeared in a puff of blue smoke. She was sixty meters up in the air at the time, and after falling twenty she disappeared from sight completely.

There were some confused looks among the bridge personnel, as well as the Gundams looking around. "Well, if she comes back, Tolle is volunteered to deal with her."

"Hey! Why me?" Tolle asks indignantly.

"You did her this time pretty easily. She'll probably be back."

"Am I the only one that thinks that sounded slightly perverted?" Tolle asks rather meekly.

-x-x-x-

"Are you sure it'll be safe if we leave those two together?"

"Well, you can't fit seven people into the cockpits of two Gundams. Period. And the worst they can do, torch the camp to the ground, would only mean they don't get their Gundams back." And some latent chivalrous chunk of Athrun's soul refused to let him carry the three ladies to this Spring of Eterna by Gundam's hand. Though, he had to admit that having Fuu and Umi in his cockpit made it severely cramped already; Nicol did not sound like he was faring any better with Hikaru and that puff-ball-whateverthehellitis-thing called Mokona.

_Lacus is going to have my ass in a sling for this_, Athrun laments in the confines of his own mind. It was not strictly the issue at hand, no, Lacus would have no problems with the nobility of his justification. The propriety of the matter would get him roasted alive, however. When you are engaged to someone, the mere illusion of such action could get you cooked off by your significant other. And Umi's rear was only about two inches from his main throttle control; if he had to slew it to port more than just gently, there would be a physical contact there, likely followed by another one as her hand conflicted with his face.

"So, what's your homeland like?" The abruptness of the question caused Athrun to glance at Fuu warily.

"The PLANTs? They are massive colonies in orbit around earth, shaped sort of like hourglasses. They are a peaceful, quiet place. At least, until the war broke out."

Explaining the war was the task for last night, as the four ZAFT pilots came to know of where they stood. Cephiro. A land of the will; a planet that embodies the mystic arts that Yzak could only begin to imagine, and he alone was the only one who could hold a decent level of conversation with the three on that subject, that is when he was not having a shouting match with Umi. It was some time that night that Nicol had opined to Athrun that the two of them (Yzak and Umi) were incredibly alike. Blue-haired, hot-tempered elitists that were both ass-deep in a world they didn't want to be in.

Athrun was unsure if they were convinced, even through all that had been said was on the level. He thought he had Fuu convinced, since she seemed to be able to sense the truth, Umi didn't believe anything unless it ran up and kicked her, and Hikaru was still undecided. That left some open territory for Athrun to play with, especially if after they were finished with this quest of theirs they could help sink the _Archangel_.

Except, for not the first time since this whole nightmare had started in Heliopolis, Athrun had to question what he was doing. Not necessarily what he was doing pertaining to helping these three to the Spring of Eterna, but in pertaining to still trying to sink the _Archangel_, when it was obvious they really weren't the enemy now. Shit to shove, really, this Zagato fellow was the worse of the two evils at present, and some of the shit he was purported to be pulling made any offense the _Archangel_ may derive from still being alive seem like a fart in the wind. And his minions seemed to be rough customers as well. Then there was the whole issue with the whole planet was having problems like monsters, bandits, plagues, and famine, oh my. There were a lot of more important things to do than sink one lamed ship, but of course Yzak and Dearka would not see it that way.

Nicol's phrasing came back to haunt them. "There are soldiers, and then there are soldiers." Athrun mutters barely loud enough to be heard, or at least he thought.

"You and I are probably thinking the same thing then." Nicol notes. "No sense trying to sink the Legged Ship if the world is about to fall apart."

"Don't say that to the others or I'll have to scrape what remains of you off the foot of your own Gundam." Athrun says by way of a wan joke.

"That's…pretty bad…" Umi says with an air of shock in demeanor.

"That's Yzak for you." Athrun shrugs stoically, as if she had questioned one of the laws of Existence.

"Hey, uh, I think Mokona thinks this is the area where the Spring is."

"All right, visual inspection." Athrun begins looking around for— "There it is."

"That appears to be it," Fuu notes. Athrun noticed that Nicol had a little bit of a rough landing, but if anything he was too veteran to have any significant problems. Given, though, Athrun could not strictly correlate any such 'issues' Nicol might have to the Magic Knight to his right, but the thought was both striking…and tempting to rail him about.

"Well, the rest we leave to you. We'll wait here for you to return."

"Good luck," Nicol says in an unusual fashion for himself.

The three had exited the cockpits and were on the stone outcropping parallel and above the spring. They agreed on something, then jumped into the spring all at once. Athrun had his reservations about this, but he figured they knew better than he did on these matters, since they were the summoned. What had happened, as best as he could guess, was that the Archangel and the four ZAFT pilots had been summoned accidentally from their world by some unknown cosmic accident. A classic case of 'shit happens' combined with 'two for one deal' and they were party to it. Unless the Princess' spell had deliberately targeted them as well, which would make them part of the 'Magic Knights' as well.

"Which do you think it is, Nicol?"

"Huh? What about?"

"Did we get cosmically screwed by this, or are we as they are, Magic Knights?"

"If we're supposed to be Magic Knights, I am not feeling it right now."

"No, but you are feeling something right now."

"Huh? What are you talking about?" The shock was well past apparent in his voice.

"Don't think for a moment I didn't see your slightly roughened landing after Fuu said she thought this was it."

Nicol had a good laugh at that. "You're seeing things, Athrun."

_Bullshit, Nicol_, Athrun doesn't say out loud but thinks nonetheless. "You say so," Athrun replies in kind. "I wonder what it'd be worth, you know? We're technology, they're magic. What would the combination be worth?"

"For sure, it'd be a capability very hard to counter at home. Wherever home is." Nicol sighs, a feeling echoed by Athrun. "Are we ever going to be able to return to the PLANTs?"

"I don't know, Nicol. I don't know."

The sound that came to Athrun's mind that he heard through the body of his Gundam reminded him more of rain than else…sort of. Given that time he and Cagalli Athha had spent on that deserted tiny island, he remembered rain sounded different against his Gundam. But something was definitely hitting it.

"Athrun, we're under attack. By that psycho-looking hot wench we saw that day with the _Archangel_."

"You sure?" Athrun looks around for her, and sure enough at 500 meters and above them, she was attacking. "Let's do it, Nicol."

"Right!" Nicol turns to face her and jets forward and up at the floating lady.

Athrun fires a double-tap of beam rifle at her, one shot missing, the other hit a shield she had cast around herself. Nicol fired out the Gleipnir rocket anchor at her, and it locked on the shield as a hand would grip a ball. The lady was now faced with a quandary: leave the shield up and be at Nicol's mercy, or drop it and get crushed by the anchor's claws. She chose the option that gave her time to work with, and left it up as Nicol reeled Gleipnir in and dropped back to the ground.

"Now, what do we do with her?" Nicol asks, making sure it was on the external loudspeaker as well as on the radio.

Athrun gets an idea. "You know, I've always heard that gravity kills, so let's test it. Drop her."

"Sure." He releases the claws of Gleipnir as he swings his arm down, essentially tossing her to the ground. When the shield disappears, she had half a second to see her fate coming in the form of Athrun's yellow beam saber.

* * *

Author's Notes:

…Whoa.

Honestly, I thought I'd be blamed from hell to breakfast for this, but so far nobody's done so. More's the better.

Writing is addictive. Entertaining. Just about as amusing as flash movies, really, without the intensive sucking sound that becomes of your internet connection. Whatever happened to the days where you could write a webpage in notepad.exe? Everything has flash ads and CSS and XML and…internet connection…dying…overload…

In all seriousness, I don't really have anything to explain on this chapter, except for why the two Gundams transported the three girls to the Spring, call it a debt owed them for saving Yzak and Athrun from that monster. An act of honor in repayment for an act of honor; they didn't have to stick their necks out for two guys with guns, after all.

On a separate op note to this story, I already have ten destinations for the Archangel to hit, and each will entail several chapters. No one destination is going to be a quick-and-dirty op, and even in this first chapter there is a risk of a MC getting killed. Not sure which yet, haven't decided who I want to kill off first…

And then there was a question as to whether or not I was going to replace the original Magic Knights with GS characters. Answer: as you will soon find out, I prefer doing far more strange things than just replacements. I prefer the 'linear add' concept; aff, it may get real crowded, but real life does real weird things to otherwise normal people. Trust me.

Any questions welcome.

Next up: The last harangue of someone else's war

* * *

Footnotes:

(1): Yes, I understand if you read this line in the right (or wrong) frame of mind it definitely has nothing to do with weather, but…

(2): Almost all modern firearms are rifled. What that means is the inside of the barrel is grooved with a set of spiraling grooves that cause the bullet to fly farther and a helluva lot straighter. This has the opposite effect of imparting the pattern of the rifling to the bullet after it leaves the barrel, which is what Yzak is looking at. If you want a very detailed explanation, check Wikipedia for Rifling.


	3. Face Punches and Missing Flags

(Phase 03: Face Punches and Missing Flags)

Kira had found it out the hard way.

When she has little to do (after her term with the scavenge crews) and when he has no excuse to be away from her, Flay tended to…well…not want to leave him. For what it was worth, she had not spazzed out like she had done over a week ago and a world away in Morgenroete. If anything, she had started acting even more clingy than she was prior, which was starting to worry Kira to no end. He could justify it, but it still worried him, since one or both of them could get hurt badly in such a relationship.

Or they would end up getting married, but Kira thought that the remote of the two results. He didn't think Flay was planning on that, but there was a small possibility…

A week had passed since they arrived here. Kira estimated that now the Blitz and Aegis were fully powered and about as ready to attack the _Archangel_ as any. So, Kira had to keep himself ready to fight at any time, and that meant the Aile Strike was hot on the catapult all the time, since it was obvious that they would come. They still wanted to sink the _Archangel_, for all it would be a meaningless victory, and they still wanted their machines back.

The ship was moving now, had to be at least once a day, since super-wench had come back twice after Tolle got rid of her the first time. Strangely, she had not come back for round four; Kira had this weak feeling that she had run afoul of Athrun and not survived. Despite his present issues with his former friend, or perchance cause of them, Kira figured Athrun would be significantly unwilling to put up with any wench that tried attacking them without cause.

"I think we should play a game, Kira," Flay notes in such a fashion that caused him to dread the obligatory response.

"Well, I think we should—" The alarm goes off, causing her to jolt slightly.

"All hands, level one battle stations! Aegis sighted!" Natarle orders over the ship intercom.

"Sorry, Flay." Kira jumps up and was out the door before she could even begin to protest. (1)

This time, Kira beat Tolle and Mu out to the hangar by almost a minute, but not before the first beams hit the _Archangel_. Athrun was playing for keeps, and that is how Kira wanted it. Best to settle this fast.

"Kira Yamato, Aile Strike, Launching!" As soon as he leaves the ship he banks right and toward the Aegis. "Damn it Athrun, what's your reason for fighting?"

"The time for talk is long past!" Athrun was not intent on running himself out of power, and immediately went in with shield and beam saber against Kira who was armed and defended similarly.

"This makes no sense! Even if you win, it means nothing!" Kira shouts as he drives Athrun's saber outside, away from the body of the Strike.

"It'll mean something to us, even if we can't get off this damned world!" The two Gundams had landed and the pilots were tearing into each other with power and form in their swings, in a rather desperate attempt to stop the other first. The nature of it was well past absurd, since they were long-time friends basically trying to kill each other over flags (and nations) that they would likely never see again.

"Kira, need an assist?"

"No, Tolle, I think I can handle him for now." The wild antics that had the attention of the Strike also were aiding the Blitz in approaching the now landed warship. Everything was watching the Aegis, except for…

"What the—" Tolle could have sworn he saw movement out of the front viewscreen. The green flash of a beam rifle startled him, all the more so that several of his indicators went red and even more so because the firing point appeared to be 15 meters in front of him. He jerked the control stick and by accident the trigger, firing off a burst of the Gun Launcher down the catapult tube. Nicol had him beat partially, the shield of the Blitz stopped two thirds of the pattern; the rest got the right arm of the Blitz and flayed it open, visibly causing sparks. "Huh? There's something in the port-side catapult deck!" Tolle shouts, realizing he had just shot something. Quite by accident. "Oh, shit, Bridge, cat-shot me! Now!" Tolle shouts as the first thing that comes to his mind.

"Buster, Launch!" Miriallia shouts over the protest of Natarle, and activates the catapult of her own volition.

Nicol was ready for more or less anything, but not this. The Buster had activated the PS armor just as the catapult fired, but the Blitz was still in Mirage Colloid and not protected from impacts. The Gundams collided at the end of the catapult and Tolle dragged the Blitz out of the _Archangel_ by pure inertia. When they got to the forests a mere thirty meters outside the ship, the first thing to be lost was the right arm of the Blitz, followed hotly by its head and other arm as they were sheared off by the trees. In comparison, the only thing the Buster lost was its gun launcher, yanked out of its hand and sitting about three meters in front of the port-side Lohengrin.

Before Tolle could do anything else, the pilot had blown open the cockpit and three persons got out of the Blitz, running east and toward the Strike v. Aegis fight. Tolle was quite shocked to see that the three persons that emerged from the Gundam looked younger than he did, but not by much. He did not doubt that they were pilots, however.

-x-x-x-

"ATHRUN!" Kira shouts as he drives in wildly against the Aegis. It was on an open channel, so everyone up to and including some poor bastard with a crystal-set radio could hear it.

"Damn you KIRA!" Athrun's mind went crystal clear and overdrive, and he saw with unclouded perception what needed to happen. (2)

As Kira went in against Athrun's left, he obliged the Strike by offering his shield—he ejected it, which forced Kira to watch the moving object and not the Aegis. With the Strike momentarily distracted, Athrun jump-kicked the Strike's left arm with his right leg and the same beam saber. This had the effect of both driving the Strike left and away from Athrun, but also severed the shield arm of the great Strike Gundam. That accomplished, Athrun drove in against the Strike himself, using both arm-mounted sabers in a combination of spiking punch-style attacks, one of which grazed the torso of the Strike but caused little damage.

"ATHRUN!!!" Kira shouts again, and as Athrun takes a right cross slash at the Strike, it ducks under it and comes back up right in his face—the beam saber drives right into the upper chest of the Aegis, severing the main upper power relay that fed the arms and head of the Gundam, not to mention the neural linkage for the Gundam. Athrun had two seconds before his internals and beam sabers died, starved of power. The Aegis, on Athrun's final bit of available power, drives its left beam saber into the torso of the Strike, slightly off-center, causing the strike to immediately revert to standard armor mode and stop moving (3).

Then, the unexpected: The inertia of their fighting, now unchecked by the Gundams' (dead) control and movement systems, caused their Gundams to collapse; the Strike literally landed on top of the Aegis with what could be described as a full body press, slightly angled and off-center. It began settling immediately, and everyone on the bridge could tell it was destined to slide into the trench.

The first to blow open their cockpit was Athrun, followed by Kira firing the explosive bolts on his; he had to worm his way out of a small crack where the door could not completely open, but he managed. When he was out on top of the Aegis, the Strike slid farther left and partway down into the trench in the ground, leaving only the legs sticking up and visible to the _Archangel_.

"Damnit, Kira! I'm gonna kick your ass for this shit!" Athrun threw down his helmet and put his dukes up, more than ready for the battle. As far as he was concerned, this was a simple extension of the Mobile Suit battle.

Kira had nothing to say in response, just an action. He threw his pilot helmet at Athrun, followed hotly by charging him and jumping at him in an attempt to grapple. The fist fight was on.

-x-x-x-

Despite her officer's uniform, Murrue was heavily loaded. She was carrying the standard Earth Alliance assault rifle, her usual pistol, and a pair of flashbangs (4). Natarle had the same outfit, as well as a combat knife (Murrue doubted she would be as good as any of the pilots with it) and Mu had only his pilot's hold-out pistol. Ten crewmembers and assorted mechanics had decided to follow, armed with everything from pipe wrenches all the way to assault rifles, and most had pistols. And five 'Marines' had decided to follow, with body armor, gear harness, and assault rifles.

Tolle was standing over the scene with the Buster, looking down into the trench with more than just a ration of amazement. So were the three other ZAFT pilots, who everyone was crassly ignoring right now in favor of the battle in the trench below. Watching Kira jump-grapple Athrun was a rather interesting happening to most of the crew of the _Archangel_, and quite shocking to Athrun, who never figured his long-time friend that violent even under the worst of circumstances.

When Murrue got to the trench, all she needed was to look down at the two pilots trading punches like the whole matter was going out of style. She was professional, and special forces; nobody did anything as comical as to point a weapon at the two fighters; this was something best resolved by them, she could sense. The remainder she could handle, especially since the three ZAFT pilots were not all that intent on causing trouble, they were just cheering on their pilot. To point of fact: "C'mon, Athrun, kick the shit out of him!" The one with the silvered-blue hair shouts. **Whump**. "No, no not like that—yeah! Do it! Kick his face in!" **Whump, whap**. "Damnit, Athrun, you fight like a girl! C'mon, I know you can kick his ass!"

"Somebody get him a bowl of popcorn so he shuts the hell up." Tolle says over the external loudspeaker, which made it incredibly audible to everyone below. Dearka and even Nicol (despite his broken arm) found it uproariously funny; Yzak went bright red, realizing that there were now about twenty watching the fight, and more coming, and he just got ripped by a natural piloting Dearka's machine. He looked up, thinking—_yep_, the beam cannon was still pointed right at them. Making trouble would be very bad for his health.

"How long have they been going at it?"

"I dunno, somewhere above six minutes?" Newman replies to the Captain, his assault rifle slung low and safed for the time being. "Ten bucks on Kira. He seems to be doing better by the numbers."

"I dunno, that ZAFT guy seems to be doing pretty well. Could be close," Mu notes with a bit of whimsy.

"My big question is, why are they settling this with a fist fight if they both know this battle has no meaning?" Nicol asks from in the group of ZAFT elites.

"I dunno." Dearka shrugs phlegmatically, scratching his head during. "Built-up frustration, maybe?"

"I dunno about the Strike Pilot, but I think Athrun just needs to get laid," Yzak notes sardonically.

"For a pop star, Lacus must be incredibly 'proper' I guess," Nicol says with a shrug.

"Hey! What's going on? What's so interesting?" Nicol looks to the speaker, and immediately chokes. It was Hikaru, boldly leading the other two Magic Knights. Right up to the largest group in Cephiro with automatic guns. That more than else made Dearka, Nicol, and Yzak question their sanity, until Nicol chocked it up to naiveté. They probably weren't all that knowledgeable about guns.

"Oh, hey." He waves with his off-arm, since his right arm was broken. "The last echo of our war from back home. We've already lost the battle, but those two aren't going to be content until one wins, I guess."

The three girls look over the edge of the trench, down the ten meters to where the battle was happening. "This makes no sense." Fuu notes sharply.

"No kidding," Umi notes. "Should we drop in and break it up?"

"Are you joking?" Dearka asks in a rush. "You try that, they'll tear you to bits. Those guys are Coordinators, they ain't going to let the three of you stop them." He looks to the fighters below, then back to the Magic Knights. "Probably the best of us, as well."

"Oh," Hikaru gasps. The way they were fighting right now made even her doubt her ability to fight when the chips were down—and she had both magic armor and a magic sword, whereas these two were going hand to hand.

**Whap, whud, whap, whap, whap, whomp**. The fight below continued completely unhindered by the crowd above them, mainly because nobody wanted to try and get between. There comes a point in which people can sense that trying to stop a progressing fight becomes more hazardous than the net outcome of the fight, and every Earth Alliance and ZAFT person there could sense that. So, sensibly, they decided they'd watch instead of becoming victim to the fight.

It was just when Athrun was going to lunge in on a fallen Kira to beat him down while on the ground that the circumstances changed. Athrun was stopped cold by Kira's foot, who kicked him backwards and into a pile of rocks from some form of avalanche. The rocks scattered, revealing a large blue circular gem attached to what would otherwise be some form of ornamental staff. Seeing that stopped Kira cold, and when Athrun deigned to look at what his former friend was, so did it stop him cold. "What the hell?" Athrun asks.

"No—no way!" Fuu shouts. "That's Master Mage Cleff!"

"What?" Nicol looks down and sideways, where the battle had paused. "What, that blue thing set into stone?"

"That's his staff." Umi says. "Now we know it's for real."

"Like anyone with a proper mind would doubt that," Yzak says rather coldly.

"Yeah right, you're not the one that was torn from a school field trip in 1990's Tokyo and dropped in a world full of monsters!" Umi shouts at Yzak from two meters.

"You're not the one that was yanked from a Mobile Suit shooting war in the middle of the Pacific Ocean and dropped in a world where magic is all that's around!" Yzak retorts from half a meter closer than when she was shouting.

"Both of you spoiled brats shut up," Dearka says tiredly, then looks over the edge of the cliff. "Athrun, hey, the girls say that's Master Mage Cleff! Try and get that rock off him!"

"That?" Athrun points to the pile of stone. "He looks like an ornate stone statue!"

"Zagato turned him to stone the first day we were here. It is him!" Hikaru confirms for the pilots below.

"Hey, Mister Murdoch! Toss me that Breaker Bar!" Kira shouts.

"What?" Murdoch shouts in answer. "Two minutes ago you were gonna kill him, now you're gonna help 'im unbury that statue? What the hell are you smoking, kid?" The look he got from Kira was enough of an answer. "All right, all right, you win. Here!" Murdoch dead-tosses the breaker bar into the ground several meters away from the pilots.

"You know, I don't have a freaking clue what's going on right now, but I'll go with it. Murdoch," Murrue prompts from a meter away.

"Yes, ma'am?"

"Call for a recovery vehicle. Some of that is way too big for them to move."

"Captain, I request an explanation, please," Natarle says.

"You know, I don't have one to give, but my gut tells me that statue may hold an answer or two." Murrue shrugs. Natarle made fair to protest, but was silenced by an upheld hand. "Right or wrong, I know you're going to put this in your report, so don't worry about it. Chances are better than 90 to 10 Admiral Southerland is going to strip this section out of the reports on general grounds. Who in their right mind would believe any of this?"

Natarle nodded thoughtfully, looking down at the two Pilots trying to unbury a Master Mage that had been turned to stone. "Yeah, Captain, I don't think anyone short of a very understanding God would believe this. The Admiralty is going to have our asses for lunch, regardless of how many of the crew stand up and say this is what happened." She nods toward the ZAFT Pilots and the three girls in partial armor. "Likely the same with them. Either the firing squad or the insane asylum."

"Did I hear them right? Schoolgirls from 1990s Tokyo?" Newman asks suspiciously.

"You did," Natarle confirms.

"Man, I thought we had it bad, but we got a warship and three Gundams. They started with jack and they survived."

"You said it," Kuzzey acknowledges Newman's point. "They seem to be getting along with the ZAFT guys, so I guess they can't all be evil, probably the same with that one down there."

The recovery truck, a glorified tow-truck with a 20-ton tow boom, backs up to the cliff edge and lowers the stabilizer jacks. "Hey, Kira! I'm sending down a winch cable! Use it to clear the big crap off 'im!"

"Right!" Kira replies as Murdoch pulls the 'extend' lever. Still they were cautiously moving the lighter rocks, making sure they did not cause damage to the statue. The pile was fairly large and complex, and they had a long way to go.

-x-x-x-

Nicol was still flexing his arm about an hour after Fuu had healed it. And, he had to admit, probably still blushing about it.

He knew he had it broke in the battle with the Buster. Losing to a Natural would get him ribbed to no end by Yzak and Dearka, especially such a kamikaze attack as being hammered by a catapulted suit. No matter. They were fated to lose, a classic case of 'shit happens' in non-military parlance, Nicol knew. He was willing to admit it, and be resigned to his new fate. And really, it's not like they would ever sink this ship. It was cursed, classic: the _Archangel_ would probably survive well past the end of time, regardless of how many thousands of ZAFT aces came and tried after the Zala Team were long dead and buried.

Down in the trench, it ended up being Hikaru, Kira, Athrun, Dearka, and one of the Archangel Mechanics pulling stones off the statue. Some of the stones even challenged the recovery vehicle, which was not a simple feat in Nicol's estimate. Those recovery vehicles were designed to pull a stuck Mobile Suit out of whatever jam it was in. Still, progress was happening at a painstaking rate, for they wanted to make sure they caused no damage to Cleff.

Other recovery teams had gone out to pick up the damaged machines and chunks of Gundam, and right now the only machine that was not hangared was the Buster. The pilot had sensibly shut off the Phase Shift, which left a damn near zero power drain on the suit. Likely he had enough juice to fire the beam rifle on that thing several dozen times. Nicol had no doubt that right now the Earth Alliance was holding the whole deck of cards.

"We're clear!" Athrun shouts from the trench below. More than a few cheers come from all three groups present: ZAFT, the Magic Knights, and the _Archangel_.

"Can you secure the statue to be pulled up?" The _Archangel_'s captain asks. Other than probably being old enough to be his mother in Nicol's estimate, her appearance and sense of humanity were impressive.

"Easily!" The Strike Pilot shouts. "Toss me down some 200-kilo load straps!"

"Here!" Murdoch drops down a burlap sack that had something in it; on impact it made a sound like rattling chains.

The nature of how the statue had become to be made it possible for them to secure it with over five points of contact, including both thighs and around the chest. The straps were secured to a load-bearing coupler and then connected to the tow cable. Kira gave a signal for it to be hauled up, which the Captain passed onto the mechanic. After they were assured it would clear the ground without problem, the personnel began to climb up the crag face themselves, actually outpacing the progress of the statue on its way up.

Dearka and Yzak were off on their own, discussing something or other; Nicol had only a fleeting guess about it. As they came to the top, Umi and Fuu began to walk toward their teammate, Hikaru, and the other four that had recovered the statue. Tentatively, Nicol followed if for no other reason than to check on Athrun. They probably had to move about five tons of stone to get to the (literally) stoned Master Mage.

"Athrun, you all right?" Nicol asks as he splays out on his back when up on the top of the cliff.

"After getting the shit stomped out of me by Kira and moving a large pile of rock, how am I supposed to feel?" Athrun asks acerbically; Nicol could immediately tell he was not in the best of moods, but he wasn't royally pissed off right now.

"All right, all right, dumb question, I surrender. Now what?"

"Ask them, I don't have the first clue about this." He finally drops his arm. "I think I'm just going to lay here for now." He notices something strange about Nicol; "Hey, didn't you break your arm in—"

"Yeah, kamikaze-man over there busted my arm up, but Fuu healed it. Maybe you should ask her for a little help." Nicol asks.

"I'll bet a paycheck you almost refused it." Athrun asks with a ration of humor.

"You'd win that bet," Dearka notes before Nicol could deny it as he and Yzak approaches.

"C'mon, Zala." Yzak sounded seriously different from his normal; in this case he sounded saddened, almost dejected. "We've decided we'll surrender to the Earth Alliance. We can't win."

"Yeah, sadly we won't get our revenge for everything that's happened," Dearka notes dejectedly.

"Puu!" The puff-ball Mokona jumps square onto the center of Athrun's chest. "Puu-pu pu-pu-puu!" With a stubby paw he-she-whatever was indicating the statue that was just being settled onto the ground.

"Does anyone here understand what cream puff here is saying?"

"I think Sir Mokona means for us to listen to Cleff," Fuu says. As an indicator, all eyes were now on the statue, though even those in the ship still would hear what was to come.

_Young girls from another world. Soldiers of a war from another existence. I am Master Mage Cleff…what is left of him_.

"What the…hell…am I the only one…or are you too?" The Lieutenant Commander asks with a massive ration of shock in her tone and demeanor.

"We all are," the Captain notes coldly; every pair of eyes was on the statue.

_On this world there is a legend, the legend of the three Magic Knights. They would be summoned from another world, to save Cephiro in times of dire need. This is the time of such need, yet I am unsure why a whole ship of soldiers was brought from your realms as well_. The voice sounded wizened, authoritative, as if the speaker's appearance truly belied his veterancy and wisdom.

"No frigging way!" Yzak shouts. "That voice we heard over the Pacific! That was someone calling us here? Why us?"

_I am unsure if the Princess' spell called you by accident or deliberate. But I take it you all heard the voice_?

"We did." Athrun says, propping himself up poorly to look at the statue.

"We did as well." Mu says. "What is this all about? What's this 'dire need' and what does this have to do with four ZAFT Pilots and an Earth Alliance ship?"

_There are some things that can only be done by the hands of those not from Cephiro. Saving Cephiro from the trouble caused by Zagato is one of those things. Princess Emeraude, by will or coincidence summoned you as well as the three young ladies in your midst. Just as they, unless you fulfill her wish of saving Cephiro, you will never be able to return to your home_.

"Oh. Wonderful." If Yzak could have sounded more sarcastic, how was something lost on his teammates. "Now, mind explaining why we can't go back unless we beat down this Zagato dude?"

_If you fail to revive the three Rune Gods and stop Zagato, Cephiro will be destroyed. That, unfortunately, includes you as well_.

Nicol couldn't really hear what Yzak had to comment about that point, but from the underlying tone he could guess it was laced with no shortage of four-letter words.

"Well, I guess that qualifies as a motivating circumstance. Sort of." Mu notes. "Let's make sure I got this right. This planet is named Cephiro, and the only way for us to get back to Earth, year CE 71, is to stop this Zagato from causing trouble, right?"

_Correct, soldier. That is the nature of your present situation_.

"Then how do we solve it?" Mu asks. "From where I stand, I see a big problem and no creative way to stop it."

_Follow the legend of the Magic Knights. You must awaken the three legendary Rune Gods and use their power to save the world. Once that is done, the Magic Knights will confront Zagato and finish the matter_.

"God, that sounded like a cheesy video game plot in one sentence," Dearka notes acerbically. "So, mister Mage, who's the Magic Knights among us? You got three girls from Tokyo, four ZAFT Pilots, three Earth Alliance pilots, and a warship full of Alliance personnel."

_And that is the quandary in one thought, pilot_. The Master Mage did not seem all that amused by Dearka's attitude. _There are only three Rune Gods, but there are over a hundred from other worlds here. It could be any combination of you, or it could be limited to just one group of you, or there could be others drawn from different worlds that you have not met yet. What is here has already defied the legend, yet you must press on. The Rune Gods themselves will know who are supposed to be the Magic Knights. Your lives, and our worlds are counting on you_.

"Hey, hey, whoa!" From Yzak, whom Nicol figured would not have had the most tact in this situation. "What do you mean 'our worlds'? Even if we die here, then that should be it, right?"

_I cannot confirm nor deny that. The Pillar of Cephiro, the Princess has the power to summon others from a different world to here. I do not know if the Pillar has the power to go to other worlds, and if she does, your homes may be in more jeopardy than this world_.

"Well, the name of the game just changed—drastically." The Lieutenant Commander says.

"How so?" The Captain asks her immediate subordinate.

"Absent concrete knowledge, we have to assume this Zagato can get to our worlds, and that being the case we have to take him down. If even a small fraction of **this** nightmare makes to Earth or the PLANTs, you'd need an accountant to keep track of the bodies." More than a few gagged at the thought, the remainder at her phrasing.

"The thought of that is…wrong." Kira says with a dose of disgust in tone. He looked like hell courtesy of the fight, and had been staying silent for some reason (normally he was quite vocal on such matters). "I guess we have no choice but to put the war on hold and start another, right?" His question was directed to the Captain.

"Hey, I'm all for it. Ask your friend, not me."

"Captain! I must protest! That is a gross violation of military procedure—"

"Stick it in your report, Natarle." The Captain says rather coldly. She continues before Natarle could re-register her protest: "You heard him just as well as I, and didn't **you** just say that we had to take him down? For all we know, one or more of the ZAFT personnel could be the key to solving this nightmare!"

"Captain, if you do this, it will cost you your career and may cost you your life." Natarle notes just as coldly.

"If that's the price of saving lives, then oh-fucking-well." She shrugs; everyone around was staring at her, shocked; the Captain never spoke like that. "Your protest is noted and I will record it clearly in the ship's logs. The remainder is up to Kira and the ZAFT pilots."

The remainder was not in Kira's hands, it was already being executed by Kira. Athrun was still down on the ground, trying to make sense of the arguing between the Captain and the first officer, when what Nicol said when they first arrived came to mind. '_There are soldiers, and there are soldiers_'. His analysis of the personae of the _Archangel_ was cut short by Kira squatting down next to him. It didn't take much effort to notice that there were others with him as well.

Athrun slams down flat, staring at the blue sky as some wispy clouds float by. "I always figured you for a whimsical airhead, Kira, but that right cross you got was a helluva hit. Where did you learn to fight like that?"

"Kuzzey and Sai, two of my friends who're also on this ship."

"So, you weren't lying all those times."

"No. They really were on the ship."

"Oh, sorry. I thought you were being used by the Naturals." One of the persons that had followed Kira snorted. "So, what's it going to be, Alliance Ensign Yamato?"

"Personally, I think we should just put the war back home in a box and lock it up until we get home. If we survive this, and that's based on us actually figuring out what the hell we're supposed to do before it kills us, we may be able to go home, or we may end up somewhere even stranger than here."

"Holy shit, Strike! Don't say that!" Yzak says with a lot of unfeigned shock in voice. "This is bad enough! Please don't jinx it and make it worse on us! I actually want to go home before I die!"

"That's the most sensible thing Yzak has said in three days," Dearka notes with a chuckle. "So, what's the fee for entering the club _Archangel_?"

"That easy, Dearka? I figured you'd get pissed off and storm out of here." Athrun was still staring straight up at the sky.

"What for?" Dearka asks. "We have zero Gundams and a shitload of problems. Better in one of their brig cells than out on my own."

"Yzak," Athrun prompts.

"Well, I can die now, in the forests here and get shit out the wrong end of some monster, or I can die at home, court-martialed for treason. At least then my mom would get a chance to bury me properly. I'm in."

"Yeeeggh, disgusting." One of the persons with Kira says. Nicol could tell the young lady in question was only marginally a soldier, maybe even one of Kira's friends.

"Life's…kinda strange like that." Athrun says, still staring at the sky. "One day, you think you're gonna set out and sink the _Archangel_, later that day you're looking for somewhere to set up a generator to charge your two surviving Gundams. Then a week later you find out exactly how screwed you are and have to join forces with your enemy to survive. Why is fate such a pain in the ass?"

"Murphy's law, kid." The tall blond guy next to Kira says. " 'Decisions made above you are seldom in your best interest.' "

"Wait a second, I thought Murphy's Law was 'Anything that can go wrong, will go wrong,' isn't it?" Yzak asks plaintively.

"I have a poster in my quarters with about 400 of Murphy's Laws of Combat." He shifts weight from left foot to right. "My personal favorite happens to be 'You are not Superman; Marines and Fighter Pilots take note.' Probably also applies to Mobile Suit pilots, MPs, and Warship Captains as well." (5)

"And I thought all the screwed up people were in ZAFT," Nicol declares, both as an observation and testing the waters.

"Not hardly," the guy notes. "And that leaves just you two." He indicates Athrun and Nicol.

"Of course I'm in," Nicol says. "Athrun?"

"For now. But you and I will finish this fist fight some day, Kira." Said Alliance pilot shrugs, as if it was the inevitable conclusion. "What about the three Girls?"

"If it is all right, can we come along with you as well?" Hikaru's voice was quite exited by the thought. Fuu and Umi did not look all that convinced…or pleased.

"I don't think Natarle has a choice. The crew wants to go home alive more than the dictum of Military Law that Natarle is trying to stick to."

"Natarle…the Lieutenant Commander?" Nicol asks.

"Yeah, that's her. Still arguing with the Captain, even well after she's lost. Inasfar as it counts, Murrue, Kira and I are already on her shitlist. Don't be too surprised if she tries pulling shit on you as well."

"Right." Nicol says.

"So, you three want in as well? Beats the pants off walking it." Mu says to the three, one of which was holding a mysterious thing that looked a cross between a rabbit and a jar of marshmallow crème.

"Sure!" The one in red half-shouts.

"Where she goes, I go," the one in blue says, pointing to the one in red.

"I will accompany if you will permit it." The one in green gives a respectful traditional bow, not something Mu was expecting.

-x-x-x-

"Well, it's an improvement. At least we aren't in the brig."

"Yeah, well we lost most of our weapons, and you will note that they waffled on whether or not we'll get to pilot if the shit hits the fan," Yzak notes coldly.

"Correction," Athrun says; "The command staff waffled. Kira made it rather clear that we didn't have a choice if we want to get out of this alive. I think the Captain even listened to him. The XO is going to be the problem if any."

"So, whose side is the Lieutenant Commander on?" Dearka asks. "Right now, she has about a dozen on her side, against the rest of the ship who strangely want us to help them."

"She's probably on her own side right now. Either that'll change when the fighting begins, or she'll hold us to it until hell freezes over **and** existence falls apart," Nicol tosses in as his assessment of how it would go down.

"No, I think she might try wresting possession of the ship from the Captain and anyone loyal to her. That would probably also involve shooting us as well, of course."

"Armed standoff on the bridge of the _Archangel_; film at eleven." Dearka had said it, and unsurprisingly Dearka was the only person that found it funny.

"I'm beginning to really not like this," Yzak drives over Dearka's laughing, which had the side effect of shutting him up. "There are too many ways to die in this whole situation."

"At least we're used to the thought," Nicol declares, putting words to a morose feeling they all were beginning to have. It wasn't just the Strike itself; the pilot was ever becoming the more competent, and prior to this misbegotten adventure they were beginning to believe he could kill one or more of them if he really tried. "What about them? More to the point, what about the girls? If I remember my old Earth history correctly, Japan after World War Two was a very pacifist nation, they would not be even marginally prepared for this."

"They seem to be doing all right…for now," Athrun notes; "Probably better than us, at any rate." He sighs, staring up at the ceiling in their quarters. "I still don't trust _them_, but I do trust Kira. I think we'll live…for now."

* * *

(Author's Afterword)

The experiment that keeps getting stranger and stranger. Oh, how I am beginning to enjoy this. And then there is the concern that some demons need to be expatriated before one continues with other works. This happens to be one of them; I intend on at least getting the Cephiro 1 section of this story done before knuckling back down on the Jokers' Wild series. I will release a few chapters of the latter during this, but not as hard or fast as normal. I only have so much time to write in a week, after all, in having a full-time job with an hour drive there and an hour drive back, plus owning my own home, plus helping my relatives maintain their homes, plus extended training for work, plus…well, you get the idea.

Now, first off, a note about the fist-fight scene, it was written mostly in Nicol's perspective, and though military trained he does not seem the type that is all that well versed in hand-to-hand combat. I figure he'd have a rather difficult time understanding the actions of the fight, not to mention the fact that the fight is happening down in a trench ten meters below him and twice that to his right; seeing what was happening would come very difficult, since a normal person could barely tell that two people are fighting at 80 feet, much less how they are conducting the fight and not including that he's looking at it from an above and side perspective.

Also, I went back over the speech patterns of Cleff to make sure I was using the right combination of nuance, but without all the redundancy and triple-explaining that he does in the series. On a normal day, hearing it all explained to me is no big deal, or at least hearing enough to understand the rest, but after the tenth time hearing the same bullshit in the same fashion it gets enervating…or just plain annoying.

Anybody in the know about MKR can tell that Cleff is not telling the whole story, like usual.

And you can probably tell that Natarle's attitude is going to cause problems come later episodes.

Next Up: The first of the Rune Gods reveals a nasty little surprise for more than a few persons, and Kira and Athrun work well together when under pressure…

* * *

Footnotes

(1) Murphy's Law of Combat: Never sleep with anyone crazier than yourself. Kira's already violated that once in the series, and is well on his way to doing it again, so what shall this fate be?

(2) From various noted musings in the shows and manga, this is about the best description I can come up with for 'Going SEED', where their eyes become hazy and they double their reaction speed.

(3) The whole premise of this is that such devices (beam sabers, the main power relays, etc.) are fed by local capacitors as well as the main suit battery. The local capacitors would hold enough of a charge that when main feed is severed, they would still have a few seconds to act before everything goes to hell. That's how more than a few electronics are built; computers seem to be the monster exception; for a computer, you need a battery backup unit.

(4) Flashbangs are interesting devices, but part of me would figure Murrue for carrying frag 'nades. She definitely isn't a slouch in close quarters, for all that she is primarily a warship officer. Once again, Wikipedia has a pretty good explanation on Flashbang (AKA Stun Grenades).

(5) There is a whole site full of these laws. Do an internet search on it, it has more than just laws of combat. Very funny stuff. I figured the last applied to Mu most of all, and he's probably the kind of guy that would be a believer in Murphy. He is a soldier, after all, and most that I have known understand Murphy well.


	4. Water Dragons, Waffling, and a BDU

(Phase 04: Water Dragons, Waffling, and a BDU)

The disarming humility that the four from ZAFT had showed was certainly not expected by the _Archangel_ staff, and was even less expected by Natarle. It was almost as obvious as a coal pile on the launch deck that she was looking for some ungodly excuse to throw all four of them in the brig and be done with them. Except, either despite their ZAFT origin or because of it (take your guess), they were very helpful with maintenance on the ship and the mobile weapons. That much had earned them some tepid respect from the known dissenters; most everyone else didn't care or were kind of amused by the matter.

Even the three girls had decided to throw in as well as ride along. Despite their unfamiliarity with warship systems, they were still trying desperately to help to repay the transit, as if anyone wanted to bill the three people most likely to be their saviors. The admonition that the possible Magic Knights would be drawn from the three girls, the four ZAFT pilots, and the Earth Alliance personnel left a lot of open territory…and a lot of betting. Strangely enough, in the lead was the 'leader' of the ZAFT pilots, followed by Kira, the three girls (the order depended on who you asked), the Blitz Pilot (Nicol) and Mu La Flaga.

And then there was Mokona. And the three girls themselves.

"You say so." Nicol retorts rather acidly to Dearka's latest jibes. After the door closed, he sighed. "They really need to grow up."

"Something up?"

"Oh, hi Kira. Just…a difference of opinions with Dearka and Yzak. What're you up to?"

There was a bit of hesitation in his demeanor, as well as a partial grimace. "Oh, Murrue asked me to the Hangar for some reason. You up to something?"

"Yeah, the chief mechanic…what's his name?"

"Murdoch. Good guy."

"Well, he wants me down in the bay to do a movement and articulation test on the Blitz."

"Oh, okay, well c'mon then." Kira leads the way down to the bay, though Nicol could tell they were being followed (stalked would be more appropriate).

It was only two bends from the ZAFT Pilot quarters to the hangar. Right now, there were about twenty mechanics on hand, the mysterious girl that hangs all over Kira was up on one of the catwalks, hanging out with one of the bridge personnel and the three girls from Tokyo. And then there was the Captain here as well.

"Kira, glad you came as well." Murrue nods to the pilot of the Strike. "I need you to set up the Strike on the starboard catapult. You're on alert until further notice." Something about her tone set off a major red flag in Nicol's mind, likely as well in Kira's mind. "Here," and she passes him a small radio, likely only good for a few hundred meters, "I don't care if you're in the crapper, you're on alert at all times, clear, Ensign?" Nicol knew there was something afoot, as Murrue almost never called Kira by his rank. "Nicol, right?"

"Yes, ma'am."

"Murdoch wants you for something. Over there." Her physical indication was at the legs of the Blitz, unsurprisingly.

"Understood, thank you, ma'am." Nicol moves over to the mechanic, who was doing some last-minute adjustments inside the left leg of his Gundam. They still had the IMMs and IPCs (1) for the four captured Gundams, and could easily do maintenance on them from available stores. Any gaps or ZAFT mods the pilots helped out with.

"Hey, kid, nothin' to it today, just take 'er down the bay and back, and test out the arms articulation to make sure we got everything reconnected right." Despite the ease of the maintenance routine, this was the first time that Nicol would sortie the Blitz since that day. The Mechanic had also gone up with him on the man-lift. Like usual, Nicol got in and strapped himself in as proper, despite being without a pilot suit right now. "The OS calibrations are right, right?"

"I dunno, yet. Give me a moment to fire it up." Nicol begins throwing switches, which activated the main modules of the Blitz, except for the targeting and tracking systems. "Okay, everything looks green from here. I'll have to do some pinpoint drills to verify everything."

"Listen, kid, and don't speak. The cap'n knows shit's gonna go down. In your seat is a pistol. Sneak it back to yer quarters and keep it on ya. Most the BC pricks were killed when you guys hit Heliopolis, but not all. The others will get a piece as well. Just be ready. Kira'll relay anything else. Now get to it, we ain't got all day, we gotta check out all five machines before our next mission." The last sentence was a bit slower and louder than the first.

"All right, stand back, I'm gonna seal the cockpit." Nicol says. He knew the layout of the inside of his own Gundam intimately, and so far he could not see anything inside the cockpit that was not supposed to be there. He also called up a special ESM program that checked his suit out passively for transmitted electronic waves, and it returned no results. He was completely stealthed, except for the fact that Mirage Colloid was not turned on. He flicks his external speakers on. "All right, all personnel stand clear of main taxiway," which was warning to get out of the yellow striped zones so he could walk. They did as ordered, and his Gundam's eyes flicked blue as he began to take the first step.

While walking, he did a full range of arm motion checks as well as looked back and forth with the head of his Gundam, to verify that all the actuators were working properly and his optical systems were in good condition. He did note that Trikeros, the weapon shield of his Gundam, as well as Gleipnir, were missing but he had a full load of Vulcan ammo. 75mm rounds with 3 AP slugs, 1 HEAP slug, and 1 Tracer per five rounds. "Control, this is Blitz in Hangar, over."

"Blitz, control, how's your machine looking?" If anything, the Mobile Suit controller had turned out to be an incredibly civil person, especially when Kira let on that the three ZAFT pilots were friends of his friend, Athrun.

"I've tested everything short of Trikeros, Gleipnir, and my CIWS; everything appears to be nominal. Which brings me to my question, any way I can talk you guys into opening one of the launch hatches so I can test my Vulcans on a random tree? If I can calibrate for my Vulcans, the rest should follow or be close enough."

"Roger that, wait one." The link goes into 'hold' mode. "Blitz, you are authorized by the Captain on the port-side catapult. We're over a light forest right now, so finding a good target should not be hard, over."

He was standing in front of the door when it opened. There wasn't really much of an escape hazard to begin with, since Nicol wouldn't abandon his friends and he only had the Vulcans anyway. Without Trikeros, he was little more than a target and everyone knew it. And he would not risk having his friends screwed by his attempting to flee.

As he looked over the edge of the leg, he saw what she meant by light forest. There were trees everywhere; he put his sights on one in the distance, and waited until it was in range, then rattled off ten from each side. The slugs went wide left, shredding a tree three away from what he was intending, but even a miss was an impressive feat in the end. "Well, that tree was not the one I was targeting."

"Understood. Recalibrate and try again," Miriallia says in a bored fashion. Nicol entered several shell commands and the sights recalibrated to a new deflection and azimuth, even though there was no visible change on his screen.

"Stand by, firing in three." After three seconds, Nicol puts another score of rounds downrange, and this time the pattern was centered on the tree he aimed at but they were scattered badly. "Well, it's an improvement, but the gun's stabilizers aren't working."

"Is that going to be a problem?" Miriallia asks.

"Well, it might be nice to actually hit what I aim at if I have to fight."

"Understood, Blitz. Rack it and report your issue to the mechanics."

"Roger, Ops. Blitz is clear of port launch deck."

Nicol walks his Gundam back to the bay he was assigned, though the girls had followed him from the catwalks and watched what he did. Nicol still couldn't help but feel a bit strange about them all, especially since they were genuinely nice people dropped into a genuinely bad situation. That even applied to the remainder of the crew of the _Archangel_, though he figured he had a couple pegged that seemed like Blue Cosmos supporters. As he parked it, he came to the conclusion that the outcome of the war would likely not have been in the Zala Team favor, much less in ZAFT's favor. It was not that the ship was lethally competent, per se, but the drive they had to live was well beyond what one would normally expect, and this was combined with some very creative thinkers and do-ers in their ranks. It only took Nicol about five minutes to come to the conclusion that Kira was incredibly driven; Athrun had been right, when he put his mind to it, kiss your arse goodbye. And he was very easily underestimated because when he wasn't acting driven, he was doing the classic airhead routine, up to and including spacing out at random.

Nicol had to admit, he wasn't far behind in the airhead department. In his combination reverie of understanding Kira and staring at the girls, he had managed to walk his Gundam backwards into the bulkhead, which was a helluva rude shock to him. To compound the embarrassment, at least three of the girls had a good laugh at his mistake.

"Hey, pilot, what're you doing?" Murdoch asks on the radio.

"I haven't figured that out myself." More laughing from the girls in the distance; Nicol could just barely make out a radio in Umi's right hand. He takes one step forward and then takes the zip-line down to the floor. "Well I didn't hit the bulkhead hard enough to cause damage, but the only issue I still have is the stabilizers on the Vulcans are not working. Four hundred meters, CEP of half." (2)

"Holy. That's bad. I'll get two on it right now." Murdoch had a very shrill whistle when he needed it, and he used it. He gave a hand signal for two, and two of the techs got off the Lightning Striker pack and came toward. "You two, work over the Vulcan Stabilizers on the Blitz. The Lightning Striker can wait."

"Yessir."

"Everything else all right?"

"All is in order." Nicol says, which definitely didn't count as his normal phrasing, which told Murdoch that he had the pistol spirited away in his clothes somewhere. Murdoch couldn't tell offhand, so he wasn't too worried about his ability to conceal.

"Man, what is this all about?" Yzak asks abruptly as Nicol began to walk toward the hatch out.

"All right, hotshot. Here's the copy Kira made of your old OS, get it set up and prepare for a move test." Murdoch, as he did with Nicol, followed Yzak up to the cockpit.

Murdoch was reasonably sure that nobody had tampered with the cockpits and bugged them, because his personnel had kept an almost continuous eye on them, unless one of his guys was a mole…

-x-x-x-

The bridge personnel were taking a rather amused tact about the puff-ball called Mokona, who was bouncing from console to console, observing what each person was doing. The only person that took exception to it was Natarle, who shooed it away rather coldly. Mokona simply didn't go near Natarle's station again. In contrast, Mokona seemed to take a favor to Miriallia and even some to the drama queen of the ship, Flay.

Umi was on the bridge at present, and quite amazed by the view out the forward windows. She was even more amazed that such a massive warship could exist; it beat the hell out of anything in a science-fiction show she'd ever seen, with the possible exception of Star Trek. She didn't watch too much of that show, since it seemed past the point of ludicrous, but she did know the ship was amazing. The catch was the _Enterprise_ was not capable of flying through the atmosphere; the _Archangel_ was.

Mokona passed on to Umi that they were near their destination, and indicated that it was underwater. Umi relayed this to Murrue, who brought the ship to a stop about 100 meters away from the cliff edge. She could have sworn that something felt like an ambush…

"So, what's the oplan, Captain?" Natarle's tone indicated to the whole of the bridge that she thought the matter was bullshit, regardless of what she had heard and regardless of the statue that was secured in the hangar right now.

_Kiss my ass, Natarle_, Murrue thought but did not say out loud. It would have shocked her to know that just about everyone on the bridge, including Mokona and Umi, had the same thought. Natarle had not earned any brownie points with the crew at large over the preceding four days, and probably succeeded in digging herself a good rut for general purposes (read: replacement for a normal grave). Whether or not she realized this was in doubt.

"Miss Umi, I gather the shrine is underwater from Mokona's pointing?" Murrue asks.

"Yes, it seems so."

"Very well." She picks up the ship intercom phone. "Attention all hands, this is Captain Ramius. We have arrived at the first of the locations for the Rune Gods. All pilots and the three Lady Knights are to report to the pilot's briefing room in ten minutes. Quartermaster personnel are to break out infantry gear for ten persons and load mags. Thirty minutes to deploy. That is all."

The derived term Lady Knights had actually perked up from the enlisted ranks to the status of general use in the past two days, since the matter of who was and was not a Magic Knight was still up in the air. It was fitting, really, as Hikaru, Fuu, and Umi were the perfect showing of what it meant to be a knight: honorable, reserved, dutiful, willing to do the right thing at the cost of their own lives. It reminded Murrue a lot of Kira and Athrun, actually, despite their incessant arguing about procedure.

And betting was still running in Kira's favor, but only marginally.

They would find out as to who is the first of the three in very short order, or if they needed to find someone else on this miserable planet. Murrue was desperately beginning to hope the former, since she doubted she would have the heart to search for the personnel in question. And Natarle would not stomach such a search even in Murrue's wildest dreams; any such attempt would incite an almost-instantaneous mutiny.

Murrue was first in the briefing room, giving her enough time to set up a pot of coffee for the caffeine freaks in her ranks (herself, Mu, Athrun, Dearka). There was a ship's electrician working on one of the outlets in the room; it was known to be a pain in the ass when trying to use demonstration equipment, so Murrue ignored him politely while mentally going over what she wanted to say.

Mu was first in the room, and availed himself of a cup of coffee. As was customary for their briefings, he took a seat in the middle of the room, directly across from her podium. By her reckoning, it only took about ten seconds: "You're thinking something."

"Do you think I'm crazy, doing all this just on the off-chance that we can get home, or on the off-chance that not doing anything could kill us?"

"Better we do something and find out we screwed up, than do nothing and find out that was a screwup." The next entrant says, being Athrun. He was quickly followed by Yzak, Nicol, and Dearka, all in their pilot suits and ready. Kira was not far behind them, and the Lady Knights were the last in, just a moment after Tolle, who was also in his pilot suit. Given Murrue releasing the Gundams back to their initial pilots, Tolle and Mu had been demoted back to the Skygraspers. In the end, they would probably be needed; the concept of fire support was something the Lady Knights did not quite grasp yet, but they would come to like having friends in high places…

"All right, everyone, let's get settled in," Murrue requests, and the room becomes eerily silent. "First off, in response to the very frequent monster attacks we've had over the past few days and the possibility that Zagato may send another lackey to try and sink our ship, I am going to have the Gundams on a deck guard pattern. Kira's machine will always be on standby on the starboard catapult until further notice, and that is 24/7 until I say otherwise. The four ZAFT Gundams will institute a pattern by which one of you will be on the foredeck at all times, two of you on duty per 12 hours, trading duty on the deck every two hours. Clear?"

"Yes, ma'am!" Yzak says. The prospect of actually being able to see the outside world was almost enthralling to the four pilots from ZAFT.

"When your partner for that 12 is on the deck, you are to be within one minute of your Gundam, basically on alert status." The ZAFT officers had no issue with that, since the Laurasia-class ships followed the same principles for deploy duty. "Other than that, you guys are allowed usual crew restrictions and activity in the ship proper. You are not limited to your quarters, after all."

"Any questions?"

"Yeah, if the last is true, why did the Lieutenant Commander order us confined to quarters?"

"Good question. I'll have to take this issue up with her." Murrue notes rather coldly. It was then that the electrician, after having reassembled the electrical outlet, left the room with a sharp salute to the Captain.

Kira gave a hand gesture that signaled that Murrue should 'cut it off'. Murrue nodded acknowledgement.

"All right, now that that is settled, we'll get down to the real deal for the day. Mokona has confirmed that we are nearby the first of the shrines. It is underwater, somewhere off shore in this area." Murrue had a rather crude computer-generated map of the area to show them where it was, though nobody was expecting GPS coordinates for the target area.

"Thankfully, this ship can operate underwater, so we'll be all right going below to get to it. If we can, we'll land the ship in the Shrine and go it on foot, but if we can't land in the facility we will have to go in with just the Gundams. If that is the case, we will deploy all five Gundams, and you guys can sort out who carries who along for the tour. And I am going to say this once and only once," and Murrue's expression quite clearly told them to stay silent, "Natarle will be going with and has command on the ground. Clear?"

"Crystal clear, ma'am." Yzak says through gritted teeth.

"All right, you have your orders. Draw arms from the quartermaster, partner up, and…and may all of you come back alive."

"Attention!" Mu half-shouts as everyone bolts to their feet and salutes the Captain, including the Lady Knights.

"Dismissed." Murrue says as she returns the salute.

-x-x-x-

Athrun was leading off right now, since he had Hikaru and Mokona in his Gundam. Natarle was in the Strike, Fuu was in the Blitz (and Nicol had said precisely nothing since they boarded), Tolle was in the Buster, and Umi (much to both their consternation) was in the Duel. They had come upon the location of the shrine; it was just about ten meters too small to fit the _Archangel_ in, and they would not chance damaging the facility, so the _Archangel_ had fallen back and launched the Gundam team to do the journeying.

Yzak had to admit that the fact that they all had guns (except the girls, who had magic) would mean that if Natarle tried anything while they were OAA, she would get mulched. Period. And Yzak wasn't above dropping the hammer on someone that was only notionally an ally, especially if she gave him enough cause to. He even had an EA G59 Assault Rifle to use on her if needed. He had asked for an anti-tank rocket, but no…

The demarc between the ocean and the shrine was quite spectacular, a wall of water kept outside the shrine by some invisible and otherwise permeable force, likely magic. That included the water in Yzak's canteen, as when he opened it after landing and kneeling his Gundam it was bone dry. He slung the empty canteen aside and listened to it bounce into the small gap behind his chair, and only then did he notice the disapproving look from Umi. "What?" Yzak asks defensively, but not with hostility. Without answering, she looks away.

"All right, break it down and start searching." Natarle notes over the open radio frequency. All five of the cockpits open up at relatively the same time and ten persons plus one puff-ball hit the ground. In a move not calculated to make Natarle feel any better about her Captain's orders and policy, Dearka, Yzak, Tolle, Kira, and Athrun all load their rifles, yank back on the bolt to arm them, and lock the safety on. Natarle, after hearing the echoing sounds of five assault rifles being loaded at once, adjusts herself into the combat sling on her own assault rifle, trying to not look too nervous; she knew she was one lamb standing in the middle of a pride of lions, and the only thing saving her arse from 'ventilation' was a thin, unspoken order not to.

Yzak followed in the direction that Umi was going, Nicol, Tolle, and Dearka had gone with Fuu headed toward the north half of the chamber, leaving Mokona, Hikaru, Athrun, Kira, and Natarle to form a third group and go south. The three groups diverged, and soon not even footsteps could be heard from the others.

"One question, Athrun," Kira prompts.

"Sure."

"Why'd you get involved?"

The answer only took a second, likely as Athrun had to decipher the true bent of the question. "My mother was on Junius Seven when it was…hit."

"Oh. Sorry."

"Then the drive to stop the _Archangel_ just became worse and worse as events happened. My best friend through the academy, Rusty, was killed by one of the guards on the Strike. When you took it over, two of the GINN units you took down were also close friends of mine: Olor and Miguel. Then that insane trek through Artemis, the Seventh Fleet, the Waltfeld Team, the Morrasim Team, then outside Aube, you and that ship have blazed a trail through some of ZAFT's best. Thus, they sent ZAFT's best to stop you. And even we failed." There was a tone of grim humor to his voice on the last note. "Though, after all is said and done I think we all lost on this one, the three Lady Knights more than the rest of us."

"Huh? What do you mean?" Hikaru asks.

"You said you were on a field trip to Tokyo Tower for your school classes before this happened to you. I'm having enough of a problem dealing with this, and I'm a trained soldier. I couldn't begin to imagine what it's like being torn from a normal urban life and dropped somewhere out in a screwed up wilderness on a totally different world."

"I'm doing all right with it…I think." Hikaru had to stop and think about that one.

"Think about it, Hikaru. All of us are doing 'all right'. We've got the basics: food, water, shelter, protection, and someone to watch our backs. Except, 'doing well' is a long way off for us all, much less 'at home' or 'comfortable'."

"Yeah, I guess you're right. I never really thought of it that way."

"It's easy enough to forget that;" Natarle says, "Where we are when compared to where we want to be."

"Where do you want to be, Lieutenant Commander?"

"Home, really, to see the lake that I grew up next to would be nice." She sighs. "For now, I'll settle for anywhere where I'm not at risk for a quick and strange demise."

A tortured roar drew attention back toward the centerline of the chamber, followed by a three-round burst of assault rifle. Without any words spoken, Hikaru drew her sword from the glove on her left arm, and the three military personnel shouldered their weapons and took general aim in the direction of the threat. Their movements were silent, slow, considered, every step they swept back and forth over the sights of the rifles, their movements flowing from one pillar to the next.

More screaming, more shots. This time, from echo patterns they could tell more rifles were now in play, as well as what appeared to be a magic chant from Fuu. A loud roar, and a sound of heavy winds came through the chamber; a burst of rifle rounds, one of the shots striking a column and embedding itself into, with maybe six inches clearance from Kira's head.

"Kira, Athrun, move left and inward. But be careful, don't get into a crossfire situation." Natarle gestures for their axis of advance, and they do so silently. Natarle went mostly straight toward the centroid of the roaring sound, helped by the fact that the enemy in question appeared to have a glowing green gem in its forehead. As they got closer, they could begin to tell more details, like it was about as tall as one of their Gundams, carried a buckler (3) bigger than they were tall, and could smash one of the columns in the room with just one strike.

Natarle was the first from her group to shoot, putting a three round burst into its head. Even with armor-piercing ammunition, she got no notable result except a dirty look from the tango. The tango refocused on her, followed by the blast of wind attack that sprawled Natarle out, knocked Athrun backwards into a column, put Hikaru on her back, and caused Kira to have to center himself behind a column.

Fire came in from the left, near the center walkway that Yzak and Umi had gone down, and again the enemy was just too large, too thick for even .30-caliber armor piercing ammunition to work right, but it got the enemy to shift aimpoint. That accomplished, Natarle could stand up and reassess the situation, and change her plan. "Kira, Athrun!" She shouts over the echoing of assault rifles.

"Yeah?" Kira shouts back as he centers his sights…

"Catch!" Natarle throws an object to each of the pilots…

"Holy shit!" Athrun had caught it, a Mk.27 fragmentation grenade. Kira caught the same a moment later.

"Toss 'em under that thing at the same time!" She shifts to her right, looking away from the pilots. "Hikaru, when the monster hits the ground, run in and strike that glowing gem with your sword!"

"Right!"

"Athrun, Kira, do it!" They nod, release the safety clips on the 'nades, pull the prototypical safety pin, and ready. Athrun nods to Kira, and they both throw the grenades out at the same time, bouncing once and skidding to a stop right between its legs.

"FRAG OUT!" Natarle shouts and makes damn sure she was covered behind the column. In the moment thereafter she could faintly hear Fuu in the distance squealing, likely as one of the pilots pulled her to safety.

It only took two seconds. The sound of the explosion was beyond deafening, being inside a closed space, it was painful. They could feel the ground shake as the monster went to both knees, now unable to stand properly because of the fragments lanced up and down the insides of its legs and crotch. There were some cheers from the pilots, but now it was time for Hikaru to act, who did. She charged in before the monster could regain its composure and slashed the gem.

Bypassing Natarle's belief that this magic shit was bullshit, the results of the attack on the gem were impossible to ignore. After being fractured by Hikaru, it shattered and revealed a person that looked about ten years old…maybe. Natarle was not quite sure how young he was supposed to be, especially given that he had complete control over the monster while in that gem…

"Damn you! You injured my friend!" _Yep, sounds like a little kid, as well, and thinks like one_. Natarle ceased being impressed, now just disgusted. Who would count a monster like that as a friend, and who would wager their 'friend' in battle? "C'mon! Get up! You have to—wah!" The midget bolts back as the Monster stands up on bleeding legs, gives a massive roar, and charges for a set of massive doors. Several shots rung out, but it doesn't stop, instead punching into the door without reserve; Natarle could hear the door straining but slowly failing. With a shoulder smash it was inside the chamber, and so were the other personnel, ahead of it.

The monster had stopped, to stare at the same thing that Natarle had. After the fact, she had to admit that the Pilot's discipline was greater than hers in this situation. "Guard the Knight! Final Protective Fire!" Yzak shouts, crouches down, centers his assault rifle on the head of the enemy, and starts firing. The others with assault rifles weren't far behind. In response to the ordinance overload, the monster swept-kicked them all, scattering the loose semi-circle in four different directions and injuring each rather badly.

"I won't!" Umi charges forward, toward the monster; "If it means I have to give up my friends, I don't need a Rune God!" She was standing between the monster and the scattered warriors, her sword held in classic fencing forward guard and aimed right at the center of the monster's chest. It reared back to punch her…

"Young lady from another world, thou hast proven unto me the strength of thine heart, the heart that cares for thine comrades. I shall now show unto you my true form." The blinding blue-white flash from behind the group, where the blue dragon was once haunched, gave way to the form of some mechanized unit that matched the size and general characteristics of the Gundams but had a decidedly draconic cut to it. After its true form was manifest, it banged its fists together in front of its chest, and the resulting power wave obliterated the monster. "Magic Knights, know that there are links between you all at many levels, and though thou art of separate worlds, aims, and allegiances thine hearts must be united in purpose or thou shalt fall in battle. Many of thine rank are linked close to another, and that which is borne by one is shared among others of your order."

"I don't really get it, but…" Nicol says.

"Thine hearts are worthy, yet thou art not ready to encompass all that I am at this time. I shall accompany thee until such a time as thou are in need of my services."

The easiest way to explain what happened next was the Rune God took on an energy form, condensed itself down to about a meter-wide ball of energy, and absorbed itself into the center gem on Umi's armor. All eyes were on the Magic Knight as her armor changed form to something a bit heavier and better coverage. Hers was not the only change in the room, however…

"Huh? What the…hell…huh?" From Yzak; he was staring at his left hand as if someone had just cut it off and it was still moving. "How did I…"

"Wow, I guess when the Rune God said we were linked, he wasn't kidding," Nicol says. "Even matches the one Umi has."

"I hope they don't expect me to trade in the Duel," Yzak says testily.

"I wonder if anyone else was so linked," Natarle asks. "Still, we're done here. Let's go."

"I hear that," Athrun says as he starts off toward the Gundams. Before he left, he could not help but look around and wonder: _what is the connection between the Rune Gods, the Pillar, the lands they traveled, and us_?

"Hey, Natarle," Yzak prompts in a sort-of-calm fashion.

"Yes?" She had a half-second to react and catch the assault rifle he had just tossed to her. "What the—"

"Next time I ask for an anti-tank rocket, cough one up." He takes the lead in returning to the Gundams.

-x-x-x-

A piece of paper tape was attached to the frame of Natarle's door. It was a flag, a notice that the others in her conspiracy were ready to operate. Six hours prior, she would have rejoiced that they were ready to begin.

She stepped into her quarters, and pulled out the trinket. Part of her thought she would never be part of any other world except the Earth Alliance Military, but she knew now that the fate given to the _Archangel_ was inescapable, and she was ass-deep in denial about it. Highly unprofessional conduct, she realized; she had been ignoring the grim reality that she didn't know for the grim reality that she wanted to be in.

She could do nothing, let them sort it out themselves, but the honest part of her soul knew that she had to do something. If she did something, it would mean actually renouncing the Earth Alliance ethos of exterminating coordinators, but in the end that wasn't such a bad thing, was it? Lacus Clyne had not been a bad person, Kira Yamato was one of the nicest persons she had ever met, and even the ZAFT officers didn't seem bad if you ignored their status vis-à-vis the war.

Her career was already toast; this much she knew intrinsically, even reporting everything honestly would get her drummed out of the service, and more than likely shot for it. Part of her knew that her mission was to get the _Archangel_ to Alaska, and anything else was immemorial to that. The rest of her knew that getting there would likely not be all that welcome; the whole existence of the _Archangel_ and its involvement with Morgenroete was a massive embarrassment for both countries. Why it was that way, well...

They would probably try to silence the embarrassment, or at least bury it and any witnesses. The Earth Alliance was well known for realpolitik, and the fate of the _Archangel_ that kept coming to Natarle's mind was a case study therein. If not outright destroyed, the ship would be forced into a battle it could not hope to win on a very good day and probably even with all five Gundams, like attack Boaz. There's a hopeless assault in three words.

Blue Cosmos had to lose the war, but so did the PLANTs, for there to be anything left at the end. How do you force both sides to a failure condition with there are only two sides in a war? After a few minutes, Natarle knew she would take a long time to grasp a proper answer to that question.

For now, she drew her pistol, broke it down over the desk in her quarters, and began cleaning it. She had not fired it in a long time, but they still required periodic maintenance. That took thirty minutes. After she was done and assured that the weapon was smooth and ready for action, she dug around in the storage bin under her bed. In there, she found her personal stash undisturbed, an officer's gun belt with four fragmentation grenades, a holster for her pistol, a Mag-Lite flashlight, and six spare magazines for her pistol.

Their plan was to begin the ops at 2300 hours, with the ship planned 'secure' at 0100. Right.

* * *

Author's Chapter Afterword:

In response to a standing question from a review, the lack of Ferio in the story stems from the fact that early on, he saw what happened to the Cyclops that assaulted the Archangel, and decided he wanted no part of a…whatever-the-hell-it-is…that could chunk a Cyclops. It is also unstated but understood that Ferio is/was capable of holding pace with the Magic Knights. That doesn't apply here, right now since the Magic Knights are aboard the _Archangel_, which is pretty fast compared to most nominal forms of transport on Cephiro. Oh, he will show up in later ops, but will figure into it far less than he did in MKR. And he will factor a bit more into the MKR Season 2 section of the story (hint, hint: after the final battle, the Archangel isn't done with Cephiro…yet.) For the record, though, the Magic Knights did have the first encounter with him (where they attacked the magic stone in the Forest of Silence), but immediately thereafter they encountered Athrun and Yzak, separate from Ferio.

So, this chapter beckons the question: whose side is Natarle on? Her own, the dissenters? I'll leave that much up to your imagination, for the time being; the real answer will come soon enough. And when time for the Archangel Audit comes, who's paying the butcher bill? Life can be so confusing at times when you have the echoes of someone else's race war applied to a three-way situation.

It's unstated that before Ascot fled when his monster went psycho, Yzak almost had a bead on him and was planning to drop a three-round burst of thirty-caliber into the midget with the monster control. Just barely missed the opportunity, though; can't win them all. When they go head-to-head once again, Yzak is going to have some choice words for the Summoner, especially after that bullshit spiel about 'hurting his friends'.

I'm not going to say anything about the Link issue between Yzak and Umi, there will come more of that in the next chapter. Plenty more link action, trust me.

Next up: Tin-foil-hat-crew, please stand up and be recognized. The conspiracy is about to go down in a very bloody fashion, and yer all invited to watch it. Plus some character involvement that makes the prior chapters look a bit wimpy…

* * *

Footnotes:

(1): IMM Illustrated Maintenance Manual, IPC Illustrated Parts Catalog. Despite the 'manism' that you don't need the manuals, any real mechanic or technician of something that costs more than $20,000 will tell you that you always check your documents. Period.

(2): CEP Circular Error Probable. Basically means what amount of ordinance will land within a given hit circle. In this case, a CEP of half meant that half his shots landed within a 1 meter circle; I would say it probable that at 500 meters, the Vulcans used should have a CEP of 90 percent to 95 percent. A CEP of half would only be appropriate above 1000 meters, and that on a bad day.

(3): A buckler is a type of (relatively) small shield. Normal bucklers for a human are about 18 inches (1/2 meter) diameter, weigh only a couple pounds, and are fashioned of hardwood and rimmed with an iron or steel band. In this case, the monster is using a five-meter steel disc that is equivalent, but could probably stand up to the CIWS used by the Gundams for a little while…


	5. The Halls Run Red With Blood

(05: The Halls Run Red With Blood)

A/N: For those who do not have a massive exposure to 24-hour time, the following applies:

2200 hours: 10 PM, 2215: 10:15 PM, and so on

2300 hours: 11 PM

0000 hours: midnight (12 AM)

0100 hours: 1 AM

0200 hours: 2 AM

0400 hours: my normal wakeup time

-x-x-x- 2200 hours –x-x-x-

"Reporting to relieve you, Athrun," Nicol says as the Blitz lands on the foredeck.

"Roger that, Nicol. You have the guard. Operations, this is X303 returning to hangar standby."

"Aegis, Captain Ramius, I confirm you are headed in. Grab a quick bite and a thermos of caffeine, pilot, you look like hell."

"Thanks, Cap'n." Athrun parked the Aegis in the first port-side maintenance cube and got out on the catwalk. There was nothing really difficult about the guard schedule as laid out by the Captain, though the whole issue had a double purpose of having a machine with a pilot on the foredeck at all times, and there were easily accessible places on the top of the ship where a Gundam could stand and not be shot by any of the ship's weapons. The Gottfried beam cannons had a maximum slew angle that was a lot more inconvenient in practice than in engineering…

Dearka and Yzak were up and awake in the cafeteria, preparing for their duty shift that would begin at 2400 hours, or at least that's what Athrun thought. The look in Yzak's eyes were telling enough that something was amiss. And he was still wearing that glove that he had come into possession of earlier in the day.

It was a result unlike anything they had expected prior. Not only was the whole of this magical mystery tour unexpected, but Yzak had just become part of the solution by extension. He had little doubt about his place in that solution, since he was still the pilot of the Duel and would not give that up for love nor money, but the fact that he had access to a magical melee weapon in the form of a blue-accented European-style broadsword made the issue all that much more real. Yzak was not trained on swords, but so far he appeared to be managing. Athrun had little doubt that in a level fight Umi could kick his ass, though.

The three girls were asleep, that much Athrun knew. They had a long and rather abusive day, especially Umi. When they got back to the ship, Athrun, Yzak, and Nicol literally had to help them back to their room, though an honest part of the pilots would admit that the toll had been just as bad on them as else, despite being military.

The real reason for their alertness and strange looks was just about obvious, as well. The warning signs were all over the place for anyone who wanted to observe. Some of the crew, maybe as many as 20, were readying to act. To what purpose was about as obvious as a coal pile next to Cleff's statue. This would be the _Archangel_'s equivalent to the communist party takeover of the 1900s, and Athrun was defaulted to the side of the Czar of Russia. He had little doubt that some of the corridors of this ship would be run red with blood and slick with entrails; all he could hope was that in the shooting, nobody important was lost.

"You guys ready?"

"Nothin' to it, right?" Dearka asks, nodding his head.

"Simple enough. Just keep your eyes moving and try to stay awake." Athrun nods to them and heads over to the mess line. There was only a mechanic in it right now, who was 'shootin some bull' with the chef. The cooks were cool people, accustomed to the vagaries of pilots, and actually got along with the ZAFT personnel and the Lady Knights.

"How's it goin', pilot?"

"Guard duty still. What you got fast and fresh?"

"Turkey surprise, potatoes, carrots, and spinach."

"What's the surprise?" Athrun asks suspiciously.

"Y'know, I'm not really sure. I did take a picture of it before I butchered it, though, and it passed the analyzer tests for edibility, so…" The picture in question looked a lot like a Tribble from Star Trek, with a goofy face and eight spindly legs that ended in white poufs. (1)

"I'll pass on the turkey. Load me up on the rest."

"Hey! Nobody's died from it yet, and you'll enjoy it, trust me."

"He's right, Zala, that was pretty good stuff," Yzak half-shouts from the table across the way.

Athrun sighs; "It'll probably be the little things that end up killing me." He looks up from the counter surface, "All right, load me up."

"Enjoy."

Athrun took it back to the table where the ZAFT pilots were, and was accompanied not a minute later by Mu La Flaga. He had a massive thermos of coffee, and at a guess was probably going to be the duty officer for the bridge for the next eight hours, starting at or slightly after midnight. "How's it going, guys?"

"Man, you guys don't screw around with security measures," Yzak grumps. "Rotating guards, stationed personnel, all that happy shit. No wonder you're a pain in the ass to infiltrate and assault."

"I'd think ZAFT would do better, y'know?"

"Nah, you got us beat in the paranoia department by double, at least."

"You tried the Turkey Surprise?" Dearka asks, eyeing the serving line warily.

"Nah, I'm a bit afraid to."

"I think I'm brave enough to try…"

The crux of the conversation was not in the words, but the demeanor, Athrun could sense. They all knew something was going to go down, and they were readying themselves physically and mentally for it. The challenge would be high, but not insurmountable. Technically, since the Mobile Suits were all on the 'Czar' side of the equation, the greatest cards were held by Athrun and his friends. The enemy could force a no-win scenario by rendering the ship inop or killing personnel, but they had no real victory condition that they could easily win. Coordinators, especially military-trained and ready Coordinators, are something hard to kill on the best of days.

Surprisingly, the Turkey Surprise tasted really good, better than the average turkey loaf and a helluva lot better than combat rations.

-x-x-x- 2215 hours –x-x-x-

Kira's 'active duty' rotation was 0400 to 1600, twelve hours where he had to be within one minute of boarding his Gundam, but on the other hand the break room for the pilots was literally adjacent to the hangars. At 2200 hours, however, he was usually asleep, but he was still within two minutes of his Gundam in terms of absolute movement. It usually took him a minute or two to get into his pilot suit.

That ended abruptly when the bell on his door rang, signaling someone wanted to enter. Forewarned of the coming hazard, he reached up to the pistol between the two pillows he had on his bed and clicked the safety off. That much had taken hours of frustrating training on his own part; he was a greenhorn when it came to personal armed defense. "Who's there?"

"It's me, Kira. I need to talk to you," The voice that came through the speaker was that of Flay, who was becoming ever-the-more-clingy and difficult to get rid of when he just wanted some peace and quiet. He silently surmised that that was the untold side-effect of a personal relationship: they consume all, especially free time and money.

"C'mon in." Kira says wearily as he clicks the safety back on. Where it was had to be the safest place for it, unless Flay wanted to do something with him tonight… She stepped in and far enough forward to allow the door to close. "What's up?"

"Kira…well…do you know what this is?" The glove she showed him in the flashlight light gave off an eerie blue reflection.

"Yeah, it's a magic weapon, like what Umi and Yzak have."

"Eeeggghhh, that means I'm somehow linked to them?" She slumps visibly. "Why couldn't I be linked to you?"

"Like you need an excuse…" Kira mutters.

"What was that?" In an accusatory tone.

"Nothing important. Okay, put it on over your left hand."

Flay does so; the gem glimmers faintly. "Kinda tacky, really."

"Fashion and combat are mutually exclusive. Anyway, hold your right hand over the gem, and pull it up and away."

The result was a blue flash of light, and in the flashlight ray she was suddenly holding a kodachi, and an ornate one at that. The hilt was deep sea blue with a pair of sapphires inlaid in the guard, and the handle was blue with a white ray-skin wrapping in the traditional style, and the pommel was capped with an aquamarine gem. "Whoa! But…it's short."

"Umi's sword isn't all that long, either. Yzak has the longest between you three, but not by much. Here, may I?" Kira holds out his hand for the blade; Flay does pass it over. After it touches his hand, it turns to water and falls to the ground, then reforms. "Well, that was weird." He tries again, and gets the same effect. "Okay, then, I guess I can't touch it."

Flay reclaims her blade. "And what do I do if I don't need it any more?"

"I saw the girls just take it and press it into the gem on their glove."

Flay tries it, and it disappears into the gem in energy form. "Oh, this is so weird. I don't know the first thing about sword fighting."

"For that, you'd be best to talk to Hikaru or Umi. I pilot Gundams, my only involvement with swords is the beam sabers on Aile or the Schewrt Gewehr on Sword."

"That's better than I know." Flay sits down on the edge of his bed and lays down more or less on top of the covers over him. "So, do you think this means I have magic now? How do I use it?"

"You're definitely asking the wrong person about that." Kira says with obviously feigned disgust. As far as he was concerned, magic was about the same to him as asking a six-year-old kid to understand and apply quantum physics.

"Man, Kira, you're just no fun to needle. But you are fun to play with…"

"Flay…" No sense resisting, he figured, since she had to sleep sometime as well. And for any shortfall of sleep he had, there was always his good friend caffeine.

-x-x-x- 2225 hours –x-x-x-

Given that the Gundams now ran a 24-hour schedule, so did the mechanics for the Gundams. When there was a machine unused, the mechanics were rabidly working it over, making sure it was in proper condition to operate at any given time. After five days now, they had it down to an art, and could often do the external inspection and cleaning long before it finished recharging from its time out in service. When the pilot was off-duty, that is when the machine went through the full internal checks.

Due to the frequency and voracity of monster attacks, all the machines were kept under full arms at all times, including both Skygraspers with Launcher Strike pack sets (the Archangel only had three of each of the packs, including the new IWSP and Lightning Striker packs). Recovering the packs in usable condition was a high priority, but nobody maintained illusions here: better the pack than the Gundam, and better the machines than the lives that piloted them. Keeping them armed gave a ration of consternation to the 'tin-foil-hat-crew', the paranoids that believed the ZAFT personnel would try to subvert or destroy the ship. Ahem. They'd had hours to do that, in transit to the home of the second Rune God, and nobody had done anything violent yet.

Sai and Kuzzey were down in the bay, watching the Aegis get put through the external inspection at the same time the Buster was being closed up from its full internal inspection. They had found out that all five machines had been designed so that a full internal inspection could be made without invasive techniques: every component and frame structure could be accessed from at least two maintenance accesses, and the armor sections were easily removed if needed. It reminded Sai a lot of some of the fluff text for an ancient boardgame, Battletech, where some units were known to be cranky for maintenance and some a breeze. If anything, Sai was really thankful they were not stuck somewhere in Battletech: getting repair components would be easy, but taking down a Battlemech, which had its heavy weapons mounted internally and behind a lot of armor, would have been a grade-A bitch. Sai had little doubt the Gundam would win, but the question remained how much damage they took before the battle was over.

"So, what's the betting look like? Us or Zagato?"

"Right now, betting is in favor of Zagato's team," Sai says, sighing. "Not that it would matter in the end, the only way to claim would be in the afterlife."

"Funny." Kuzzey shrugs, looking down into the bays that were empty. "It's strange, really, y'know? This ship was built to carry a dozen Mobile Suits and two fighters, and has seven by fiat. We had three when we left Aube. What was the Alliance thinking?"

"The same thing ZAFT was. Mass-produced suits. They just didn't have them set up yet, since the five here were prototypes, and good ones at that. Too costly to mass produce."

"Could you imagine an army of Strike Gundams? Kiss any opposition goodbye." Kuzzey does the usual motion of blowing a kiss, which elicits a wave and shout from Umi, who was still awake amazingly. Kuzzey quite immediately and thoroughly blushed when he realized what he had done.

"Nice. In one accidental stroke you're already ahead of the Duel pilot in that race." Sai returns the wave for Kuzzey, and Umi ducks into one of the personnel elevators, headed up to the catwalk they were on.

"So, how're you getting along with Flay?" Kuzzey asks to take the heat off himself.

"I'm not." Sai replies deadpan. "I've already lost and I accept that. Kira's just got too much airhead mystique in him for me to compete."

Kuzzey had to suppress a riotous laugh at that thought. "Y'know, a year ago I would'a' sworn up and down Kira was a normal guy doing the normal things. I never imagined that he was some sort of super-elite Coordinator that could reprogram and use a machine he's never touched before, much less to fight in a war against other Coordinators."

"Kinda sucks, too. He's still a nice guy, but the battle has done some things to him. He ain't the same person as he was when he walked into Kato's engineering lab." The elevator had arrived at their level, and Umi was seen stepping off. "Your turn. Later."

"Wha—crap."

"What's goin' on?" Umi asks as the internal access door closes behind Sai.

"Nothin'. Just loungin' between shifts, watchin' the mechanics work." Umi nods and leans over the rail, looking down at the activity below. "What were you doing?"

"Oh, couldn't sleep." Umi sighs; "Everything's happening so fast. Doesn't it worry you?"

"No, not as much as it going slow." Kuzzey was trying to avoid looking in her direction, if nothing else to avoid blushing. "If we stop or slow down, we become a target."

"Oh. I never thought of it that way."

"Hmm." The thought wasn't even his, it was something that Murrure and Mu had been discussing after the battle in the Water Shrine. Kuzzey shoves such thoughts out of his mind; the strategy of the battle is the Captain's issue, not his. "What were you doing…before you came here?"

"I was on a school field trip to Tokyo Tower. You do know what that is, right?"

"Yeah, it's one of the few Industrial-age or prior monuments that survive in my time. Supposed to be a beautiful tourist attraction, looking out over old Tokyo."

"You've never been there?"

"No. I was born in a space colony and never left there." He smirks, thinking about Heliopolis before it became a short-lived and incredibly violent battlefield. "I really never intended on leaving Heliopolis, either. Until it was destroyed in a battle."

"Oh. Sorry."

"Don't apologize. Aube will eventually rebuild it, and I will be able to go back to it. If we survive this nightmare."

Umi stomps her right foot, which resounded quite clearly in the steel plates below her. "I will not tolerate you talking like that! We _can_ win and we _will_ go home! Think positive!" She humphs rather exasperatedly and storms into the ship proper; Kuzzey could not tell if it was an act or if he had inadvertently pissed her off. Either way, he could not help but note that he had an excellent way with pissing off ladies, he did it to Mir and Natarle all the time without even trying.

-x-x-x- 2240 hours –x-x-x-

In homage to the Murphy's Laws of Combat, the action began 20 minutes before the slated start time, in an accidental encounter that turned very bloody very fast. 'No plan ever survives contact' combined with 'Exceptions prove the rule—and destroy the plan'.

Mu had been patrolling corridors in and around the levitator when he came across a small formation of them. Unlike the others against the conspiracy, he had specifically made sure he had an assault rifle with him at this time, and when he came across them he fired first, since anyone under arms right now would be on the wrong side of the operation.

The corridors of the _Archangel_ chattered and echoed with the sound of an assault rifle, as the four assailants took four or more rounds apiece of armor-piercing ammunition, designed to go through body armor. Mu slung two of the rifles over his back, picked up a fragmentation grenade they had, and four extra magazines before departing the scene post haste.

An alarm went off in the bridge, signaling that gunfire had occurred within the ship proper. Murrue nodded to Sai, who had just entered the bridge, and then pulled her own pistol. She trusted the bridge crew; nobody on the bridge right now would be part of the conspiracy against her or the Magic Knights.

The sound made it to the cafeteria, where the three ZAFT pilots were at still. As soon as they heard it, they upended their table, oriented it toward the door, and armed their weapons. The cooks were well past surprised, as were the two mechanics and one ship's crew in there, but nothing was really said about it.

Hikaru stirred slightly at the noise. Fuu had been wide awake at the time, and immediately recognized it for what it was. She, of all three the Lady Knights, knew that part of the crew was planning a mutiny and she was part of the equation—the part that was expected to be shot. Silently, she drew her sword and readied; she never even began to dream that she would have to take a human life to get this done, excepting Zagato, but the rules just changed again.

Umi ducked into a storage closet, where another member of the crew was hiding from the gunshots. Kuzzey wasn't far behind, and suddenly the closet took on a very crowded air…

Natarle heard the gunshots, and prepared to do what she had to do.

Kira and Flay were too engrossed in kissing to notice the gunshots.

-x-x-x- 2245 hours -x-x-x-

"This is bullshit. We're ass-deep in a dying world and all they can think about is their god-damned Blue Cosmos beliefs. This sucks."

"Don't bother repeating it, Dearka," Athrun says testily.

"Hey, kids, here." One of the cooks was out from behind the serving counter, and had set up a light machine gun on the rim of the table.

"Hey, whoa, I didn't know you—"

"I do more than just cook." (2) The sound of the bolt going back and forward was a lot louder than any of them expected. It was even the same caliber as the Earth Alliance standard assault rifle, but belt-fed and monster. "Happiness is a belt-fed weapon, kids. Keep that in mind next time you go out."

"Right, sure, Mr. Psycho," Dearka chants drolly, still focusing on the door more than else.

"They come." They let the first one in for free; the second of them took four in the chest from the light machine gun, then the first was expertly dropped with two shots from Yzak, one in the left eye, one in the center of his forehead, and one in the left cheek from Athrun. The third guy was not in the room yet, so he ducked out of the way, but not before taking a round in the right forearm, causing him to drop his pistol.

A fourth stuck his assault rifle around the door jamb and unloaded a magazine wildly. None of the rounds hit, but the fact that he tried had their attention. The cook was back up and braced after the enemy pulls back to reload, and he gets an idea based on the fact that the halls of the _Archangel_ were all technically armored. With a little estimation on his part, he aims to a certain point on the wall opposite the door that was contested, and begins firing one long, continual burst. All four of them could see the rounds sparking off the wall, eating the paint up like it wasn't even there, and they could hear the rounds sailing in every direction. It didn't take more than thirty rounds before they heard a loud, tortured scream and the guy with the assault rifle collapsed into view of the cafeteria persons, a round having transited the forward part of his head from right to left and creating a massive mess.

"Oh, shit, Kenny!" The other guy says. "You killed Kenny, you bastards!" (3)

Yzak had the last: he switched his pistol over to his left hand and drew his new weapon, the broadsword. Though some would lament it, the first time the sword would be used would be in defense of his life against a terrorist. As Yzak approached the door, he checked down the corridor to verify nobody else was coming, then rounded the door frame and went in. The range to the enemy was two meters, and a simple thrust put the sword through his chest halfway up to the hilt, including through the body armor.

"Clear left!" Dearka shouts as he verifies the hallway was clear in that direction.

"Clear right," the cook shouts as he sweeps that direction.

"Attention all hands, this is Captain Ramius. There are rogue personnel on the ship at this time, attempting to subvert the ship, damage critical systems and/or kill personnel. All crewmembers are advised to avoid traveling throughout the ship until I announce an all-clear. All involved personnel, initiate 'fastbreak'. That is all."

"You heard her. Time to get to work."

-x-x-x- 2250 hours -x-x-x-

"Archangel, Blitz, what's going on in there?"

"The mutiny has begun, Blitz. Hold your position. You know what to do," Murrue says.

"Yeah, if the shit hits, I take the girls and walk."

"You and any other Gundams that can be evacuated," She notes coldly. The initiated operation 'fastbreak' was just such an operation; get the pilots, get the Magical Knights, and get them the hell off the _Archangel_ until the matter was settled.

The link went silent for a few moments. "What was the purpose anyway? Why the war?"

"You're asking the wrong person, Nicol," Murrue notes drolly. It was a question she had been asked more than once, but without an answer she had none to give. The worst was when she had to shunt aside the question from one of the Gundam pilots, they were the ones out on the front line doing the dirty work and she didn't have a damn good reason for it. "You know, Nicol, that may be it."

"Huh? You lost me."

"There may be no real reason to the war. Sure, at the beginning they may have had reason, but not now I guess."

The door beeps three times. "Murrue, it's me." The voice was that of Mu La Flaga.

"Check it." The door was breach-sealed right now, to prevent access in or out even (theoretically) by force. Sai turns on the security monitors and checks; Mu was alone, but had three assault rifles.

"He's alone."

Murrue unlocks and opens the door. Mu steps in, loaded for bear and ready for battle. "Here." He passes one rifle to Newman, and one to Murrue. After he was inside, Murrue reseals the door.

"How's it going?"

"I got one, and saw evidence of another group downed outside of the cafeteria. I haven't seen any of the pilots or the Lady Knights. I think I saw Flay enter Kira's quarters, which means he may be in there."

"I am not going to say anything." Murrue says, more to herself than else; the fact that she had said that much constituted a comment on that situation regardless of intent.

The door beeps again. "Captain, this is Crewman Ridders with three. I have wounded out here and need help attending to them. Can you spare two persons?"

Murrue looks to Sai, who looks to the monitors again. He looks back to her and shakes his head definitively. She takes stance, and without any hesitation yanks one of the grenades off Mu's belt. She goes through the motions of arming it, though she leaves the lever in place, so as to not set the timer. With her right hand she reaches back and opens the blast shield, then nods to Sai to open the door. When it does, Murrue tosses the grenade out into the hall and trips the blast shield to close again.

There was a bit of unreality to it. They heard the blast, they even saw the blast shield flinch from it, but other than that, nothing. No massive movie bullshit, no fireball, just the blast and that was that.

"Sai?" Mu asks.

"Got three of them. The fourth is limping away." **Crack crack**. "Not any more." He did grimace; even if it was on the security monitors, he still just witnessed someone die. As to who shot him…

"Wait, wait, was that Natarle?" Murrue asks, shocked by what she thought she saw. "Rewind that, Sai."

He did, and the shooter was indeed Natarle. "Does this constitute a frag, or is she on our side?" Mu asks.

"I don't know. She was all up my rear about proper military protocol, but now…"

"Wait," Sai says, "Look." He taps the screen just below her left hand.

"No frigging way. That's…"

More shooting could be heard echoing throughout the hall before Mu could complete the sentence.

-x-x-x- 2255 hours -x-x-x-

The way they had set up their move and fire plans meant that the fourth group should be converging on the Lady Knights' quarters right now, given the offset in start times. A frag grenade was out of the question; she could not tell if the girl's room was open right now or not, but one of the guys down the way was furiously trying to hack the control panel with a maintenance card and guessing the passwords. That told Natarle that they were not in yet, but out of courtesy to the room occupants she would do it the 'quiet' way.

Natarle brings her pistol back behind her right leg and clicks the safety off, to prevent it from being heard. She wanted to make sure she had everything stealth until she jumped them. When next she peeks around the corner slowly, she notices that they were all facing the wrong way. This was the time to act.

She charged around the corner, armed with both a blade and her pistol. As she ran in she fired the pistol as best as she could, but her aimpoint was jumping from hell to breakfast and back courtesy of her stride. She hit two of them in the body armor, one in the arm, and missed completely the fourth. Her weapon locked open, empty, before she even got to them, but that is what the blade was for. While still running, she dropped aside the pistol and changed the blade from her left hand to the right, giving her the advantage in the close quarters of a ship's hallway.

When in close, her first action is to take off the arm of the nearest of the tangos. Her saber went up and through his forearm, then out into the air gap between his arm and chest, then into the side of his chest and up through his shoulder blade and finally out the top of his shoulder. A completely clean cut that removed a chunk of his body as well as his arm; not a scream, nothing but wide-eyed shock as he fell aside to the ground. The sword, now headed upward, came down onto the next tango after gouging through the ceiling of the corridor, this time the blade passed downward through the tango's helmet and she had to 'saw' it out of his head with a draw-back stroke. Needless to say the aforementioned enemy was dead before he hit the ground. Not really by intention, as the sword went backwards from the draw-stroke, it chopped through the left leg of the guy trying to hack his way into the room, instantly taking him out of the fight as he hit the ground separate from his left lower leg that was detached just above the knee.

The fourth tango, one that had taken a shot in the body armor and was feeling it, tossed his rifle at the feet of their assailant and put his hands up in the classic 'I surrender' fashion. Foregoing chopping his head off, she produced a set of handcuffs to use on him.

"Up slow, face against this wall. Now." The enemy did as ordered rather meekly, since her sword was still dripping wet with blood. The third of their ranks had quit shrieking and squirming, slowing down from blood loss and shock. The other two were down and if not immediately dead then close enough.

"What the hell? I thought you were on our side!"

"That ended when Blue Cosmos entered this equation."

"This is bullshit," the thus-unnamed engine mechanic says. "You'll die with those Coordinator scum and these freak-girls, mark my words."

"Life and death mean less than duty." Natarle says as she keys in her officer override on the control panel. It unlocks the door audibly; she then hits the intercom button. "Fuu, Hikaru, Umi, this is Natarle. I'm coming in. I have one prisoner from the enemies."

She jambs her thumb into the door manual open button, and it opens…to where Natarle was staring down Fuu's exceptionally long sword at a distance of no more than a third of a meter. "Who…whose side are you on?"

"Probably my own." She finches her sword at the tango. "You, in here, move slow. Anything stupid and you will lose your head."

"What the hell is this?" He asks but walks in slowly. Hikaru and Fuu were both in there, dressed and armed, but Umi was missing.

"Cuff your arms around the bedpost. Now." Natarle drops the handcuffs next to one of the posts.

"This is illegal! You can't do this—Eeeggh!" He chokes when the tip of her sword comes to rest a matter of a centimeter from his nose.

"Do you want your head attached at the end of the day?"

"Well…yes?"

"Then do as ordered. I may be able to talk the Captain out of executing you, but if you don't cooperate you _will_ be executed. Clear?"

"Aye, ma'am." He picks up the handcuffs and dutifully uses them to secure himself to Hikaru's bedpost. He wasn't going anywhere now, since the post was attached to both floor and ceiling.

"Get your gear together and follow me. Be fast about it." Natarle draws the tango's pistol and arms it, then holsters the weapon. Her saber went into the glove on her left hand—

"No way! You're part of the link with Umi? Why didn't you tell us?" Hikaru asks in a rush.

"Because I was in no position to," Natarle says in a very frustrated tone.

"What? I do not understand," Fuu notes.

"If I had said anything prior to now, these maggots would have shot me peremptorily." She jerks her thumb at the handcuffed enemy.

"You're damn straight we would have!"

"Don't give me an excuse to behead you," Natarle says darkly. He grimaced at that, but said no more.

"I'm ready." Hikaru says, yet she had not disappeared her sword. Fuu had, however, and was getting the last of her survival pack ready.

"Follow me." Natarle thumbs open the door and looks around outside in the corridor and was content with what she saw: just a whole lot of dead people. Not pleased, per se, since the fact that these were highly trained and otherwise human persons that she had downed, but the necessity of the task had become infinitely clear over the hours past.

Out in the corridor, they both gasped. Natarle figured they would be less than human—or quite possibly superior to all other Humans—if they didn't react. One without an arm and a chunk of his shoulder; one with his head split in half; one without a leg from mid-thigh down, having bled a river down the hall, the carnage was something a professional soldier rarely saw unless they were assigned to the front lines. Natarle was Special Forces; she was trained to be very disciplined, but looking back on her own handiwork still turned her stomach. The necessity of the matter did not always dovetail with the execution, nor did it correlate to her personal feelings.

Natarle led them fast toward the hangar, on the theory that the enemy would not realize that Murrue's plan was to evacuate the Gundams and personnel if necessary. Right now the enemy had lost on all their objectives, and anything they could hope to accomplish would be petty vandalism and damaging equipment. Two halls away, they got to the corridor that led to the pilot's break room—

"Shit!" Someone shouts in the opposite direction Natarle was looking, and when she reverses her viewpoint it was just enough time to drive herself backwards into Hikaru and force her out of the line of fire.

The burst mostly missed them. Mostly; Natarle went backwards and ended up collapsing backwards. Two rounds had entered her torso, one breaking her fourth rib and splintering badly, another below the floating rib that had gone straight through. Two more rounds hand entered her left hip and broke it badly; a fifth round had got the center of her left thigh, and the round had enough force and penetration behind it that it want through and into her right leg.

"G—go back…now…" Natarle barely manages to say, as she tries to prop herself against the wall. In the process, she strips off her glove and sits on it, on the off-chance that they would not shoot her again.

"But—"

"Now…go…bridge." Natarle's consciousness fades.

Hikaru and Fuu double back, but it only lasted about five seconds before a cook carrying a belt-fed machine gun crossed into the hallway, followed shortly by Mu and Dearka, then Athrun and Yzak.

"Get down!" Mu shouts, and both Magic Knights crouch down on pure reaction. The cook unloads ten rounds downrange, followed by Mu putting a pair of three round bursts down the hall and Dearka firing several single shots.

The main shooting done, Dearka, Yzak, and the cook all move down the hall toward the threat direction. Mu and Athrun move to Natarle. "Doesn't look good." Mu checks her for a pulse, and finds one. "She's still alive, though."

"Whose side is she on?"

"Her own, probably." Mu looks back to Fuu. "Can you help her?"

"Yes." Fuu applies her hand to Natarle's uninjured shoulder. "_Winds of Healing_!"

It visibly stopped the bleeding, but apparently did not handle all the damage in one shot. "At least she won't bleed out now." Athrun notes.

Mu wasn't paying attention to her at present. "Murrue, Mu. How many more?"

"All ship monitors show clear, all duty stations report no activity. We may have got them all. How's your end?"

"I have two of the Magic Knights and three of the pilots."

"Mu—we have a problem. Someone's trying to break into Kira's room. Can you get there?"

"Moving now! Make sure you radio if someone else shows up." He clicks his radio off. "Yzak, Dearka, protect these three. Get them into your Gundams and await orders."

"Yeah," Yzak says with a neutral inflection, which Mu interpreted that he still wasn't comfortable with taking orders from an Alliance officer.

"I'm coming with you," Athrun says as he picks up an assault rifle.

-x-x-x- 2300 hours -x-x-x-

"Kira, I'm scared…"

"Don't worry, Flay." Kira clicks the safety off his pistol and aims about a half-meter inside the door, awaiting the inevitable.

The door slides open about two seconds before a loud tearing sound comes to mind, one that generated a lot of blood on the frame of Kira's door. One had gotten in, but he was looking out the door and not at the room occupants, at least until he checked his surroundings and noticed Kira had a pistol pointed at his head. "Oh, crap," he says after he realizes what had happened to him.

"Put it down," Kira says simply; the enemy does comply after a moment.

"Hey, kid, you all right in there?" Mu asks from next to the doorway.

"Yeah, he's dropped his weapon."

"Can I come in?"

"Sure." Mu steps in, immediately centering his assault rifle on the enemy and not taking it off him. From Mu's expression, he couldn't figure out something… "What's up, Commander?"

"I thought I saw Flay come in here earlier tonight."

"She did," Kira replies deadpan.

"All right, asshole, up slow, hands behind your head." Mu was now basically directly behind the insurgent, and he did as ordered. "Sorry 'bout the mess, Kira. We're going to be in transit for several days, so you'll have plenty of time to clean up."

"Thanks." Kira's voice held no trace of emotion.

"Start walking;" Mu spikes the guy in the back with the barrel of his assault rifle to emphasize the point.

It only took thirty seconds before Kira could hear no trace of them. Strangely, the door had not closed; Kira figured one of the sensors had been coated with blood. He stood up, rummaged in a box next to his book rack that held cleaning supplies, and pulled out a cloth rag and surface cleaner. With a bit of work, he was able to remove most of the traces of blood from the frame so his door would shut. The rest he would get tomorrow morning.

"It's safe, Flay." After a few moments, Flay wanders out of Kira's latrine and back into his bed.

"This makes no sense. Why now are they trying to kill you—us—them?"

"I don't know." Kira laid back down and cuddled up with Flay. He may have objected to their relation on a few levels, but the comfort was worth more than the propriety of the matter…or the morality. Having someone want to kill you and they failed just because they were looking the wrong way was not the most endearing of feelings. And sometimes, a person just needed the comfort after such a problem.

-x-x-x- 2330 hours -x-x-x-

The word got around the ship in a hurry. The rebellion had failed. The ship was still in the Captain's hands. No damage had been incurred to the ship (worth mentioning). No personnel had been killed.

When the Captain called an all-hands assembly (excepting the doctor and Natarle, and the pilots), everyone showed up out of respect for the Captain or fear of her wrath. Murrue figured it inevitable, but unjustified. She had to do what she had to do to save the ship, because the ship can't be run by any less than 95 personnel, and right now they were standing right at that, not including the pilots, Lady Knights, or bridge crew. The mechanics would have to scale back on working on the machines to keep the ship proper from falling apart. And she certainly can't save the ship when there are terrorists aboard, trying to sabotage the ship, undermine command authority, or kill personnel.

"All right, people, I'm only going to say this once. If you don't believe in trying to save this world, Cephiro, is the path to getting ourselves home, I don't want you on this ship. It is that simple. You all know what the past hour has been about, and I don't need to tell you which side you should be on. Decide within the next six hours whose side you are on. You may leave the ship without prejudice if you so choose; you will be issued an assault rifle and survival gear, and we will take actions to avoid injury to you to during any upcoming battles, but it ends there. Any questions?"

There were no questions.

"All personnel dismissed. Report to the bridge within the next six hours if you believe you can no longer remain on this ship."

-x-x-x- 0000 hours –x-x-x-

"You think it's safe to get out now?"

"I haven't heard any gunshots for a long time, I guess its safe now," Kuzzey says in a tone that made it sound like he was trying to convince himself of that as much as Umi.

"Good. I'm starting to get a cramp in my leg," the mechanic notes.

"How do you open this door from the inside?" Umi asks, since she was the one nearest it right now.

"The lighted panel next to your right hand, press the pink button."

She presses the button, then collapses backwards as the door slid away and took away her support. Kuzzey piles out next, sprawled out on the floor next to Umi, and the Mechanic manages to vault clear of the room without stomping on either of them.

"Holy crap, it's so nice to _breathe_!" Kuzzey says in a very exasperated voice. The temperature of the room had elevated quickly with three people in it, and sometime around the third group of shooting it had become so hot that simply standing around was making all three of them sweat.

"That was not very amusing. Still, beats the hell out of getting shot."

"I may never look at my bedroom closet the same way again," Umi says exasperatedly.

"You know, I don't think I want to know what was going on in there." Miriallia shines a flashlight into the room, then clicks it off and shrugs. "Oh, the Captain is looking for you three. Better report to the bridge."

-x-x-x- 0530 hours -x-x-x-

Nautical twilight had begun, just as they came to the next continent in their journey. Murrue had them land the ship 1 kilometer inland from the sea's edge to disembark the dissenters.

Five had decided that they did not want any part of what Murrue had to do. The rest of the crew had made it quite clear that they had come this far, they'd follow Murrue into the bowels of Hell if necessary. Most were already disenchanted with the Earth Alliance; the rest weren't far behind. It was the die-hards that decided they weren't going to play with the Captain, so the Captain had voted them off the ship. End of story.

They had assembled at the personnel / small vehicle entrance in the hangar and were awaiting the Captain's final appearance. She had arrived more or less on time, and two of the duty mechanics had two crates with them.

"All right, you five have decided to completely break with the ship. I'll report that to the brass…if we ever get to Alaska. No prejudice, as I said; these two crates are yours. Take 'em and start walking." Two of the five were the ones captured alive during the fighting, the other three were fresh…and displeased.

They did as ordered, taking the crates out of the _Archangel_ and not looking back.

That left one task for the ship to do before continuing on their operations. Kira had volunteered, despite the fact that he was one of the persons at hazard of being killed in the rebellion. Out on the ground, not far from where they landed, the Strike had dug twenty neat graves with its hands, one for each of the crewmembers that had dissented and died in the trying. Technically they deserved no such accolade, but the Captain could not stomach just dumping them overboard over a foreign ocean. A few spare mechanics had helped position the bodies, and Kira finished closing the graves up.

Author's Chapter Afterword:

* * *

Blood, blood, guts, and more blood.

I don't really know what insane part of me decided to make the link between the original Magic Knight and the others a four-way link, but at the end of the day, it might be amusing. At the least, it shocked Natarle out of her denial, and may get Flay to do something more than just cling to Kira, scared crapless most the time. Now, how to integrate them into the battles…

Natarle survived the shots she took, barely, and mostly thanks to Fuu's healing ability. Surviving, however, was only the beginning, as she's going to be laid up for a few days and unable to do anything major until she's recovered most of her use of her legs. As to her status vis-à-vis the Magic Knights, well, suffice it to say she's going to have to prove she's on the level to the ZAFT soldiers before they'll respect her. The bodies they found, however, have already put her up two points despite Nicol having puked out twice after encountering that bloodbath. There is something about seeing someone's wig split by a sword that just does those things to people.

Now, one thing that most people don't get about body armor is that body armor is not a cure-all for gunshots and frag. Most body armor is not spec'd to stop a 30-caliber round except beyond 150 yards. Most assault rifles use a thirty-caliber round, or worse, a .223-caliber round that is both more penetrating and more unpredictable in close quarters. Thus, the net effects of the shooting that Mu and the crazy cook did are on par, not even counting the armor-piercing ammo. Add that into the equation, and the close-quarters battles get real bloody real fast. The catch is, the AP ammo was all held by Murrue's faction, since Mu figured (correctly) that something like this would happen eventually. So, what Natarle got shot with was common sub-machine gun rounds, not assault rifle rounds, else she would likely have been killed faster than Fuu could have healed her.

Note that I am not above killing main or secondary characters. Natarle got lucky this time; next time she may not get that luxury, and the same applies to any other persons that swing their bums out in the breeze. Battles (and my set of dice) do weird things, especially to heroes.

Next up: Ascot and Caldena get an education in why you _do not_ piss off elite military personnel and expect to get away with it…

* * *

Footnotes: (Long overdue for anyone who read this prior)

(1): I got this idea from an 'advertisement' picture in the game Postal 2: Share The Pain. In the mall, the animal shop, on the wall to the right of the counter is a picture of it, with the caption 'strange thing found out back in the alley' or something approximating that. The price tag listed is a bargain, provided it doesn't try eating your arse. Too bad you can't actually buy it in the game.

(2): Props to anyone who can guess which movie this one was inspired by.

(3): It's been at least five years since I've seen South Park, but I still couldn't resist this one.


	6. Who Defines Right and Wrong

(06: Who Defines Right And Wrong)

(Author's Foreword: The last chapter was kinda 'meh' even in my opinion. We apologize for the inconvenience, and we now return you to your regularly-scheduled cluster----.)

(A/n: I just switched over to using OpenOffice instead of M$word for preparing docs. If you see some funky formatting or misspellings, please point them out to me, thx.)

PERSONAL LOGFILE ENTRY

BADGEIRUEL, NATARLE

_The events of the past week, or in essence the events since this whole tour started in Heliopolis, have been so far outside the bounds of anything I even remotely expected as to constitute a visit from little, green, squeaking aliens. Granted, the attack on Heliopolis was expected, but the aftermath was not. The collapse of Artemis, the descent to Earth, the battle against the Desert Tiger, the battles in the Pacific, all these could be considered a logical procession of events in the course of the war between the Alliance and ZAFT, if one would venture the arrogant belief that ZAFT wants our head on a pike. Given the attitudes of the four personnel from ZAFT that are presently on the ship, at least one unit of the ZAFT forces does want our heads on a pike, though what is left of that resentment is more or less personal, and individually varying from one to the next._

_The incident that has brought us to the planet Cephiro, and the ensuing chain of events have really warped any sense of proper military discipline or regulation, above and beyond being completely cut off from the Atlantic Federation. The necessities of our present situation now require us to solve the ills of this world before we can begin to even contemplate returning home to the ills of our own. Not that I really worry about the concerns of this world on a professional level, but one must be solved before the other can be done. I do find, however, on a human level this world is pretty much in the same boat as that from which we hail, facing an imminent annihilation of all persons, if not at least some. The difference is this one can be easily defined as being one person causing the trouble at hand; at home, the conflict is more nebulous, though no less real than here on Cephiro._

_I have little doubt that there is no room for the conflict of home in the issues of here. That being said, I cannot completely countenance the actions that Captain Ramius has taken with regards to local persons and the four ZAFT pilots that seem to be victim to this scenario as well. The list is categorical, touching on just about every point of military conduct and procedure vis-a-vis a declared enemy force, from access to weapons to quarters while on the ship to liaison with Earth Alliance personnel. What is more, most of the crew has not objected to the actions that Captain Ramius has taken, instead some have welcomed the ZAFT as if they were personnel that were supposed to be attached to the ship. The cost of this action, when we return to the ZAFT against Alliance conflict, will be horrendous to morale and discipline._

_The flip side of this equation has already played itself out definitively. In a concerted effort that was aimed at deposing the present command structure of the Archangel and instilling me as ship's captain, those few Blue Cosmos sympathizers left on the ship attempted to eliminate personnel related to both ZAFT and the conflict on this world. As some of the targeted personnel were (are) civilians, I could not countenance their elimination, nor despite my present animus with the Captain's actions could I countenance a mutiny on an Earth Alliance ship. Thus, my actions as stated in reports numbers 602 and 603, pertaining to what is now being called the Night of Bloodletting by some of the more crass crew members, were in the defense of personnel and ship known to be loyal to the Captain. Despite my personal feelings, and despite the fact that I can point to various regs and show where she is straying from the ethos of the Earth Alliance, I believe it best that a court of inquiry handle such matters. Until such a time as due authority can resolve this matter, I will continue to support the Captain and the crew regardless of other factors at hand._

_End of Record._

Natarle issued a command to the system to lock her files down like usual, though she suspected that if he wanted to Kira could easily break in and check her records. No matter, really, as a ship held few secrets, especially from itself. Everyone knew that Natarle did not completely agree with what was going on, and likely never would. She was beginning to think that everyone was settling into understanding that, including herself. She would go as far as she thought necessary to solve the problems of Cephiro, but at the end of the day she still saluted the Earth Alliance flag, and she would make damn sure the ship at least got back to Alaska before hell froze over.

Once outside her quarters, it was a matter of only a few steps to the bridge and she was inside. "Captain, I'm on duty now."

"Thank you, Natarle."

"So, uh, where to?" Natarle asks as Murrue stands up from the Captain's seat.

"At the minimum, the mountain dead ahead. I'm beginning to believe the next destination is that floating island just off the port side of the mountain."

"Oh." Natarle had not considered that as a possibility of where they had to go. It would mean an air-mobile assault from the _Archangel_, which in the face of it was not all that hard a task to accomplish. After all, said warship had enough firepower to reshape a mountain permanently and reduce any static fortification to rubble, not counting the Mobile Suits, so an air-mobile assault would also probably be the safest course of action. "Understood. Should I wake you once we get there?"

"Yes, please do, it should only be about four hours off at present speed."

"Will do. Anything else, Captain?"

"No, it's been quiet. Thankfully."

"Understood. Thank you, Captain."

"You have the bridge, Natarle."

"Aye aye, I have the bridge." Natarle takes her seat in the Captain's chair. She had actually said nothing afterwards, and was simply diddling with the control panels at her station. Four hours would be a helluva long wait, they all figured.

-x-x-x-

One of the things Natarle was watching happened to be going on in the main taxiway in the hangar.

It was no secret that Umi and Yzak had sort-of matching weapons. Natarle's link had been revealed by fiat, when she used her saber to save the Magic Knights from the ghosts of wars elsewhere. How it had been leaked that Flay also had such a weapon was beyond Natarle's purview, but she figured that Kira had some hand in surreptitiously leaking it, thereby giving her an excuse to do something other than chase him all day. Try as she might, though, Natarle could not imagine Flay Allster taking anything on with even the short sword she was using right now, albeit rather poorly against Umi.

The three girls had come more of a rude shock to Natarle than else. Civilians though they were, they each had a hell of a fighting spirit and grasp of abilities and weapons that Natarle figured were impossible. Fuu fit the classic description of 'mousy' in just about every match of the term. Had Natarle passed her on the streets of New York, she would have almost inevitably overlooked her as background noise, one face in a sea of them that stands out about as much as one blade of grass in someone's front yard. Yet, when dropped arse-deep into someone else's problems she was doing magnificently, though she seemed stylized as the support person of the three, and not always willing to take the lead in a battle.

Hikaru could almost be described as reckless, in Natarle's opinion. She always led the charge, straight into the enemy with about as much grace as a bull in a china shop, maybe a little less. That she walked away every time, injured but in a cheery mood, told Natarle that she was either one of those terminally optimistic persons in Existence, or she was crazy in at least one way, and in either case was incredibly lucky. She was a student of Kendo at her father's school, which meant that she was well versed in the use of a sword, and she also had a very strong belief in what the three of them were attempting to accomplish. That much Natarle had heard from Umi's musings prior, that when dropped butt-deep into the situation, she was the first to actually want to do it, and not for the sake of getting home. Even her teammates thought she was a bit strange. On the other hand, she also got along real well with the Gundam pilots, including Kira, though she could tell that Flay was getting a bit defensive about her speaking to Kira with any frequency. In all reality, Natarle knew Flay had absolutely nothing to worry about in that sense, Kira wouldn't 'put the moves on' anything moving in his direction, even if it ran him over several times.

And then there was Umi, the one that Natarle was linked to. In what fashion that link was, beyond having a weapon similar to hers, was still a bit of a mystery to everyone, including Clef. Natarle had seen the likes of Umi before, especially among the 'upper crust' of the Earth Alliance. Those 'of station' that thought themselves above the fray, above the requirements of the rest of society simply because of their station in life. Natarle had little trouble imagining Umi's reaction to finding out where she was and what she had to do. On the other hand, her grace and skill with a sword bespoke quite a bit of training on the use of blades, particularly in a rare style called fencing. When she really got down to the battle she had little trouble taking foes down with her razor-sharp sword instinct and skill, but such was favored very rarely any more, though there was going to be a resurgence of varied sword fighting styles when the Earth Alliance mass-produced a mobile suit with a beam saber. Natarle could only hope that she lived long enough to see that, and that Umi lived long enough to get out of this hell-hole to wherever she came from. (1)

Yzak and Umi were presently sparring, and Umi was winning more than losing. Yzak had a temper, she knew, and when he flew off the handle he had almost no self-control, which made him an easy mark for someone who could observe and take advantage of it. Umi definitely qualified; word was she was planning on doing fencing tournaments, and for that Natarle knew you had to know your crap forward and back, as well as be able to read the enemy moves before the attack began. In this case, the only reason why Yzak wasn't losing outright each time was because he was a Coordinator, and technically had the reaction speed to match her swordsmanship. Take, for example--

"Commander, I have something." Sai says from his location at the sensor and EWO station.

"Talk to me."

"Massive energy anomaly coming from the area of the mountain dead ahead. Does not match the readings we got from the first Rune God."

The nature of the anomaly became rather clear rather fast. It had to be an illusion or projection of some type, for they just didn't make evil assholes _that_ big, not even in the worst of fiction Natarle had read years past.

_You will go no farther, Magic Knights and your little friends from another world. You will perish here; I will not allow you near Princess Emeraude_.

"Man, talk about an evil asshole. Who is that guy?" Miriallia asks.

Nobody had a chance to answer, for the enemy had begun his attack, being one that the ship was not really prepared for. The lightning storm he had called up was impressive, to say the least, and directly targeted on the ship. One strike, two, four, ten, a dozen hits in less than ten seconds.

"I'm losin' it!" Arnold shouts from the helm station. "Levitator overloaded, it's offline! We're goin' in!"

"Shit! Sai, signal collision, quickly!" They were only about 500 meters over the forest canopy, which did not give them a lot of time before they hit.

Ten seconds after the warning sounded, the _Archangel_ went 'legs' first into the ground, in the forests south of the mountains. "Tac/ops, damage report, please."

"Natarle, what happened?" Murrue asks just as soon as the door to the bridge opened. Mu was not far behind her, either.

"The evil one we're after just hit us pretty hard with some kind of lightning attack."

"Damage?"

"At the least, the Levitator is down. Tac/ops, anything else?"

"Gottfried two, system malfunction. Starboard sensor alley is offline, starboard infrared is damaged, Valiant two is not responding., engineering reports that the starboard tail binder took several hits, they think a Sledgehammer may have cooked off inside a launcher. Everything else is armor-level damage, ma'am."

"Great. We go in within sight of the next objective," Murrue says grimly.

"Beats the hell out of walking the whole way," Mu offers as a sort of wan joke. Very few people had the ability to walk over, on or under an ocean, and everyone knew it.

"Fairly rough drive from there to here, as well," Natarle retorts. Mu and Murrue had to suppress a giggle at the thought.

"Well, since he doesn't appear to be interested in attacking us again, we'll just park it here and try to get the Levitator and critical systems working again." By critical systems, Murrue was referring to the main guns Valiant and Gottfried. Having even one of them down was a significant loss of firepower.

"Think he thinks he got us?" Mu asks rather quickly; only Natarle could really tell what he was saying.

"Yeah, looks that way, unless he has some sort of secondary asset in play."

"Okay, well, we will split the effort for now. We'll hold Strike, Aegis, and the Skygraspers here. Buster, Blitz, and Duel, along with the Lady Knights will go to the mountain. We can't get bogged down for any reason." She reconsiders. "Actually, they'll probably be expecting us to use the Gundams. You should probably go in jeeps instead."

"Concur." Natarle says, since if they did get bogged down or ambushed it was game over for everyone, regardless of who was on whose side.

"Think you can handle it, Natarle?" Murrue asks.

"As long as he doesn't have any nasty surprises waiting for us up on the mountain, yes, I can handle it."

"Okay, leave when ready. We'll see what we can get working between now and when you return."

"Clear, Captain." Natarle was out the door in a matter of moments; no sense waiting around when the enemy knew of you and wanted your ass in a sling.

Her first stop was the ship's armory, to pick up the almost-assuredly-necessary tools of a soldier's job: small arms, namely assault rifles for the ops team. She'd need four sets of rifle and magazines, one for herself, Yzak, Dearka, and Nicol. The magazine belts also came with a holster and pouches for pistols, so she also grabbed four of those as well and accompanying magazines.

She sets the four belts and rifles just outside the door to the armory, and also picks up a field medical kit, a handful of grenades (very useful devices, grenades, good for opening stubborn doors, clearing rooms out, stopping a number of enemies, and they saved her ass the last time she had to go to a Rune God), and since she saw a hint of logic in Yzak's claim in the Water Shrine, she also picked up a pair of LAWS rockets. LAWS has very limited effectiveness against armor any more, since advanced composites and laminates absorbed more energy than standard steel, and was totally useless against Phase Shift, but she figured they would be incredibly effective against the local collection of monsters.

With the gear assembled, she ordered the Armory sealed again, which the guard officer did without hesitation. She took the one step to the intercom panel and keyed in the whole ship code. "Pilots of the Buster, Blitz, and Duel report to the armory in the next five minutes, please." Aegis was the unit out on the foredeck, though it had been spared any damage from the lightning storm. The bulk of the lightning strikes had been on the starboard side, missing most of the really critical systems. _Add another point to the _Archangel_'s tally: yet another tango failed to kill off the ship_, Natarle thought wryly.

The three pilots were fairly fast to get to the arsenal, less than three minutes. "What gives, Commander?" Nicol asks when he gets there.

"Captain wants us to drive down to the mountain and up to the Sky Shrine. Might as well do it right." She gestures to the four gear sets; "C'mon, the faster we get this done, the less risk to us all."

"And why aren't we taking the Gundams with us?" Yzak asks in a rather hot-tempered fashion.

"They know all about us, and how hard do you think it's going to be to hide the fact that you're climbing a mountain with a Gundam?"

"Oh," Yzak replies. He had not considered that the enemy may be able to predict that, and he severely doubted his Gundam was defended against magic attacks. "I guess that makes sense."

"Sorry, Commander, his mind still hasn't got past how badly Umi beat him in sparring," Dearka says by way of apology as he picks up both his and Yzak's gear harnesses.

"Oh, one other thing, Yzak," Natarle prompts.

"Wha—eeep!" He chokes when he just barely manages to catch the incoming object; it took him a second to-- "A LAWS Rocket?"

"Try not to blow your own foot off with it," Natarle says as she walks past while adjusting the sling on her rifle. Dearka and Nicol had a riotous laugh about that, as well as the guard at the armory.

The motor pool, such as it was, was one deck below the hangar for the Gundams. It contained a half dozen jeeps and about double that in larger cargo transports, and two thus-far-unused 'Dragon Wagons', a Mobile Suit carrier tractor-trailer combination; it was basically a semi-tractor with a specialized trailer for transporting the Gundams over the road long distances. The three Lady Knights were still hanging about the Mobile Suit deck, which made finding them and readying them for the trip fairly easy. All that remained was the vehicle doors...

-x-x-x-

They had made it to the mountain without issue. Thankfully. But that was about as far as some wanted them to go...

"Huh? What the hell's the ground doing?" Dearka asks first.

"Huh? Whoa, everything doing weird shit..." Yzak says

"This is strange, did we run over a patch of bad mushrooms or something?" Natarle asks as she brings her vehicle to a stop and puts it in neutral. She looked back, fighting down the motion-sickness feeling she was getting, to see that the second vehicle had stopped as well and they were looking around in a level of disorientation as well.

"Man, I can't stand right!" Yzak shouts as he collapses to the ground next to the jeep. "This sucks ass! When I find who did this, I'm gonna shit-stomp them so hard their children'll be feelin' it!"

"Why is the whole world feelin' like it's moving?" Umi asks from her position behind and to the left of Natarle.

"I'm...gonna...chuck...bad..." Dearka moans weakly from the passenger side of the vehicle.

"Not...in my general direction, please..." Yzak says just about as weakly.

Natarle had decided that hands and knees were untenable, so she sprawled herself out on her back, still fighting the motion-sick feeling and wondering what the hell was going wrong. That lasted about four seconds, as she was a bit distracted and had to interpret what she was seeing coming from above. "OH SHIT! Everyone, crawl under the vehicle! AVALANCE! GET UNDER THE VEHICLES!" She shouts, looking toward the second vehicle. It was a special operations survival tactic, and something the jeeps were designed for, having high suspensions and very heavy leaf springs, they could protect passengers from minor rock slides and avalanches if they were under the vehicle. This looked like it would be close, but...

Everyone was under the vehicles just before the rocks started...not hitting? She looked toward the rear vehicle and _saw_ the rocks traveling downward, but they weren't doing anything... "No...way...are you guys seeing this?"

"Unhhh, my stomach..." Dearka groans by way of reply.

"No, dumbass, not under--" Yzak's attempt to mitigate Dearka's weaker stomach failed; at the least, however, Dearka had some shred of decency and did the deed facing away from the other three. Of course, the smell of the spew drifted back their way, which set off a chain reaction thereof under the first jeep. The sound, and rather quickly the smell of the first jeep's retching, set off the persons under the second jeep, starting with Nicol, then Fuu and Hikaru.

"Ohhh...this sucks serious portions of ass..." Yzak gasps out between labored breaths.

"Whoever did this shit to us is a walking dead man. I swear it," Dearka says with a little more gusto than his teammate.

"Man, I am not taking you two out drinking. Ever. Three shots and you'd shoot your guts out all over the bartender," Natarle says fairly weakly from the driver's side of the car.

"No...fair, Commander, I've never had this problem with Kahlua, or Jagermeister, or vodka, or..." (2)

"What about that time you, Athrun and Rusty got a hold of that Jack Daniels?" Dearka asks.

"That was...a rather complicated incident..." Yzak says incredibly weakly, especially since it was in defense and he wasn't in a very defensible position right now...

"Yeah, sure..." Dearka retorts.

"Eeeggghh, that is soooo gross!" The accent and mannerism of the saying was totally wrong to be a crewmember of the _Archangel_, or one of the ZAFT soldiers or Lady Knights. In truth, she (it had to be a lady in Natarle's estimate) sounded like someone kicked straight out of the southern part of the American territory of the Atlantic Federation. "I didn' think my little illusion'd do this to you poor fellers. Oh, well..."

Natarle had managed to hoist herself up to where she was on her knees, looking over the side of the jeep at the speaker, who was on the passenger side of the vehicle. "Who're you?" She asks rather weakly. Yzak was just beginning to crawl out from under the vehicle, same with Dearka and Umi.

"Oh, I'm nobody you'd be concerned about, unless you're one of those little Magic Knights, but I don't think you are, you're way too big to be one." She gasps, looking at Umi, who was now standing, though quite a bit shakily. "Oh, looks like you must be one of the Magic Knights..."

"Your...ass is mulch, lady..." Dearka says from hands and knees; whoever-she-was kicked him in the side hard enough to knock him back down.

"Now, that's no way to talk to a proper lady, y'hear?"

Yzak had bothered with no preamble, just crawled himself to standing, reached into the jeep, and hauled out his assault rifle. He had it leveled and off safe in a matter of a second. "Go to hell, wench," he says with a little more gusto, and pulls the trigger. He missed only on expedient that whoever-she-was had disappeared about a quarter-second before his finger finished pressing the trigger down.

"That was real good, Yzak, she's four meters away and you missed her."

"At least I got to take a shot at her before she kicked me. You just got the boot."

"Who the hell was that?" Natarle asks, still visibly weakened from her session with the High Priest of Ralf.

"Someone who wanted the Magic Knights dead, I guess." Nicol says as he approaches. He was still visibly shaking from his exertions, but he did have his rifle at the ready. And, in Yzak's opinion, he had just earned himself the 'Captain Obvious' award for the day, for answering a rhetorical question that had an answer that any person there could have given.

"God, we're a sorry lot." Natarle says, looking over the whole group. "One bad illusion and we're all puking like we just won a drinking contest." Dearka deflates visibly, as if that was some form of affront that he could not dodge. "Think you can drive, Nicol?"

"I'm trying not to think right now. My head's still spinning..."

"Great. A pair of sixth-graders could come by and kill us with Popsicle sticks, and not one of us in a position to do anything about it. Everyone pile in, we'll come back for this jeep later. Pull the battery, Nicol."

"Right..."

-x-x-x-

They only made it about two kilometers toward the area where they wanted to try to climb up the mountain before the tangos tried again. This time, Natarle and the rest could see it coming. It was some form of strange pink powder, glittering, drifting in the air; she tried to shield her mouth and nose, but in the end that only delayed the inevitable by a matter of seconds. She hit the ground last of them all; Natarle could only wonder why they wanted them dead so badly...

It was Yzak who recovered first, though he now felt like he had been beat down pretty badly. The vehicle had rolled to a stop at a boulder (a real one—he had seen the fake ones earlier) and the engine had slipped into neutral, so they weren't going anywhere fast. He keyed the ignition off so to preserve power and fuel, and then checked his rifle. All was right in Existence, well, insofar as Yzak was concerned, since he had his rifle...

Looking over the jeep, he had to succumb to a moment of whimsy: they had just pulled a college-style stunt of packing as many people into one vehicle, comprised of one Earth Alliance officer, three ZAFT pilots, three Japanese schoolgirls, and one local creme-puff. When he stopped to think about it, the three Japanese schoolgirls were about the most out-of-place in the said; military personnel do what they are told, when they are told, and the creme-puff Mokona was a local, so the presence of him-her-whateverthehellitis wasn't all that impossible. The three girls were the ones that didn't add up, and yet they were here, and in the end he had to admit they were likely the real solution to Cephiro's problems. Not that the Gundams lacked ability in the ass kicking department, but some things just required the touch of a lady. And, Yzak had to admit, that Rune God probably would be able to go toe-to-toe with the Duel Assault Shroud, or worse...

His reverie was snapped when he thought he heard something up on the cliff edges above him. Movement; a voice from above, one that matched the assailant from before. He figured she was too high to toss her a 'nade, so he had to think fast. His eyes darted around the jeep's interior before they settled on--

"Hell yeah, that'll do nicely." Yzak grabs the tube and starts walking away from the Jeep, since these things had a dangerous back blast that could kill if used incorrectly. After about five paces he stopped, shouldered the tube, and aimed up at where she appeared to be.

The shot was more of an explosion than the typical movie-bullshit whistling-screeching sound. The rocket left the tube, most of its propellant already burned, and traveled straight and true into the ledge he thought she was standing on, about a hundred meters downrange from the jeep. The rocket hit about a half-meter short of the edge of the cliff and detonated, throwing spall in two different directions. A goodly chunk of the rock fragments sent sailing from the penetrator shape charge went down, away from where she would be standing; the rocket had punched a discreet, two-inch hole through the rock face and blew fragments up as well.

The tortured screech he heard from the target told that he'd accomplished what he aimed to do. As he watched, she rolled down the face of the mountain and came to rest about sixty meters from the jeep's front bumper. Yzak, out of duty to his comrades, wanted to make sure it was done so he started walking toward.

Without the motion sickness effect to cause problems, he could tell that she was rather stunning in appearance and determination. Despite rolling down a mountain the wrong way and having your legs fragged with rock shrapnel, she was still trying to move, at least until Yzak's shadow crossed her body.

"Wha...how'd you..."

Yzak's answer was simple; the LAWS tube, fired and now unusable, landed next to her and rattled to a stop. The barrel was still slightly smoking and reeked of the cordite-based propellant of a rocket. A rocket designed to kill armor by shredding the crew in the same fashion her legs had been shredded by the rocket's penetration blast. That she survived was something on this side of a miracle, but...

"This game is over," Yzak says simply, unslings his rifle, draws the bolt back roughly to ensure a round was chambered, and takes stance and aim in one swift motion; the peep sights centered just over the bridge of her nose.

"_Beast I Summon Thee_!" Yzak centers his rifle on the shouter, the little prick that was in the gem of the massive monster in the Water Shrine, though the summoner's hexagram had his full attention as some sort of crazy-ass Kaiju-reject-looking-mother spawned out of it and damn near right on top of him. If he had to put words to it, it kinda reminded him of a cockroach crossed with a body-building giant, about half as tall as the Strike.

"Oh fuck this!" Yzak shouts as he bolts backwards toward the jeep, headed not necessarily for the ride but the second LAWS rocket. He fires about half a magazine behind him wildly, hoping his aimpoint was high enough to score head shots, and got a roar from the monster for his efforts. He had the attention of the tango, rest assured.

The rifle hit the seat of the Jeep as he grabbed for an jerked out the last of the LAWS rockets, though he thought he heard Dearka make a rather strange sound when he pulled it; he made the motions of unsealing and arming the launcher, though he did not bother with the front sight, he just dead-aimed at it, since it was such a large target to begin with.

Yzak fired just as the monster began to rear back his fist to punch where Yzak was standing. The rocket went straight into the left cheek of the monster and brute-force punched its way into the monster; the fuse had not armed yet, for the safety of the firing soldier, of course. It did finish arming about halfway through the target's head, and when it hit the back of its skull it blew, literally blowing its head into chunks since the rocket detonated inside the monster's head. No roar; the monster simply collapsed forward, the upper chest slamming into the jeep and throwing the personnel out of it wildly, as well as scattering the assault rifles.

"You hurt another one of my friends! I'll make you pay for this! And all my other friends you and the Magic Knights hurt!"

Yzak had a rather mirthless laugh for the brat on the hovering rock. "The technical term is 'killed' you little prick. And guess who is next?" Where he had landed was a matter of a mater from one of the rifles, and given the sling position he figured it was Natarle's rifle. She wasn't as big as the Captain (Yzak doubted he'd seen more than four ladies to rival or best the Captain's...appearance), but he figured it still factored into how Natarle had to sling her rifle.

"I think I'll just have to hurt a few of your friends as payback for all that you've done!" The movement had drawn Yzak's vision to the monster, which looked like a bad cross between a bodybuilder and an eagle.

"Oh, man, Dearka, Umi, no way!" The monster had the two, one in each hand, and he could tell the monster was just beginning to apply pressure. "You rat bastard! Your ass is grass, fucking prick!"

The enemy had made the mistake of hovering to within about ten meters, an easy enough run for Yzak. He lunged, knocking the brat off the rock, as the stock of the rifle contacted his upper chest and drove him into the ground rather mercilessly. With the rifle still jammed into his chest, Yzak drew his pistol, drove the barrel into the kid's left cheek roughly, and drew back the hammer. "How do you want it, brat?"

"Yeee-eeeggg—ggghhh, I give up! Don't hurt me!" The brat may not have known what kind of weapon it was, but he had no doubt the sinister device pushed into his face would kill him if the user activated it.

"Tell the monster to put them down. Now. And no bullshit or I will kill you, the monster, _and_ your lady friend over there."

"Okay, Okay, I'll do it, I'll do it! Creature, put them down, carefully!"

Yzak watched, though he did not flinch the weapons away from him. After a few moments, the monster set the two of them down rather calmly. He gets a whiff of something... "You pissed yourself, didn't you?"

"Well what do you think? I just got jumped by some crazy foreigner and threatened with death from a device I don't recognize! What would you do?"

"Kick the shit out of the foreigner." Yzak stood up, and so did the brat, though he did so with the pistol centered on his head the whole time. "Get lost, kid. And if you ever threaten my friends or teammates again, I'll blow you to pieces and feed what's left to that asshole Zagato."

Saying that much definitely elicited a shocked reaction from the kid. "Why? I mean, well--"

"You're a complete dumbass, kid? Or do you just have no friends?"

"I have many friends! But, well, nobody likes them..."

The intent of the kid's expression was fairly obvious to Yzak, especially after all the bitching he'd done during the prior fights. "Oh, those monsters. I guess it takes all types." The pilot's shrug was more-or-less neutral, and could have meant or extended many things.

"What's that supposed to mean, ya jerk?"

"And what the hell kind of friend would force his friends to fight? Huh? What the fuck is wrong with you?" Again with the pistol in the face, though this time it centered on the forehead of the summoner.

"I have to! Lord Zagato promised I could stay in the castle if I killed the Magic Knights!"

"Oh. Living space issues." Yzak holsters his pistol and kicks up the assault rifle. "Well, kid, you want a piece of very friendly advice, if you want to actually live you need to avoid pissing off professional soldiers. Period. 'Cause if I have to, I _will_ put a three-round burst in your sorry ass to save my comrades." He was looking at the jeep, or more specifically Natarle, who was still unconscious. "Even the strange ones."

"Look who's talking."

"Hey, kiss my ass, brat."

"Ascot, we—we have to—we must get those Magic Knights!"

"Man, you're persistent." Yzak had the assault rifle pointed at the lady once again. "Don't you ever give up? I've already rendered your legs useless, don't make me do more than that."

"I—Lord Zagato's payin' me a lotta gold to wipe them out, I don't have a choice here." For what it was worth, Yzak had to remind himself that she was still an enemy, regardless of from what direction he was staring at her (she was arm-crawling toward him).

"Oh, that is so stupid." Umi was now awake and had her sword up and ready. "Is it worth your life for a pile of gold?" The tip of Umi's blade was about two centimeters from the bridge of the lady's nose.

"Of course not!" If the wounded lady could have sounded more Southern Belle Indignant, how was lost on Yzak. "But—oh, this is so embarassin', havin' to crawl 'round on the ground! What kind of evil weapon is that?"

"Consider yourself lucky, lady. Under normal use, that weapon is supposed to kill people, not wound them." He steps down his assault rifle. "Mercenaries are no match for ZAFT elite soldiers, doesn't matter what world you're from. And I'll tell you the same thing I told the brat, threaten my friends or comrades again, it will be your last major mistake."

"Well, these two again," Natarle says from behind Yzak. "You do all this?"

"Yeah," Yzak replies, not taking his cold, unyielding eyes off the lady.

"It's a wonder she ain't bled out," Natarle says stoically. "We could take them prisoner. Information is always useful."

"And secure and transport them how?" Yzak counters.

"Good point. We have a mountain to climb, we don't have personnel to spare guarding them." Natarle sighs, wearied and still a shred exhausted from the first attempt to subvert them. "Well, regardless, the regs are clear on this issue. A wounded enemy gets medical care just the same as an ally. Fuu, are you willing?"

"Yes, I will." Fuu kneels down next to the lady; "_Winds of Healing_!"

The effect only took a matter of seconds, but this time the amount of damage that she had taken, despite being crippling, was not as much as Natarle had taken a week ago. The healing effect was complete or close enough that she could stand, which she did while staring down three assault rifles. The brat had one assault rifle and two swords on him, now that the whole crew was awake now.

"I'm only going to say this once. Start walking, don't bother looking back, and if you value your lives find a new employer. You lived this time, next time you may not be so lucky."

"I can't compete, I guess." She shrugs. "By the by, who are you people? I mean, well, y'know?"

"Huh?" Natarle asks, completely baffled by what she had asked.

"We were enemies," Dearka notes, still staring at her over the sights of an Earth Alliance assault rifle. "We were in the middle of trying to kill each other when Princess Emeraude called."

"Took us a while to figure out we got one chance to do this right, or we're all dead," Yzak notes as he looks away, ostensibly toward the jeep, and lowers his rifle.

"Oh. You're serious."

"Man, pathetic." Yzak mentally gives up on her, and turns to walk toward the jeep. "Screw the airhead, we have a hill to hump. We don't have time to screw around with her."

"That was the most tactless way he could have said that," Natarle notes sardonically. "Anyways, you're not going to be held prisoner. I suggest you find a new line of work."

"That's _so_ easy for you to say." Again with the indignant attitude. "C'mon, Ascot, we're outta here." She gave a fair impression of storming off, but all three of the ZAFT pilots could tell she wanted to be nowhere near them any more, for fear of worse pains than having her legs shredded...

-x-x-x-

"When I find out what flavor of crack Athrun and Kira have been feeding Hikaru, I will kill them several times," Yzak gasps out between ragged breaths.

" 'Join ZAFT', they said. 'See the world', they said. 'Meet Interesting people', they said. I am **SO** going to frag my recruiting officer when we get back to the PLANTs."

"Shut up, Dearka. You volunteered," Nicol reminds him; they had volunteered at the same time.

"I'm still going to frag his sorry ass for this."

"Shut up, Dearka." This time, it was Nicol, Yzak, and Natarle that had done the honors.

"It must be nice to have that kind of energy all the time," Fuu notes as she lay face-down on a ledge.

About the only persons that weren't close to disabled right now were Natarle and Hikaru, and the latter was still acting cheery and bubbly, which was starting to really grate on Natarle's soul. She was special operations; even she was feeling sore in unusual places right now and was starting to feel real exhausted. Hikaru showed little sign of tiring right now, which wasn't making Natarle feel any better about herself.

"Either she's doing something incredibly right, or we're doing something incredibly wrong, " Dearka says with more semblance of normalcy, now that his breathing was starting to normalize.

"You guys ready to go?" The question from the bubbly one elicited a wave of tired groans from the rest of the crew.

"Five minutes, Hikaru." Natarle says as she sits down on a rock and takes a slug of her canteen. "You know, we're already two-thirds the way up. We only have a couple hundred more meters 'till we get to the Shrine."

"It had better be in there, or tomorrow night's Turkey Surprise will include a side of Mokona-flavored rice balls," Yzak notes rather coldly.

"Oh, it is," Nicol notes; Yzak gives him a rather blank stare. "What? You can't feel that?"

"Feel what? Have you been munching on Hikaru's 'special' rations as well?" Yzak asks rather indignantly.

"You are hopeless, Yzak. 'When in Rome, Do as the Romans.' I think I may be slowly picking up on some of this Magic stuff."

Dearka had sat up and was drinking from his canteen when Nicol had made note of what he did. At that time, he had nearly choked on the water he was drinking, while at the same time he let loose one real raunchy fart that was amplified by the stone he was sitting on.

"Holy shit, Dearka, check your shorts, that even _sounded_ soggy." Dearka had quite clearly given his teammate the almighty finger even while sputtering from inhaling water.

"I'm either going to strangle Yzak for his foul mouth, or I'll end up picking that bad habit up from him," Umi notes quietly to Natarle.

"If you decide to strangle him, call me, I'll help." The one thing Natarle definitely did not like was Yzak's almost continual use of foul language. She had been known to let fly a four-letter word every now and again, but usually nowhere near as bad as the ZAFT elite trooper across the ledge from her.

"Can I ask you something, ma'am?" Hikaru prompts, quite clearly indicating Natarle.

"Huh? Sure, what is it?"

"What is with that one girl? Red hair, wears the pink Alliance uniform, constantly hanging onto the Strike pilot, uh, what's his name?" She was trying real hard to remember his name, and though they had been properly introduced, Hikaru hadn't really dealt with him all that much. If anyone, Hikaru got along real well with Athrun, when he wasn't sulking or brooding over something.

"Kira Yamato is the Strike pilot, the girl is Flay Allster. And I don't quite understand what you're trying to ask."

"Are they, well, like an item or something?"

Natarle's answer was automatic, almost clipped: "I'm trying not to think about that." Technically, she was supposed to keep such from happening, but in this case stopping it would be about as easy for her as if she tried sprouting wings and flying to a frozen-over hell. Natarle knew Flay had lost everything in her life: her family, her friends, her normal life, and her innocence; all she had left was Kira, and that much was tenuous at best. Flay wasn't going to give him up without two or three good fights to the contrary, and the last thing Natarle wanted to deal with was the headache of trying to split them up by the regs. Not to mention, she didn't want to chance pissing Kira off; she had only witnessed him really pissed off once, when he and Athrun went at it the last time, and it was not pretty by anyone's definition. Starting a fight with Gundams and ending it with a fist-fight...not pretty. "Well..." She sighs. "Ah, forget the regs on this one. Yes, they are, though I'm not sure how to really define who's where in that one."

"Eh...huh?"

"Forget what I just said. Yes, they are 'an item' as you put it. As to what's with Flay, she lost everything in the war, including watching her father's ship get blown up right in front of her. She's clinging to the last thing she thinks she has left."

"Oh. I—I didn't know..." Natarle nods for her to stop, which she does.

"That's insane. Is it always like that?"

"Unfortunately," Strangely, it was Dearka that had replied.

"Then why have the war?" Fuu retorts.

"If only," Nicol replies in a disheartened tone.

"Huh?" Yzak asks.

"If only we were all as sensible as her, this wouldn't be an issue." Nicol had pointed his thumb toward Fuu, who was sitting next to him.

"Wow, this conversation just went real gloomy real fast," Umi says.

"Nothing cheery or happy about real wars or battles, unless you are psychotic," Natarle notes as she stands up. "We ready to continue?" The rest of the group took that as a cue to get ready to finish the climb.

-x-x-x-

"Well, if nothing else the architecture around this planet is first-rate," Yzak notes as they observed the entrance to the wind Shrine.

"Uh, guys, What's Fuu doing?" Nicol asks as she marched straight toward the door down the way.

"Well, I guess the Captain called this one right, she's the next of the Knights." Yzak says with a small hint of humor. "I got fifty credits says Hikaru's next."

"No take," Dearka replies rather quickly. "And besides, what says this ain't just random chance and the next one is one of us?"

"Man, where's your sense of adventure?" Yzak asks with obviously brightening spirits. Apparently he was pleased about something, but what so far nobody could figure out.

"I left it back on the _Vesalius_." Yzak deflates visibly when Dearka says that.

"You'd better grow a new one before Yzak spazzes out," Nicol says. "So, then, I guess we just wait until Fuu and the Rune God get friendly."

"That sounded a bit wrong, especially coming from you," Yzak says to Nicol in a closer-to-normal tone and inflection.

Nicol does not respond, instead just looking around the structure. It really was impressive, reminding him of the pictures of the now-long-gone ancient temples and ruins of religions past. Maybe that was what went wrong with the world: the most stable, respectful of countries and societies were the ones where various religions still held credence. The Earth Alliance had no national religion, nor did they have very much respect for the rights of those practitioners, unless your religion was Blue Cosmos.

"Not going to admit it?" Yzak asks, though nobody could really trace where he was going with the question...

"Admit what?" Nicol asks from somewhere in the shadows on the eastern side of the structure.

"That you got a crush on Fuu." Yzak could not see it, since he was facing the wrong direction, but Hikaru and Umi had both gone quite red at that statement.

The answer was a few moments in the coming: "I figured since you and Umi get along so well, it'd be fairly obvious to you."

Yzak joined their ranks, having blushed bright red himself. "You just got burned by Nicol. Pretty badly. I'd almost feel sorry for you, but..." Dearka notes rather calmly; Yzak knew he had no retort for the nihilist, since Dearka was keeping it on the level, apparently (for what it was worth. As far as Yzak was concerned, anything that happened between the time they sortied in the Pacific until the time they get back to the Pacific never happened. Period.)

"Yeah, yeah, I walked face-first into that one."

"Uh, guys, we're not alone," Natarle notes quietly, staring into the darkness toward the entrance. When silenced, they could tell the footsteps approaching them.

After the person had come visible, illuminated by the glowing columns of the Shrine, Yzak had the thought verbalized that they were all thinking: "An elf? Is this going to get any more screwed up?"

"What are you speaking of?" The guy says, looking straight to Yzak, then shakes his head negative. "It does not matter. You will not leave here alive."

"Twice in one day? You punks must be getting desperate," Yzak retorts, then shrugs stoically. "Oh well. Just another person to educate on why you don't piss off ZAFT elites." More than just Yzak's assault rifle centered on the tango.

"Useless tactics." The hand came up, but a pair of pistol shots from the left forced him to guard rather than attack.

Directly behind them, the ceiling lit as the second Rune God became manifest: a massive bird of a type that none of them could recognize; it had the request of proving the strength of one's heart for Fuu, then disappeared. This had the effect of stunning the foe just as much as it had the attention of the soldiers; needless to say, you don't often see a bird bigger than the Gundams. Period.

"This is pathetic. None of you can withstand my attack." This time, several dark spirits emerged from the enemy's raised hand, and when they hit they hit with tremendous force. Nicol managed to dodge one but not a second; the impact put him on his back and not moving as the first one he did dodge got Dearka in the legs. Yzak took the hit head on, but thankfully he had his sword up and guarding, so it didn't outright kill him. One struck directly under Natarle, throwing her clear of the field of battle and knocked her out cold. Three converged on Hikaru and Umi, leaving Fuu to witness as they went down, hard, and didn't get back up readily.

"Why...why have you done this to them?" Fuu asks as she draws her blade.

"I stand here with orders from High Priest Zagato to stop the Magic Knights."

"I won't allow you to hurt my friends!" She had set her blade to rush in, but instead ended up running perpendicular to him, dodging the dark spirits that had knocked down her friends.

"You...bastard..." Nicol tried raising his pistol to aim, but the tango stomped on it, inadvertently crushing his hand under foot.

"Ah, spirited but pathetic. You are useless outside those machines of yours."

"Leave him alone!" This time, Fuu got close enough to actually take a swing at the enemy, but a power shell stopped her cold with several meters still to go.

"Ah, so there is one in their ranks you have feelings for." The gasp and the look in her eyes confirmed it to the tango. "I propose a deal. Swear to me that you shall cease becoming a Magic Knight, and I will spare him."

There was hesitation in her demeanor, which told both the tango and Nicol that she was considering it. "I...can't. I'm here to save Cephiro, and I can't turn my back on that, regardless of how I feel!"

"Really?" He uses the same form of energy as his attack to pick Nicol up by his neck. "The only way to save him is to renounce becoming a Knight. Or you can go back to the Rune God, and he will die for your callousness."

Fuu sets her sword. "I cannot accept that."

"You can have the Rune God or this one you love." He shakes Nicol to emphasize the point.

"Then I will have to defeat you first!"

A moment before Fuu would have begun her lunge, a flash of green-tinted light catches their attention. Windam had returned. "Magic Knight, thou hast proven unto me the strength of thine heart. I will now awaken and reveal unto thee my true self." The full form of the Rune God was just as large and menacing as Umi's had been, but this one appeared more bulky, as if it had more armor and physical stature, and its form was avian influenced instead of draconic like Selesce. As it braced, the four lighted columns nearby fell to pieces, the energy surge forcing the enemy to retreat, lest the Rune God's power destroy him. Nicol remained, and hit the ground like a sack of potatoes after the enemy disappeared.

"Magic Knight, thine heart is still unprepared to encompass all that I am. Until that promised day comes, I shall change my form, become a part of thee; I shall wait patiently." In much the same fashion that Selesce had absorbed himself into Umi, Windam did so with Fuu. On so doing, the three Lady Knight's armor changed into something that looked a lot lighter and strangely more protective. Their weapons had also received an 'upgrade' to swords more matching what Yzak thought their end-points would be: bastard sword (Hikaru), long claymore or two-handed sword (Fuu), and rapier or light longsword (Umi).

"That...asshole...when I get my hands on him, I'll..."

"Nicol!" Fuu was quick to check him, though she did not get a response when she did. "Is...he?"

"No. He's alive, barely," Dearka says, then notices something. "His hand was broken when that shit stomped on him, wasn't it?"

"Sounded like it, I guess," Yzak says. "And what's with the two gloves—oh. Well, there's the first person you're linked with. Wonder who else?"

-x-x-x-

(Note: time variance -5 minutes from the end of the previous section.)

Miriallia had to silently admit that there were about only two times she felt really like a normal human any more: one, when hanging out with Tolle, two, during and after taking a good, hot shower. There was some talk between some of the mechanics about setting up a combination sauna and hot spring somewhere in the ship, likely heated by the engines, so it would have to be toward the rear of the ship. Miriallia was so looking forward to that, if they ever did it, since she could feel real for a length of time instead of just part of a non-duty rotation. Now, just to get the Captain to sign off on it...

When she entered the lady's shower room, the first thing she noticed was that the third stall was occupied, and gauging by the uniform that was in the cubby for the third stall it had to be the Captain. Seeing that much, Miriallia's thoughts drifted to something that Sai had said a few days ago, about how he thought that Murrue and Mu were getting rather fond of each other. It didn't really take a genius to figure out why, since they were stuck on a foreign world and everyone needed a level of reassurance in such a problem; not to mention Mu was the kind of guy that everyone could get along with, so long as he wasn't trying to shoot said person. Given Mir's status vis-a-vis Tolle, she was not going to begrudge her the relationship, since by the time they got back to their Earth, there would be a chance that someone might not make it back alive.

Miriallia sets her stuff in the first cubby and fires up the matching shower. "Who's there?" Murrue asks suspiciously.

"Just me," Mir replies.

"Oh, sorry."

That mad Mir confused: "What for?"

"I shouldn't be that suspicious every time I hear a strange sound in the room."

"Not a problem, ma'am." Mir, now stripped, wormed her way into the shower rather quickly, since there was always a possibility, with Kira and his friend Athrun on board, that any lock on the ship could be defeated... She really didn't have anything to fear from Kira, in all estimation, since Flay was still hanging all over him, and probably sleeping with him as well. There had to be something in the regulations against that, but she didn't really care about the rules as much as some others on the ship did. Athrun, though, she really wasn't sure about, though Mir thought she had heard mention of something about a fiancée...

"One thing I've been meaning to ask you, Miriallia, what's your opinion of the four ZAFT pilots?"

"Is this on the record, Captain, or off?"

"Is anything said in the showers on the record?" It was even on a placard over the mirror: _anything said in this room is off the record_. That, of course, did not apply to anything seditious, treasonous, or illegal.

"Well, erm, hard to say. I guess I don't really know them well enough to say for certain. But I do want to slap Yzak several times a day for that foul mouth of his."

"Yeah, and me, and Natarle, and probably at least one of the Lady Knights."

"Probably Umi, then. Hikaru's too nice, and Fuu's too nonviolent to do anything like that."

"Which brings me to my next question..."

"The Lady Knights? Well, I guess..." Miriallia was looking up at the ceiling when said, and missed something. When she looked back to her left leg that she was scrubbing down, she saw something on her hand-- "Eaaahhh!" She loses her balance in her shock at seeing something there that was not prior, and falls backwards out of her shower stall onto the floor.

"What? What's wrong?" Murrue had busted out of her shower stall, though she was holding--

"You take a _shower_ with a pistol?" Miriallia asks, now more shocked at seeing that than what was on her left hand.

"I sleep with it. Now what happened?"

"This." After holding her hand up, Murrue simply nods thoughtfully.

"I guess we now have two Magic Knights on board. I wonder who it was that woke the Rune God..." Murrue shakes her head. "Need a hand up?"

"No, thanks." After standing, Miriallia strips the glove off and throws it into her cubby; another problem for another time.

-x-x-x-

On the face of it, Murrue was now regretting that she had taken that shower a few hours past, since being in the same room as the seven travelers was making her feel like she needed a good hour-long shower. Their physical appearance was only part of it, the smell was the rest. The...aroma...that the seven of them had about them was definitely reminiscent of those few times she had gone out drinking at the naval academy with her friends, most of whom were now dead. They were good times, until it came time to 'pray to the Porcelain God with the High Priest Ralf' as the expression went. Then there was that one time, colloquially known as "The Dueling Ralfers," where four people on the same drain pipe had been Ralfing into their toilets at the same time (Murrue was one of them), and the sound had translated through the drain pipes between them, causing them to puke out even more. The sheer sound of it had managed to disgust Murrue's roommate to the point that she had to Ralf as well...

"You look like hell," Murrue notes somewhere between shocked and disgusted. "Start talking."

"Contrary to our appearance, ma'am, we did not have a drinking contest," Yzak declares both hastily and very defensively.

"I never figured the ZAFT Elite for having problems with motion sickness or stomach flu, so what was it?"

"Actually, Captain, it _was_ a variant of motion sickness. Caused by an illusion by one of Zagato's sub-contractors," Natarle says to enhance Yzak's defense.

"Wait, wait a second, you're saying that Zagato has persons in his employ that can create illusions? And they managed to create an illusion that made you motion sick?"

"Exactly, ma'am," Yzak replies.

"And what happened to the illusionist?"

"I used a LAWS rocket on her."

_I can't stomach this_, Murrue notes within the confines of her own mind. She needed not imagine the effect of such a rocket on a person... "All right, all right, just...get yourselves cleaned up and write up the reports by 0200 hours. Dismissed." As they filed past, Murrue noticed that Mu La Flaga was looking close to a shade of green that matched the gem on his new partial glove. On the face of it, the color wasn't all that discordant with his Earth Alliance officer's uniform, but the color he was showing now definitely was.

Twenty seconds later: "It's safe to breathe now, Commander."

He releases his breath rather explosively. "Agh, I thought I was going to have to puke out and join them."

"You do that here and Murdoch's gang would strong-arm you into cleaning it up."

"True, wouldn't want that." Mu sighs heartily. "Well, two down, one to go, then we wipe Zagato out and ride off into the sunset. Sound good?"

"Sounds very good."

Mu closes one eye, looking at her with a bit of a smile. "Y'know, I get this feeling you're pretty well acquainted with drinking contests, Captain."

"Oh, I have a few tales to tell. Join me for dinner and coffee and I might have to tell them."

"Sounds like a threat to me." Mu makes a slight show of considering it. "I'm in." They take four paces toward the entry to the main corridors of the ship. "Y'know, last time I was in California I heard this strange rumor about 'Dueling Ralfers,' you wouldn't happen to know anything about them, would you?"

Author's Chapter Afterword:

In the face of it, I disliked the way CLAMP handled Caldena's illusion with the shaking ground, to me that seems so much like classic visual overload that would make someone motion sick. Thus, what I did to them. Am I crazy? Yes, this is well documented. Then add to the fact that they were under forced confinement, which is why they ended up with it on them. Not that anyone notably puked on anyone else, but the quarters were too close to avoid it all, so...

And then there is Yzak, who managed to win against Ascot and Caldena, but lose miserably to Inouva. Note that since Ferio is markedly absent from the story right now, but will show up in the season 2 section (after a small break for another zone, hint hint), I had to pick someone else to take Inouva's wrath. Nicol got volunteered by the dice, though Natarle, Umi, Hikaru, and Dearka were also possibles, and even after a fashion Yzak would have counted as well. My take on Fuu's mental here is that she would definitely react badly to anyone being held hostage when wagered against her, but she knows her mission and is not going to give up on that. And, given Inouva's apparent ruthlessness in operations, I figured even with the change of circumstances that would still be how he did the battle, use someone as a hostage to attempt to force her to rescind her attempt to become a knight.

Note that I deliberately made no mention of the status of the Levitator at present; you'll find out soon enough.

Offhand, I am unaware if there are any standing questions, so if you have any, drop 'em in a review and I'll answer them in the afterword of the next story section, if they are unanswered by the next story section.

Next: Lafarga's and Inouva take on the _Archangel_, and the warriors get a good look at their ultimate foe, Zagato, and Newman finds something out about the ship nobody expected...

* * *

Footnotes:

(1): Inasfar as anything can be interpreted here, this is Natarle's musings when wagered against her family, which to me seems as if she has a chunk of the so-called high society in her bloodheritage that is either complimentary to or coincides with the military heritage of her family. Being that Natarle is career military, it goes without saying that she'd likely disdain such arrogant civilians in at least one level, likely more.

(2): Kahlua Mudslides actually happen to be one of my favorite mixed drinks. Normally, Mudslide mix already has vodka in it, just add ice and mix in a blender, but I do mine with ice cream (like a milkshake with horsepower, hehehe) and add kahlua to it for some extra kick. If you want it to have a peppered, kinda chocolaty taste, use cookies 'n ' cream ice cream. This is one milkshake not for people under 21, rest assured.


	7. Only After The Going Gets Tough

(07: Only After The Going Gets Tough)

On the face of it, no mechanic really needed an excuse to slack off, but in this case they had a real good pair: first, their orders were to take it easy on the maintenance schedule, second: the Knights were at it again. This had a good chunk of the crew's attention completely drawn to the bay, to the point that one of the Mechanics had put it out on the ship's monitors.

The only one not down there was Miriallia, whose weapon was not really conducive to close quarters, though the composite compound bow she had did have a bayonet spike for those days when someone got close to her. Instead, Miriallia had used a hasty-set target in the starboard-side launch bay to make sure she knew how to use it right. She had done so earlier in that day, but she was back on the bridge now for her duty shift. After her first volley, she had not missed more than one shot outside the eight mark in a row, per ten shots. In the end, there was little or no risk of her actually having to fight someone with the bow, since she was the combat controller for the Mobile Suits, but if that day ever did come to pass she wanted to make sure she was capable to the task.

And that left the remainder to spar in the bay, which included Hikaru (alone), Umi with Yzak, Flay, and Natarle, and Fuu with Nicol and Mu. They had arrayed in a circle in the main taxiway, and one would stand in the center of the circle and face off against a foe he or she chose, until one of them won the spar. The victor would become new (or continue to be) the center of the circle, the vanquished would return to the circle to await being called to the spar. One of the mechanics had a task board up and reversed, with a score grid that traced the wins and losses for each fighting pair. So far, Umi held the lead, but not by much since Nicol had knocked her out of the center position.

Nicol's weapons, paired short swords about 30cm long, he could use in one of two fashions: forward, whereby the blade was set forward (above) his grip, or reversed (below) his grip. He could also use one reversed and one forward, which gave him excellent defense against anyone else, since the rest had just one weapon. Speed and variability were his allies; his time in the Blitz had taught him that fighting is not always a game of who has the bigger weapons, it is who uses their weapons right. In fact, even Hikaru was not capable of getting past his guard, and lost with a small cut to the exterior of her armor.

Natarle was called upon next, for what it was worth. Natarle's only real training with swordsmanship was the proper ceremonial handling of a Naval Officer's longsword back in the academy, which for her was well before Murrue had gone through the academy. Still, she pressed her advantage with the longer sword, forcing Nicol to take a completely defensive posture as she kept the momentum and swings going. It came to a head after about thirty seconds, where Nicol literally had to cross his blades to defend against Natarle's blade, and she used what little size advantage she had against the teenager to push through him, forcing him to the ground and an automatic defeat state. It went without saying that landing on the ground made you incredibly vulnerable to your foe, and was something severely discouraged in these battles.

Fuu was summoned into the circle, and being one of the primary Magic Knights had a weapon that evolved as her abilities did, in this case her sword was approaching massive in stature. In this case the size and length of the weapon was a mixed blessing, as Fuu had to keep Natarle outside a certain radius or Natarle would get in close with her saber and it was all over. In the course of the battle, though, she had managed to achieve what she needed to do, keep Natarle away long enough to give her the advantage. Another fifteen seconds of trading blows and the battle came to a head, where Fuu had managed to hit Natarle in the left shoulder with the flat of her blade, instantly knocking her to the ground from translated impact. End this matchup.

Flay went in next, the kodachi she carried really ill-matched to face someone with a two-handed sword that was longer than Flay was tall. And then there was the whole concern that Flay was not really a violent person to begin with, nor was she versed in its use. Still, she had accomplished what Natarle failed in hesitation, she got inside the main arc of Fuu's sword and stayed there, though the speed with which Fuu was wielding her sword was ever-improving, and almost rivaled that of the persons with the smaller blades. Almost, however, does not equal 'can do'; Flay, in some form of insanely neurotic luck episode, managed to get in and get the blade of her kodachi inside Fuu's guard, in such a fashion that it would have been instantly fatal if she drove it in on her. More than a few of the onlookers were a bit shocked as to the outcome.

Mu was actually asked in next, with his highly uncharacteristic but oddly graceful weapon, a halberd. The weapon was a polearm, meaning that the blade was attached to a long shaft of metal or wood, with an ax blade on one side, a pick blade opposite the axe, and a pike blade at the end facing away from the grip. All in all, it would be a fearsome weapon if only Mu could use it right. He was one of the club that relied on guns to accomplish the dirty work, and would need some practice... Flay, figuring her luck might hold from her short battle with Fuu, pressed in close on her commanding officer and was immediately checked backwards by the haft of his weapon applied to her gut. Reminiscent of how Fuu handles her sword, the weapon that appeared ungainly and heavy moved with overt grace, this time presenting the pike blade to her as a challenge to try bypassing his long reach. She took up the challenge, insanely jumping over the blade of the halberd and attempting to lunge in at him while still grossly off balance. All she succeeded at doing, however, was landing face-first on the hard steel deck; moments later the handle of the halberd came to rest next to her face, signaling the end of this one.

Yzak jumped in when beckoned, and furiously went to work on the Earth Alliance Commander. He wasn't really trying to maim or kill Mu, but the fact that he was still Earth Alliance and Yzak still considered himself ZAFT but on temporary hiatus meant that he had some small shred of hostility still in there. The unload was impressive, but Mu was more or less in control of the battle due in no short part to his luck and the hotheadedness of his foe. Despite Yzak's head start, he was not able to land one good blow on the aerofighter pilot, and the battle culminated after about two minutes with Mu using the haft of his polearm to literally trip Yzak up. When the Duel pilot went outside, trying to bring his sword wide and around into Mu, the Hawk of Endymion drove the non-bladed end of his halberd between his foe's legs and spun to the counter, causing the Duel pilot to hit the ground with a resounding clang of his head against the floor.

Umi went in next against the defending champion and started in with a vengeance. Like Hikaru, Umi was trained in a sword style and was actually very adept at this, a one-on-one battle. It was those rare engagements that were many-on-Umi that tripped her up most the time, but so far the only instance where the main minions of Zagato had attacked in numbers was a battle that Yzak resolved in his usual direct, crass and brutal fashion. Umi had to admit that he was effective, if tactless, unlike the rather refined and cheery (and effective) Commander La Flaga. The sound of her blade grating down the pole of his polearm was loud and screeching, and had the attention of just about every person in the hangar. This time, Mu had little time to act or think, since the main component of Fencing battle is speed and reflex, two things polearms are not really meant for. Silently everyone had to admit that it was only a matter of time before Mu made a mistake and lost this one. They were partially correct.

**Clong**. It sounded nothing so much as an object hitting the starboard doors of the catapults. "What the hell was that?" Murdoch asks, setting down the marker that he was using to keep score for the sparring.

**Cwang. Fzzzsssttt. Clong**. The klaxon sounded about three seconds before the sound of the Buster, outside on guard duty, fires its beam cannon and gun launcher. **Fzzzzzssssssttttt**. **WHAM**. Whatever the last was, it had bounced off the inside edge of the port-side launch bay and rattled downward to where it was likely jamming the lower vehicle doors closed.

"Imminent breach, starboard catapult! Marines to hangar catwalks, all personnel prepare to repel boarders!" The voice of the Captain was enough to break any reverie that they were in. All the Knights move to positions of cover as the mechanics haul out their personal weapons, mostly pistols but a leavening of assault rifles in the mix as well. About thirty seconds later, the Marine team showed up in body armor and under full arms, and ten seconds after that the cook showed up with his now-infamous Light Machine Gun.

'Imminent' was correct. The next hit stoved in one of the doors on the starboard catapult as Kira came out into the bay and jumped into his Gundam. "Dearka's machine is down, everyone, watch yourself!" Athrun was out of the ready room next, dressed and into his Gundam in a matter of moments. His Gundam was just powering up as the new arrivals entered the bay.

The first of the new arrivals was a fairly big guy with a fairly big sword and light blue armor. This made him appear even larger, so they didn't really know what they were going to have to do to bring him down. The second tango was not so much a person as it was a spectral wolf that appeared to be made out of light and lightning. If anything, the second of them was the more scary, and probably the more dangerous since they were all standing on metal plates.

"Oh, this is good. A lightning dog and a bodybuilder with a blade."

_You will pay for your impudence, machine warrior. You were no match for me days ago, you will be no match today_!

"Huh? What the fuck is he talking about? Since when have we fought some glowing doggie?" Yzak asks in retort.

_Silence! You will die today_!

"Lovely." Mu signals for the Marines on the catwalk to open fire, and immediately the bay becomes choked with the sound of weapons fire. It was enough that they had to cover their ears, and that was before one of the Marines fired a 40mm grenade launcher into the target.

_Now that you have shown me the ineptitude of your comrades, we will get down to business now_. Despite the arrogance of the foe, and despite the fact that the lightning dog was unharmed, Lafarga was down and bleeding, apparently having taken several hits that were intended for the more threatening of the two tangos. Automatic weapons tend to do that, they figured, though they had scant time to observe as Lafarga belly-crawled his way out of the line of fire, since the main threat was now advancing on the Magic Knights. The next sound was one that Dearka, Athrun, and Yzak knew well, the sound of the crazy cook's LMG, and strangely he was managing to put a stable bead of ordinance into about a half-meter circle, in an angle that would have put the rounds centered on the tango's forehead. If they were not being stopped by some kind of shell. Same thing from Mu's service pistol and the Marines as well; that gave him an idea; he pulled out his service radio and switched over to the preprogrammed channel for the Gundams.

"Kira, Athrun, Mu here. He isn't doing anything while people are shooting at him, just guarding. I have an idea..."

"You say so." Kira and Athrun had not moved their units yet, just watched. When the Marines opened up hard, again, the two Gundams moved into action. The Strike had the Aile pack hard-mounted right now, while the Aegis had its own weapons ready, so the two Gundams drew beam sabers and applied them to the shell the enemy was producing, grating inward with the beams while still connected to the ship's main power accumulator; they had the energy to use their sabers for damn near a day if needed. Aegis was using two, and the Strike was using one, which allowed them to create a triangle pattern around the enemy so he could not move.

_What do you foolish Humans hope to accomplish with this? You cannot harm me, your weapons cannot touch me_.

"Oh, we don't have to touch you, all we have to do is turn up the heat," Athrun comments rather callously. "Nothing can survive when exposed to 25,000 degrees for an hour."

_Do you believe me that weak? I cannot be harmed by such pithy tactics_!

"Hey, I got all the time in the world. How much do you have?" Athrun asks in retort. "Kira, switch to radio only."

_You do not have all the time in the world, miserable Humans from another world, for this one will be gone in less than a fortnight_.

"What's up?"

"We need to figure out some creative way to permanently disable or kill this dickhead, and do it fast. My sabers will hold for a good while, but not all day."

"Hey, Athrun, what about that time we met that psycho half-dressed wench at the Spring of Eterna?" Nicol asks on his radio. "Think that would work here?"

"I don't feel like trying it." If the monster in question was pure energy, then trying to hold it would result in a system overload at a minimum, and quite possibly permanent and more severe damage to any part of his Gundam that contacted it.

"Well, we're at a stalemate, so any idea would be welcome." Mu says from the next crate over, which was picked up by the radio in Nicol's hand.

"Oh, this sucks pretty bad, it's going to take a few winches to get me out of this," and Dearka sounded rather displeased at his fortune for the day.

"What happened?"

"That wolf-thing hit my suit with some form of energy blast, knocked it down between the left leg of the ship and the vehicle bay."

The enemy did not wait around for them, he annulled his shell and jumped straight up, clearing the beam saber blades with ease. On the way down the cook put a few very hasty but well-aimed shots into the body of the target, though the slugs passed right through without harming it. The tango landed in the center of the group of Knights, preventing anything even approximating support fire from being used, since any shot chanced hitting a Knight more than anything else.

Though the Knights had all sprung up and were readying guard, the next move came from the enemy. The surge-style attack the enemy loosed went in all directions, throwing crates, diagnostic machines, pneumatic canisters, personnel and weapons in every direction for twenty meters. This, however, had the effect of clearing the field of fire, and Athrun was just as fast on his trigger as the Marines were. The air became heavy-choked with the acrid smell of cordite-based propellant as the Aegis loosed a dozen rounds of Vulcan into the target's body, all of which failed miserably to cause any apparent damage to the target. The battle was looking grim, grim.

Yzak was just beginning to lever himself up with his sword when the wolf approached, and hit him with a targeted surge blast that threw him clear across the bay toward where the Strike was standing. When he landed, he did not move. Athrun's beam rifle came out and targeted on the errant creature, though a shot simply impacted on the same shield as prior and did nothing more. The look he got from the monster belied the thought that he heard: _You are wasting your effort, Pilot. Surrender and face the inevitable death_.

"Fuck off, you insolent ball of energy," Athrun replies very testily. "Huh? Oh, wow, why didn't I notice that before?"

"What?" Kira asks in retort.

Athrun's Gundam points to Nicol, makes a cutting gesture with two fingers, and taps the head ornamentation on its head, specifically the pentagon-shaped plate that the antenna fins came out of. What he was referring to was an element on the target, of course, though the enemy was baffled by the gesture and made fair to attack Athrun's Gundam next. The surge attack dissipated its electrical component into the grounded metal floor, leaving only the impact component to move to and strike the Aegis, and the Aegis was still connected to the ship's power grid so it was itself grounded. Of course, in a battle situation the Aegis had its Phase Shift active, so the impact caused precisely no damage to the unit; it was Athrun's turn to laugh. "Pathetic. Your attack has no effect on my machine." Athrun kills his external speakers as he brings up the Aegis beam rifle and takes two shots at the enemy. "Nicol, move your ass up! We don't have all day!" Athrun half-shouts on the radio frequency.

There was activity behind the enemy, as Nicol moved to Hikaru and explained the matter, then the two of them branched off and explained to Umi and Mu, then to Natarle and Fuu. They coordinated fast and moved in on the tango, the assault starting with Hikaru's _**Ruby Lightning**_ and Umi's _**Sapphire Whirlwind**_, though the attacks befell the tango's barrier shell and caused no harm. Seeing the new threat, he had the nominal response of using another surge-shockwave attack, but this time they were ready for it, and Natarle and Nicol had the counter for it. When the attack reached them, they used their weapons (and their wills) to redirect the attack back at the monster basically as a desperation move—the plan called for someone to 'absorb' (take the hit from) the attack, and the remaining personnel would go in on the enemy and attempt to destroy the one corporeal object of its being.

The attack deflected, it returned to sender and immediately overpowered his own defenses. Flay went in first, stabbing inward with her kodachi in an attempt to pierce the gem, and she nicked it on the left side, immediately causing the monster to audibly howl in pain. Mu was close behind, and brought the pick-blade on his halberd right into the center of the gem with a tremendous force and will behind the weapon. The gem immediately fractured as the monster collapsed to the floor, whining as if it was in severe pain now.

_D—damn, I—I cannot—I must not lose—not to the Magic Knights—damn you..._The gem was pulsing deep lavender, giving off an eerie glow to the assembled onlookers.

"Why is Zagato doing this?" Nicol asks, still a bit sore from the initial assault.

_I—I will not tell. You will die before Lord Zagato, knowing—it matters not. I would not betray his confidences to you, regardless_.

"I understand. In the next life, we may speak again of this matter," Natarle says, giving a small bow to the foe, then delivers the final blow with her sword to the gem. As it shatters completely, the monster disappears in a blinding white flash, leaving as its only trace a strange burn pattern on the floor and the fragments of the gem. "And now, the other one," and she gestures toward his last known location with her sword, which still had small particles of the lavender gem on it that caught the bay's lights from time to time. "Fuu, check Yzak," she orders before she moves toward Lafarga.

"Yes, immediately," Fuu says with unusual exasperation; she must have realized that Yzak took a full-on hit from the enemy, and would be in pretty bad shape right now...

The cook already had him covered, actually, since changing task was simple while he was trying to maneuver on the big lightning dog (attempting to flank it). When they got to him, Lafarga was already starting to suffer shock from blood loss, and was completely incapable to the battle not even counting the light machine gun that was aimed centered on his head. When Natarle looked toward Fuu (who was turning out to be just as useful as the ship's doctor, maybe more given their propensity for being wounded in battles), she was already coming that way, bracing Yzak in his rather battered state to allow him to walk.

"How're you feeling?" By the time Fuu had helped him to the area of Lafarga, he was well enough that he could sit on a low crate.

"Don't ask," Yzak replies to Nicol's question.

"Fuu, can you...well..."

"Yes, I can." Fuu kneels down next to the guy in blue. He had a distant, vacant look in his eyes already, which did not speak well of how much blood remained in his veins. "_**Winds of Healing**_!" Most of the bleeding stopped within a few seconds, but the raw trauma from the gunshot wounds was still there. "I—I must have used it too many times in a row, it's not working well..."

"I'll try," Nicol steps up; "_**Winds of Healing**_!" The effect radius, since he was not touching one person, was large enough to encompass all the gathered personnel, as well as undo most of the raw damage to Lafarga. He would likely still be sore in strange places for some time, but such beat the hell out of being dead, which is what he came within a good minute of being in Natarle's estimate. (1)

"Holy shit. Since when have you been able to do that?" Dearka asks crassly.

"Hey, I'm actually trying here. Gundams are not the be-all-end-all, especially on this world."

"I noticed," Dearka retorts in a very dejected manner. It occurred to a few of them that it may have been Dearka's machine that was now stuck between the port-side 'leg' of the ship and the vehicle doors, those that didn't understand or hear the gist of his radio comment earlier.

"I dunno, I still think one of our Machines can hack it in these parts," Athrun replies.

"I dunno, I think that glowing wolf had our butts handed to us, he just made one small tactical error and we capitalized on it," Natarle notes. "I'm not sure if it was maxed out or if it was toying with us, but that thing basically had our heads on pikes."

"Oh, thanks for raining on our parade, Commander. For a second there, I was beginning to believe we won on merit," Yzak was now standing fairly well, but still looked like hell shoveled into a basket.

"Keep telling yourself that," Natarle says to the pilot, then looks down to the sword-swinger. "Start talking, big guy."

"Where am I?"

"What?" Natarle asks. "I hope you know where you are, you busted your way in here with that electric wolf."

"I...don't remember...where...what...Princess Emeraude! Where is she?"

"Whoa, slow down, Charlie. No sudden moves," the Cook orders, his Light Machine Gun moving not a whit.

"Who are you people? Well, will you at least allow me to stand?"

"Up slow, keep your hands where I can see them and off your blade." Lafarga complies with that much, and did not try to reclaim his sword. "Now, would you be kind enough to introduce yourself?" The Cook asks in a gratingly civil fashion, while still staring at him over the adjustable sights of his Light Machine Gun.

"I am Lafarga, Captain of the guard to Princess Emeraude."

"Isn't that supposed to be a rather pointless job on Cephiro? I mean, everything I heard about before Zagato started this shit, this place was a nice, quiet hamlet," Athrun asks, standing behind and to the right of the Guard Captain in pilot suit but without helmet. His hand was on a pistol, but it was not drawn.

"It was, there is no threat to the safety of the Pillar of Cephiro. When I had something to do, it was mostly with monsters in the area of the Temple. That ended when Zagato abducted the Princess. I cannot tell you what has transpired since, I do not know what happened."

"Amnesia?" Natarle asks. "When you walked in, you had some kind of glowing blue marks under your eyes."

"Glowing blue marks?" Natarle nods as confirmation to Lafarga's question. "It may be that I was being controlled with some kind of magic, but that ceased when I was injured." (2) Before anyone could comment, he pressed onward: "Do you know of the whereabouts of Princess Emeraude?"

"No, sorry," Kira replies hastily.

"We'd like to know ourselves," Athrun appends on the heels of Kira's comment.

"Yeah, I'd like to run the boot of my Gundam up Zagato's ass for starting all this," Yzak declares at his most ascerbic.

"Gun...dam? I do not know what you mean, warrior from another land," Lafarga's pronunciation of the unfamiliar term was uneven at best.

"That thing," and Yzak points to his machine, the Duel Assault Shroud that had remained unused for the last three fights he had been party to.

"Oh. Is that...a Rune God?"

"No. The Rune Gods are with the Magic Knights, the rest of us work with those things," Athrun notes. "And you?"

"I am a swordmaster, my duty is to the Princess. If you will allow it, I must return to that duty."

"Commander?" The Cook asks.

"Might as well. Keeping him serves no purpose, and apparently he harbors no ill intentions toward us, so..."

"Before, one thing..." The Cook shoulders his Light Machine Gun and picks up Lafarga's blade. "Damn, this is one helluva heavy sword, how do you manage?"

"Many years of practice and duty to the Princess."

"It takes all kinds, I guess." The Cook offers the blade to the swordmaster, who immediately sheaths it.

"Good luck in your duties, Magic Knights." Without another word, the Swordmaster left the way he came to the _Archangel_, silent and unobtrusive, especially in the face of that monster that had accompanied him. Which left one last task for Natarle...

The fragments of the gem that had been the only physical component of the monster that had attacked them were still where they had fallen to the deck. Using a very delicate touch and a work glove, Natarle managed to sweep the remnant into a zipper bag of the same type that police use to contain evidence, and took them to her cabin for safekeeping, as a small shred of evidence that what transpired here was real. Not that it would matter in the end, in her estimation, since they were all probably dead people walking in front of a court of inquiry, but...

-x-x-x-

"This place gets nastier and nastier. I just wanna go home..."

Sai looks to his long-time friend, then sighs mightily. "Quit whining, Kuzzey. We all want to go home, so we have to take down Zagato and save the Princess. That's all." He looks back to his console. "That's...all we have to do."

"Still, why does the really bad stuff always happen to us? I mean--"

"I wouldn't say this is bad as much as it is just plain strange," Murrue replies to the communication crewmember. (3) "Besides, you could always think of it as a bizarre exotic vacation, right in the middle of a war."

"I'll think of it as a vacation _if_ we could find a beach and go swimming," Newman says just barely loud enough for Tolle to hear in the secondary pilot's chair, which gave hem a good laugh for that irreverent thought.

"_That_ is a thought." Miriallia notes.

"What?" Newman asks, shocked that anyone other than Tolle had heard it. "How did you hear that?"

"Huh? What d'you mean?" Miriallia asks.

"I thought only Tolle heard that," Newman notes, looking back toward the CIC.

"I know he said something, but I didn't hear it." Murrue notes. "How did you hear that?" She asks as she looks left and back, down to where the Operator was sitting.

"Huh? He didn't—he did—huh? I'm confused."

_That's a first, Miriallia confused. I think I need to write this down, _Tolle notes within the confines of his mind.

"Thanks a lot, Tolle."

"He didn't say anything, what are you on to?" Sai says from the EWO console.

"This is great, Mir, are you reading my thoughts?" Tolle asks.

"I don't know, I don't know what's going on." She sounded slightly upset about the matter...

"All right, all right, everyone calm down." Murrue says calmly. "Miriallia, are you all right?"

"Well, I'm just not sure what's going on, Captain."

"Okay, guessing from what's happening you may be reading minds." _What the hell else is going to happen on this Magical Mystery Tour_? Murrue asks, then realizes something: "Did you just hear that?"

"Yes, Captain, something about a Magical Mystery Tour," Miriallia notes.

"Well, that settles it."

"Am I...in trouble?" Mir asks timidly after a few seconds.

"No, in fact I'd say you're probably due a round of thanks. I won't ask you to spy on any of the crew, that would be uncivil and probably illegal. The enemy is another story, so if you hear something think about attacking a big white ship, tell me."

"Will do, ma'am." She jolts, hearing something across the ship. "Oh, the Levitator is back online, Captain." Three seconds later, Murrue's comm station rings, and true enough the engineer on duty had called to report the news.

Murrue thanked the Engineer for the prompt service and hung the handset up, then looked down and back to Miriallia. "Miriallia, that's just...wow."

"I dunno, Captain, I think there's gonna be a lot of problems in the near future," she notes honestly.

Murrue considers it for a few seconds. "Oh, I think I know why. Well, whatever you do, don't start a fist-fight over what rattles through someone's mind, please."

_That's not what I meant, ma'am_, Miriallia thinks.

"Oh? Well, regardless of the reason, just don't start a fight, please."

_Eep_, Mir thinks quietly. "This is going to take some work."

"Captain, Accumulator's up, we have enough charge now," Newman notes from the helm, partially to take some of the heat off Tolle's girlfriend.

"Very well, helm, fire up the Levitator. When we are clear of the ground effect, test the engines at quarter, normal, combat, and flank speeds."

"Aye, Captain," Newman says with cheer in voice; he liked gunning the _Archangel_, it had a lot of power to unload when the pedal was down, or so the expression went. "We're clear of the ground and trees in the area, now ramping up to quarter power." He started pressuring the throttles forward.

"Whoa, Helm, aren't we above a quarter?"

"No, Cap'n, I haven't even gotten to ten percent yet—holy shit, why are we going that fast?"

"All stop."

"All stop, aye." Newman brings both throttles back to neutral. "Cap'n, I am not joking, I was at eight percent."

"I don't get it. The atmosphere isn't any thinner than it was yesterday before we got shot down, what's going on?"

"Could the ship have evolved?"

"What was that, Sai?" Murrue asks; suddenly, all eyes were on the EWO officer.

"Well, I mean, the Lady Knights' weapons evolve, so isn't it possible that the ship would evolve?"

"This ship isn't a magical weapon, last I checked." Murrue notes. "Still, this is a land of the will, as Clef noted more than once. Could it be possible that the will of the crew is for the ship to get home, and that is making it faster?" The intercom rings. "Bridge."

"Captain, Natarle." Her voice sounded fairly grim. "I'm down here in the hangar area, when the helm stomped on the engines it knocked over part of a stack of barrels of grease, and when he stomped the brakes it knocked the rest in the opposite direction. Murdoch took a hit from one of the barrels, he'll live but he's pretty badly banged up. Kira and Fuu are taking him down to the doc right now. Are we under attack, Captain?"

"Negative, no hostiles in the area, Natarle."

"Understood, Captain, what's going on with the engines?"

"We're working on that right now."

"Thank you, Captain. I've issues to see to here."

"As you were, Natarle. Good luck."

"Thank you, Captain, hangar is out."

"Well, that settles it, something is definitely not normal here." Murrue dials up the Engine Room. "Engine Room from bridge."

"Engineering, go."

"Ensign, we just had the engines up to 8 percent and it appears we had a momentum approximating quarter speed or more. Is something amiss with the controls down there?"

"Negative, Captain, we confirm you had it up to 8 percent. And you say we had an airspeed equal to quarter speed?"

Newman nods affirmative. "Aye, that is what it appears to be."

"Whoa. Something isn't right, it even sounded like we were under ten percent down here. Fifteen minutes, Captain, we'll see what we can learn down here."

"Aye, thank you."

"Engineering, out."

"This is stranger'n hell," Chandratta notes.

"Tell me about it," Murrue retorts.

-x-x-x-

Athrun, Yzak, Natarle, and Hikaru had joined the mechanics in picking up the grease barrels and securing them to a wall anchoring point without any of them spilling their contents. Twelve had decided to take a journey, and the final one had taken Athrun and Hikaru chasing it down the port-side catapult bay and rolling it back to the hangar area to be secured. Afterwards, Natarle cut loose on the mechanics and had them secure everything that was not in immediate use, to avoid a repeat of what happened to Murdoch. There were grumbles, of course, but with the sight of Murdoch getting flattened by a grease barrel still fresh in mind they would not dare scoff at it.

Kira had entered about a minute after the last barrel was secured, followed shortly by Fuu. "How is he, Ensign?"

"He'll live. Doc seems to think he has the hardest head on the ship."

"That's very possible." Since Kira was still on duty right now... "Ensign, if you would, please aid the mechanics in securing the equipment. We don't need this to happen again."

"Yes, ma'am." He turns smartly and starts aiding them in securing the mobile tool cabinets.

"Anything else for us, ma'am?" Athrun asks entirely level, though Yzak gave him a dirty look for it.

"No, thank you for the assistance rounding these up." Her gesture was to the stack of barrels that was now well past secured. "Aren't you on standby, Athrun?"

"I am, ma'am, but some things take priority." By which he meant the injured mechanic, not necessarily the barrels.

"Well, you may return to your post, then. Yzak, dismissed, and thanks for the help."

"Yeah, whatever;" he walks off without a further word.

"Ma'am." Athrun salutes the Commander in ZAFT fashion and takes the personnel elevator up to the cockpit of his Gundam. That may have run a shiver up her spine a week ago, but not today.

"Aren't you off-duty, Commander?" Hikaru asks rather innocently.

Natarle sighs. "Yes and no. Yes, I am not on watch right now, but I still have to do my job when needed."

"Oh. Military life must be...strange."

"It's not bad, it's just...you have to think different." Natarle sighs. "Thank you for the help, Hikaru, Fuu."

"A pleasure." Fuu and Hikaru head off toward the inner corridors of the ship. Since they had been practicing again, they were headed for the shower. Natarle had been with them, since she wanted to make sure she was doing things right with her swordcraft, and after a few moments contemplation decided she'd feel better about herself if she took a shower as well.

Her quarters were still in proper fashion, since she kept everything secured by the regs. Natarle gathered her stuff for taking a shower quickly and headed out for the shower room, contemplating the thought of having a hot tub on the ship. Granted, it was grossly unprofessional of a warship to have a hot tub, but so far they had done a pretty good job of shredding the regs. If anything worse happened, Natarle had little doubt that the Captain would authorize it to be built, and Natarle even had a sneaking suspicion where it would be built. How they were going to build it as a gender-split affair was still eluding Natarle, but she figured the Engineers down in the engine room would have a good plan for that, or the hot tub would have to be one gender at a time, which would be almost as bad as not having one.

She arrived at the shower room just as the Captain announced that they were going to begin testing the engines to verify all systems, and that personnel should be aware and prepared for sudden impacts and jolts. Natarle knew the routine; it was no different from being in space. Mindful of the possible that she could be caught undressing when a jolt occurred, she undressed rather hurriedly. She had started with the glove that had the bright blue sapphire gem that matched her sword, and before she even completely removed it her whole wardrobe disappeared into it. She got over the shock fairly fast and moved fast into the first shower stall, the same one she almost always used (except when it was occupied prior by someone else).

The warm shower was a step in the right direction for her soul, she figured. For sure it felt better than almost anything she did on the ship, including trying to get along with the rest of the crew. About a third partway through her routine, a group of persons had shown up in the shower, by her estimate three of them. Two of them had to be Hikaru and Fuu, the third wasn't saying anything, which left the possible that it was either Miriallia or Flay. Miriallia was usually quiet, Flay was almost antisocial to anyone except Kira. "Hey, Miriallia, what was that stuff Tolle was listening to?" Natarle could tell Hikaru asked the question.

"He's an ancient music fanatic. He once explained to me how he thinks that 'metal' from so long ago is better than the 'metal' of today."

"And?" Hikaru asks.

"He's an airhead. What can I say?"

_I think that says it all_, Natarle thinks.

"Thanks, Commander. At least someone agrees on that point."

"Wha—how--I didn't say that out loud, what's going on?"

"Oh, crap, I did it again. Sorry, Commander."

"Huh? Can you read minds or something?" Natarle had meant the question half-smartass, but...

"Apparently so, Commander."

"How...long have you been able to do that?"

"About thirty minutes, as far as I can tell."

"Holy shit." The ramifications of that were staggering to Natarle, but she figured anything was possible in the frozen-over hell that was their life in Cephiro.

"Sorry, Commander, I'm trying to avoid listening to other people's minds." The sound was muffled, as if Miriallia was speaking with her shirt over her head.

"Not a problem, Crewman." Natarle hoped she had managed to keep her voice level on the matter.

A jolt had occurred, catching everyone in the room unprepared. For Natarle, she got real personal with the rear wall of the shower stall, and remained with her body compressed to it for a few seconds as Newman gunned it, apparently. "Agh, who landed on me?"

"Oh, sorry, Miriallia." The speaker had to be Hikaru, and from sound pattern it appeared they were on the floor and real close to each other.

"Okay, off me so I can get up, please." If Miriallia could sound less pleased, Natarle wasn't sure how, short of some form of psychotic episode.

"Why is the ship doing this?" Fuu asks.

"They think something's up with the engines," Miriallia notes, now from a standing position. "When I was on the bridge, the first time he tried the engines, he had it up at 8 percent, yet we were going faster than quarter speed."

"No way."

"Way, Commander."

"Well, just frigging good. First we get jumped by some kind of lightning wolf, now our engines are overpowered, is anything else strange going to happen before the day is up?"

"Don't say that too loud, it may actually happen."

The intercom speaker clicks audibly. "Attention all hands, it is the conclusion of engineering that somehow, our engines are now more powerful than they were when this ship was commissioned. Be advised from now on we will have some issues with whiplash when taking off or stopping. That is all. Hikaru Shidou, please report to the bridge with Mokona."

"Oh, man, I never got to take a shower."

"That's military life for you," Miriallia says. "There were a couple times when this started that we didn't even get an hour of sleep before we had a battle."

"Oh, wow. That must be bad."

"That's not really the way that I put it at the time," Miriallia replies deadpan. Natarle could hear the door opening and closing.

"If you don't mind my asking, Fuu, how is Murdoch doing? Or was the last you knew when you dropped him off?"

"I did what I could with my magic, but I can't use it too many times in a row or it loses power. I asked Nicol to help when he gets in from guard detail."

"Thank you, Fuu." Natarle had decided a while back that even if she didn't agree with this crap, she'd still be civil to them. After all, it appeared Yzak had it right, the three ladies were the Magic Knights, the rest of the ship was just support. The shower now off, Natarle pulled her towel in and began trying herself off. After a few moments, the next two showers started up, which told Natarle that the others were just climbing in now.

All in all, this day had gotten all the more strange from the word 'go.' And there was still 12 hours in the day left.

-x-x-x-

"Helm, all stop."

"Helm all stop, aye." Newman brings the dual throttles back to neutral. For better control of the engine speed, the Engineers had installed a pair of throttles similar to those used in Mobile Suits, that had a long actuation so he could easily control the engine output. These two throttles could be moved with one hand, and were to the left of his helm couch. He hauled back on the throttles until they got to a predefined notch that had no acceleration. "Helm confirms engines all stopped."

"Thank you. Set her down, Newman, slow." Murrue picks up her handset. "Attention all hands, this is the Captain. We have arrived at the location of the third Rune God of Cephiro. All personnel are advised to be on the lookout for possible boarding actions by enemy parties; involved personnel are to muster in the hangar in fifteen minutes with arms. That is all." 'Involved Personnel' included the four ZAFT pilots, Kira, and the three Magic Knights.

"Shall I prepare the team?"

"No, Natarle, I'll take them out this time. Just be ready to move when we have awoken the third Rune God so we can get this done fast."

"Aye, Captain." Natarle's voice was surprisingly neutral on the matter.

Murrue had headed down to the armory, where the four ZAFT pilots and Kira were waiting. Once she authorized it, the armory guard unlocked the facility and Murrue headed in to assemble the six kits that would be needed. Sorting that out took ten minutes, including the sign-out sheets for each weapon. If nothing, she tried to keep such matters by the book, but not always did it work that way... Yzak and Athrun both received a pair of LAWS rockets, just in case the worst was needed in the base of the volcano they were headed to.

Out in the hangar, the pair of jeeps used prior were the ones used this time. The lead jeep was Murrue, Hikaru, Athrun, and Kira. The rear jeep was Nicol, Yzak, Dearka, Umi, and Fuu; Nicol and Fuu had the front, Yzak and Umi were sitting on the opposite sides of the jeep due to yet another shouting match, though this arrangement was not making Dearka feel very good about his chances of survival. Not so much Zagato, no, he figured they'd take him out without too much an issue, it was his friends that were still trying to strangle each other, despite having a third party between them, that really had him worried.

The drive from hell ended eventually, and Dearka was fast enough to get out of the jeep without getting choked by Umi. That much accomplished, the group assembled near the mouth of a rather gloomy-looking cave that led into the interior of a volcano. "All right, Mokona says the last one is in here. We've gone through Zagato's henchmen like beer at a college party, so there's a good chance that if he's going to try one last time to stop us, it'll be in here and it won't be pretty. Any questions?"

"Yeah, are we gonna throw a kegger after we kick the crap out of Zagato? I keep hearing that rumor in the galley," Yzak says without any trace of temerity or shame.

"You're not the only one that keeps hearing that," Murrue notes with a tone that neither confirms nor denies it. "The only problem is someone has to cough up the kegs before we can have a kegger."

"That could be a problem," Dearka notes.

"No, really?" Yzak asks sarcastically.

"Anything else?" There was no further questions from the crew; "All right, let's go. Yzak, Dearka, you have point." (4)

The trip through the cave access was rather pithy, a meter 100 meters unto a precipice that was in the bowl of the volcano itself. Above them was the open sky of evening; below them, a river of fire and lava unseen by most in Existence. To port, an array of crags of various size and purpose; to the starboard--

"Well, there it is, now, how do we get in?" Nicol asks.

"Jump?" Dearka says half-seriously, as if he had just then realized it was the dumbest thing possible.

"I don't know about you, Dearka, but I can't walk on water, I ain't even going to try lava," Yzak retorts.

Hikaru, who normally would have something to say on the matter, had disappeared into thin air in plain view of Umi and Fuu, who though startled said nothing about the departure.

"Yeegh, not a pleasant way to go," Murrue thinks aloud, looking down into the lava.

"Get used to the thought. This is where you all shall rest." Eyes and sights immediately centered on the speaker, a guy in a black cloak and ornate headdress, standing downrange among the crags.

"Oh, wow, is this guy like the last mini-boss before we get to trash the Final Boss?" Yzak says, drawing on just about all of his video-gaming knowledge for the comparison.

"You shall gain no such luxury. Your struggle ends here."

"Drop 'em, everyone," Murrue says as she sights him up with her assault rifle.

The roar of the lava was almost indistinguishable from that of the gunshots, but not quite. Six assault rifles spoke; unsurprisingly to any of them, the enemy was untouched by their efforts at battle, for he had a shield in place. Umi and Fuu tried next, each with their best attack spells, and failed in the same fashion. The whole affair was a losing battle, and they all could sense it.

"Useless. How you defeated Inouva eludes me."

"Huh? Who the hell are you talking about?" Yzak asks, using it as both a legitimate question and as camouflage for opening up a 'friend' of his...

"Inouva, the being of pure energy that you called a wolf. He was far more than any creature from your home world, and all you could care about was killing him. Well, allow me to show you the same courtesy, soldiers of a different world."

"Eat me." Yzak brought the LAWS tube up and centered it on him in one swift motion, firing an instant thereafter. With the classic several-shotgun firing sound the rocket leapt from the tube and bored straight in on the enemy. The rocket did not miss, but by the same token it did not hit, either. Again the shield stopped it cold, detonating it harmlessly without so much as even increasing the air pressure inside the shell. "Man, this is getting to be pretty pathetic. Are guns this useless everywhere in Cephiro?" Yzak casts aside the LAWS tube; it bounces off the edge of the precipice and tumbles into the lava as Yzak draws his sword. "Why don't you come over here and I teach you what a Coordinator is, huh?"

"I have nothing to learn from you, but something to teach to you." He holds out his right hand, aiming directly at Yzak. "Death." The pressure blast was too much, even as Yzak braced; it knocked him backwards and over the edge of the precipice.

"_**Winds of Admonishment**_!" Fuu had just barely managed to get the grapnel spell around the Gundam Pilot, as he had less than a meter to the lava floe below (5). It was the work of some severe control on Fuu's part to get him back up on the ledge, while the others distracted the enemy from disrupting her and causing Yzak to be lost to the flames.

Yzak landed back on the precipice as the enemy prepared his next attack, and this one had a far different effect than knocking someone around. The magic wind that assailed them all had the effect of stripping them all of their magical accountments, be they armor, weapons or gloves. This left them all in their normal clothes with the only available weapons being the assortment of firearms that had already proved ineffective against him. Even still, they continued firing, though Murrue was beginning to build a half-baked plan for the last three of the LAWS rockets.

"Why do you continue to fight? What does this mean to you? Surely those of another world are not lacking in their own problems to concern over, are they not?"

"Problems," Yzak's snort was quite derisive. "Try a bloody shooting war involving a whole world and colonies in space. 'Problem' doesn't even begin to describe it, jackoff. And you know, I'd love to get back to that war, which means I have to take out a certain troublemaker here before I get to go to the war at home. Follow?"

"A troublemaker, am I? It is good to see that I am held in such high esteem by my unworthy foes."

"Oh, good day, Zagato. You should have told us sooner who you are, that way I'd've gone to get my Gundam." The whole bent of Yzak's comment was thoroughly sarcastic. "You know, that still sounds like a good idea. Wait here, I'll be back in ten minutes to finish this fight."

"You will not get that luxury—huh?" the doors had opened, expelling Hikaru back onto the landing separate from the doors. "Ah, the third of the Magic Knights."

"Did the Rune God kick you out or something?" Dearka asks, and like usual only Dearka thought it funny.

"What—who—who is that guy?" Hikaru asks, then draws her sword.

"Trifling power. Not even a challenge to me." Again with the magic winds that stripped her of her weapon and armor, leaving the whole crew basically completely defenseless.

"I won't give up! I can't give up, I've come this far!" Hikaru shouts in retort to his attack.

"You have come this far to die. Your existence here is hopeless, I will not allow you to get to Princess Emeraude."

"Why? Why are you keeping us from her?" Nicol asks.

"That is beyond you. Now, I have no time to spare for deus ex machina, so you have two choices. You can press the matter, and I kill you all, now, or you can leave here, and you will have at least a few weeks before Cephiro is destroyed."

"Like hell I'm gonna leave." Athrun notes as he picks up a loose stone and tosses it at him. It never reached him on count of the ever-present shield, of course.

"Your attempts degenerate to throwing rocks now? Oh, how the mighty of another world fall flat on Cephiro."

"Fuck off," Athrun offers as a rather lamed retort. Zagato was right and everyone knew it, their weapons were worth nothing in this battle.

"Someday, long after I am dead, I may come to understand the meaning of that imprecation. Between today and then, however, it shall be you that will 'fuck off' as you so crassly put it." His hand came up, centered on Athrun, who simply braced himself for the inevitable and guarded forward with his left arm. The attack came but never reached him; Hikaru had stood forward and taken the brunt of the attack. "And you, Magic Knight, are you in such a rush to die that you would shield the degenerates among your ranks?"

"They are my friends! I won't let you harm them!"

"Noble but pointless. Very well, I will grant you the demise you seek."

The attack came again, but this time it never made it to Hikaru, as Athrun had dragged her to the ground while Murrue stood forward and took the hit. It did not kill her, as he had threatened, for Murrue definitely qualified as tougher than she appeared.

"Damnit, what's your game, man? What's this shit all worth?" Dearka asks in a grossly pissed off fashion.

"We have both failed to answer this question. So, I guess you volunteer next."

"Get down, Dearka!" Kira shouts as he drags him to the ground. Kira was not fast enough to dodge the hit himself, and was knocked aside rather roughly, to the point that the shockwave knocked him into the rock wall next to the entrance tunnel.

"KIRA!" Athrun shouts, but his shout was rapidly drowned out by the sound of roaring flames and winds; the doors to the Rune God's chamber had opened again. This time, however, the Rune God had come manifest into the area between the door and the precipice, looking as a lion with a mane and body of pure red flame.

"Young lady from another world, thou hast proved unto me the strength of thine heart and thy bonds of friendship with those you have never known prior to thine journey. I shall now reveal unto thee my true form and grant thee my strength for the upcoming trials." The Rune God changed form, this one into a humanoid appearance that looked more wolf-inspired than else. Also of note was the large shield-extension on the left arm that appeared it would give Hikaru excellent defense in close quarters. Even Yzak was a bit intimidated.

To match the change, first off all prior lost equipment was restored to the attached users; second, the equipment was upgraded in all cases, including the first for the weapons of the others. It was a significant shock to Nicol to now be holding paired spatha, the old Roman Cavalry longsword, about length and a half to his original short swords; Yzak's broadsword now had the appearance of some form of a slender two-handed sword. Additionally, the Lady Knights' armor and swords had evolved again, and matched almost exactly what Yzak predicted, though the armor was no longer mirrored between them, it was stylized in the fashion of their Rune Gods, and on that Yzak figured it was likely easily capable to stopping an armor-piercing 30-caliber round, regardless of how light it looked.

The last thing to come of note was that Murrue, Kira, Dearka and Athrun also had their own gloves now, though their weapons were by far the most bizarre combination. Athrun carried a pair of katana, both full-size blades, Kira had a strange weapon that appeared to be two swords joined at the pommel, making one large two-bladed staff-sword-whateverthehellitwouldbecalled thing, and Dearka now held a rather large combination battle ax and pick-ax weapon that could not be handed with any but two hands. Murrue's, though took the cake, as it was a simple armband with a large multi-faceted ruby in the center of the spiral, wrapped around her left arm. They could only begin to guess what that was for

"I will send you all to the abyss before you can make the situation worse!" Zagato's attack befell a shell projected by Rayearth, the Rune God of fire, which expanded outward to the point that Zagato flat disappeared, likely having fled the field of battle.

"Now is the time; the legendary battle for this world is upon us all! Call out our names and don us!"

"Go for it, Hikaru, we'll meet you guys in the atmosphere," Murrue notes after she stows her weapon.

"Okay, thank you for the help and friendship, Captain."

"You can thank us by coming out of this alive." Murrue turns toward the exit. "Let's go, pilots. We have a war to finish and a war to return to."

"That's what I want to hear!" Yzak says as he heads for the door, followed quickly by the rest. Their jeeps, and the _Archangel_, were but minutes away.

* * *

Author's Chapter Afterword: 

The blood is in the water and the fighters are pumped and ready for it. Now, the only question remains, how shall the battle transpire, and how shall the aftermath be? Remember, winning the battle is only the first step for the victor, and sometimes the only step if they win but fall afterwards...

Now, as to the nature of why Umi and Fuu got three links each and Hikaru got four, well, let us say that her will is more dynamic and more powerful on this subject; Fuu still partially think of this as a game, and Umi is still partially convinced she should not be there. It's likely not enough to hinder them in battle, but it is enough to degrade them on certain subjects. Hikaru was the first and always the foremost about wanting to really help the people of Cephiro, and was the first one into the breech, always ready to stand and fight regardless of who threw what where and why they did it (confused yet? I think I am...). Thus, she gets the link of four.

Umi is linked to Yzak because of their mutual temperament and elitism, though not in invective (for which Umi will eventually slap him for). Umi is linked to Flay because when not riled up, their personae are pretty close. And she is linked to Natarle because of their cool heads under pressure and certain sense of grace and tactical aptitude.

Fuu is linked to Nicol through their mutual sense of kindness and strong yet quiet will. Fuu is linked to Miriallia by their sense of being as quiet yet critical support personnel, not necessarily front-line operators, yet still there to get the job done, and through their quiet, relentless sense of duty. The link to Mu is a tenuous one, but mostly across their continually pragmatic but can-do attitudes that always finds a way to solve the problems, and secondary through their mutual habitat of the air, Windam being the Rune God of the winds, Mu being a pilot first and foremost of aircraft.

Hikaru is linked to Dearka because of their nature of battle: they are both the heavy-hitters of their respective teams. Hikaru is linked to Athrun through their unyielding drive to do what they believe is right. Kira is linked to Hikaru through their adaptability and flexibility, and their strong convictions in right and wrong. Hikaru is linked to Murrue most of all because of their command stature and drive. While Murrue and Hikaru can often be doubtful of their course, when they get down to it, don't stand in their way or you _will_ get run over in the process.

And now, as to the _Archangel_ getting a bit of a boost, let us simply say it has something to do with the fragments of Inouva's gem and the will of the crew, not one or the other. For ref, the _Archangel_ now has enough solo thrust to escape the atmosphere of any planet at 1.2 Terran gravity or less. There is no telling what else will become of the ship, so stay tuned to see what other trials and changes it undergoes.

Also, in reply to a review about the status between Kira and Flay, keep in mind that when they were in Aube Kira and Flay had a helluva falling out. This is Flay's way to work her way back in on him, shall we say, though Kira is quickly getting the hint that Flay is trying to manipulate him and isn't going to play by her rules completely. This is one element taht could get real messy real fast, depending on how Flay (and the dice) want to play it. As to Hikaru and Kira, they will get some very serious action here in short order, and quite a bit more in the next section of this fic. Stay tuned, the fun isn't over yet.

Next up: the battle against Zagato leads to an extremely unexpected round two, and is where they landed after the battle the end of their adventure? .

* * *

Footnotes: 

(1): The dice strike again: by random choice, Lafarga lived. He was right on the edge, but it looks that the team Fuu and Nicol make when healing was enough to save him this time. His was 50/50, he scored high. As to Nicol's healing spell, this is just the beginning for him, and in a _significantly_ later chapter the matter will be better explained by some experts on the subject...

(2): In the anime, it took a lot of firepower (literally) for Hikaru to shake him out of his controlled state. Interpret, it seems like the raw damage is what shocked him out of the controlled state, so it goes without saying that taking eight or nine hits from .30-cal rifles would do the job (yes, he is a really tough bastard: most people wouldn't survive four hits from a .308, movies notwithstanding).

(3): In both the Manga and the Anime, this is the position that Kuzzey always sits at.

(4): Walking point means to take the lead. It is often also called the 'sniper bait' position, for obvious reasons.

(5): Another case of the dice saving Yzak's butt. Hope he can keep this streak up, the way he gets into trouble...


	8. Shadows of Blood, Balls of Dust

(08: Shadows of Blood, Balls of Dust)

Murrue had stopped in the hangar to watch the five pilots mount up. It was strange, really, she knew the ship and the five suits intimately, yet the only one that truly belonged to the Earth Alliance right now was the ship. She knew that if Kira had an honest choice in the matter (ergo, his friends were not at hazard), he would have taken the Strike and been long gone. He hated the whole principle of the war and honestly wanted nothing to do with it, and unsurprisingly Murrue got the same impression from the four from ZAFT. Real soldiers never liked to fight, but they always did so when told for as long as told, because some thing just had to be done.

By request, the statue of Clef had been dropped off before the ship was to launch, as Clef felt that he could best mitigate the effects after the battle with Zagato if he was on the ground. Murrue wasn't entirely sure what he was getting at, but she had this feeling that whatever he spoke of would be less than pleasant. Four crewmembers had crab-walked his statue out of the bay, and Mokona had remained with the statue. Murrue had said her goodbye to the enigmatic stoned Mage, and returned to the ship just as the pilots were coming out of the ready room.

The first unit active was the Blitz, as Nicol activated and unlocked the OS on his unit he ran a full systems check to make sure he was battle ready. Aegis activated next, Athrun had probably the most complex encryption and lock on the unit. It wasn't all that surprising to Murrue that Kira and Athrun knew each other so well; war does strange things to otherwise good people. The Strike came active next, armed with the IWSP pack that gave it almost the same maneuverability as the Aile Strike and more than four times the firepower. The Duel and Buster were the last to activate respectively, Yzak and Dearka having the farthest to walk to their machines when they got to the ship. Already hot and armed were the Skygrasper units, as they had been sitting ready with Launcher Striker packs that gave them rather large amounts of firepower to use on targets. Mu gave her a wave from the cockpit of Skygrasper 01, which she returned in a fashion that she knew was unprofessional, then saluted them both. Mu and Tolle had to be the two craziest of persons on the ship right now, since those fighters could not have armor. One good hit and there would be little of them left to bury. Murrue had to savagely suppress her innate desire to tell them to hang up the pilot suits, especially in Mu's case, since she knew they would need every ounce of firepower on site that could be mustered, and that meant the Skygraspers were out there as well.

The journey to the bridge was one of conflicting feelings. She wanted to, she did not want to. She wanted to defeat Zagato, she did not want the time of (relative) peace to end. She wanted to go home, she did not really want to go back to the Earth Alliance ethos of trying to exterminate all Coordinators. The dichotomy of her feelings was starting to catch up to her. On the other hand, she felt as if she had a duty to the people of Cephiro, and delaying that would cost lives that she did not want on her conscience at the end of the day. By the time she reached the doors to the bridge, her soul was tentatively settled on the matter; the morality of the issue won out over the practicality.

"Kuzzey, 1MC and radio, please."

"Up," he replies after entering the appropriate commands.

"Attention all hands, this is Captain Ramius. The final battle in the war for Cephiro is upon us. All Three Rune Gods stand with us as we now go to confront Zagato and settle this matter. This warship will be joining them in the battle. All hands are to assume level one battlestations until further notice. Be aware and ready for sudden impacts and hard maneuvering at all times. Munitions Technicians are to be on standby in the hangar for fast reloading of all allied units as necessary. We do not know what or how many of Zagato's minions remain after eliminating many of them of them on our travels, but he will try his best to sink us. Be prepared for anything. Wish us all luck; today we fight to save one world, tomorrow we may be in our own. " There was no need for the internal speakers; Murrue could hear the cheers of the crew through the bulkheads, echoing throughout the ship. "Helm, all ahead full, bring her up slow. Hangar, prepare Duel and IWSP Strike for launch."

As Newman brought her up slow, about a percent a second, Murrue watched on the internal ship's monitors as the Duel connected to the starboard catapult and prepared.

"Conn, sensors, I have three contacts coming out of the volcano's mouth," Sai reports.

"On screen." All eyes were on the primary screen; "It's Rayearth."

"And Windam and Selesce, as well." Natarle notes, just barely able to see it from her position.

"Now, now, Newman, don't fall behind, clear?" Murrue says in a slightly teasing fashion. Despite the necessity of the issues, she was enjoying it nonetheless. It helped when you really believed in the cause you fought for.

"Roger that." He doubles the pace of advancement on the throttles, now going up two percent every second. It was not long before they were actually gaining on the Rune Gods, despite the size of the ship. Another two minutes and the ship was almost level with them, if below in altitude slightly.

_Mind if we hitch a ride_? Murrue could hear it mentally, but probably so could a chunk of the crew, if not all of them..

"Miriallia, if you would, please ask them to find landing spots on the foredeck and area."

_Welcome Aboard, Rune Gods of Cephiro. The Captain requests you take positions on the forward half of the ship's deck_.

"Thank you, Miriallia," Murrue says as the three Rune Gods slowly drop altitude until they were close to landing. Rayeartlh landed right in the center of the foredeck; Windam perched behind the port-side Gottfried cannons, Selesce behind the Starboard Gottfried array. "Mir, if you would, can you ask them if they know how far to the objective?"

_Hikaru, do you know how far to the objective_?

A pause of several seconds, likely as they asked among themselves about it. _There is a fortress near the edge of the sky that Zagato is holding the Pillar in. That is our destination_. The reply was actually from Fuu, likely through her Rune God. It was likely also heard by the whole crew.

"Great. So much for our Skygraspers. Miriallia, can you have Tolle and Mu come to the bridge please? No sense having them on standby in craft we can't use for this battle."

That was an order she was all too willing to relay: "Crewman Koenig, Commander La Flaga, please stand down the Skygraspers and report to the bridge."

It took them five minutes, but they finally made it up to the bridge. "What's happening, Captain?" Mu asks after he enters.

"We're headed out of your operation ceiling for the Skygraspers. Mu, I want you on the second weapons panel, Tolle on the second Helm station."

"Yes, ma'am," Miriallia could tell that Tolle was not pleased with the change of plans. She was, however, she didn't like Tolle standing in harm's way.

"Can do." If anything, Mu was a very capable manual shot with the Gottfried cannons, which actually might make the job easier.

"Conn, Sensors, I have a large unidentified object dead ahead, range 1250, estimate arrive at object in forty minutes."

"Sensors, can you get us a visual?"

_You are seeing the crystal castle that High priest Zagato used to try and contain the Princess_, the voice had to be one of the Rune Gods. _Thine foes are not to be taken lightly. Be wary_.

"Damn straight we shall be," Athrun replies over the radio.

"It looks...sadly beautiful, actually," Miriallia says as Chandratta gets a visual of it on the main screen.

"Well, we have to get in there to get to the Princess, so..." Newman notes.

"Well, keep the speed up and keep your eyes open. Sensors, keep the sweep radar active. It may give our position away, but I want to see them coming first."

"Aye, Captain," Sai says as he adjusts some settings on the radar. "Oh, crap, Captain, I have a contact in the airspace near the crystal formation, classifying...unknown, gross mass estimate 75 tons. Visual in a moment..." The main camera was slaved to the radar tracking system, which gave them a clear view of the target.

"Is that...a Rune God of some type?" Murrue asks.

_It is the High Priest, Zagato's Rune God_.

"Great. Well, so much for not having to deal with him again. Miriallia, please begin launching our units."

"Strike, Duel, prepare to launch. We have one contact, an enemy Rune God, at the structure ahead."

"Ready," Kira replies immediately.

"Standing by," Yzak notes with a hint of determination to tone.

"Launch!" The sound of the Catapults translates through the structure of the ship. "Blitz, Aegis, you're next."

"Conn, Sensors, enemy has launched from the crystal structure, confirmed headed toward us!"

"Miriallia, please ask the Magic Knights to move out. Weapons, break out Gottfrieds and Valiants, load all tubes with Sledgehammers, set Igelstellungs to auto-track mode, set helldarts to auto-fire on special auto." Special Auto was a setting that allowed the ship's computer to fire when it figured it would have a high probability of hitting. When the Igelstellungs were set in that mode, they intercepted incoming missiles as priority, then tracked in on enemy mobile forces and land forces.

_Magic Knights_, please begin.

_We shall_, Hikaru replies.

"Enemy unit is out of range for all weapons at this time, but closing rapidly. Fifteen seconds."

"The Duel has engaged the enemy." In the distance, they could see the first green streaks of beam rifle.

-x-x-x-

(A/N: The way I see it, if Zagato is supposed to be so badass, he deserves a larger repertoire of spells to execute being so. Therefore, he's going to toss some weird and powerful ones into the mix to really shake up the crew. I will try my best to keep everything straight and describe effects, of course.).

Yzak had to admit that the enemy had a hell of a combination of defensive and offensive skills. Too bad he was grossly outnumbered, he could only keep it going for so long.

After dodging another sword-shockwave attack, Yzak fired a pair of beam attacks as the Strike did the same, forcing the enemy to maintain a heavy shield and thus not attack the Mobile Suits or Rune Gods. Yzak keeps the pressure on, bouncing a pair of Shiva slugs off his shield as Hikaru joins the fray with her _**Ruby Lightning**_ spell. Kira had next, using the 35mm Machine Gun on the IWSP pack's shield to continually rattle slugs off the enemy's defensive shield.

"Even now, you are helpless against my onslaught." Strangely enough, the transmission was not telepathic, it came across their radios. The enemy had surged forward and dispelled the shield moments before he swung in against Yzak. Sword met shield as Yzak stowed his beam rifle and drew his beam saber. The enemy had backed off from the initial clash, and parried Yzak's first thrust expertly, especially for someone who was purported to not have much along the way of close-quarter skills. Yzak followed up with a pair of rapid thrusts, each driven aside with a meter to spare before contacting the enemy.

"Helpless? It's your ass that's doing all the defending!" Yzak shouts on the radio as he hammers inward, deliberately forcing a clash with Zagato that he followed up by kicking into the side of the enemy Rune God. Zagato's machine went flying out of control and toward the planet below. To capitalize on the moment, Nicol had moved in on him with Blitz, which was a Gundam designed to both sneak up on enemies and fight them in close quarters. The combination of first and second-degree attack chain caught Zagato unawares and before he could prepare a proper defense he had taken two hits from the Blitz's beam saber that had nicked the surface of the Rune God's armor. The translated pain from the two minor gouges was enough to distract him, however, and Kira had the next step in the dance with a pair of 120mm cannon slugs from his IWSP pack, both of which hit hard enough to cause pain to the pilot (Zagato).

"_**Fire Spike**_!" The attack was impressive, a pointed beam of fire leaping from his aimed sword at the Strike, though Kira was more than fast enough to get his Gundam out of the way of the oncoming attack. For effect, he put a salvo of 35mm Gattling down the way as he ducked under the beam, and the shots went true into the enemy unit, causing him to go off-balance but not causing any notable damage.

"Chew on this, suckhole!" Dearka shouts as he connects his two cannons into the sniper rifle configuration and takes aim; the shot befalls his shield but also the sheer translated impact knocked him away from Dearka and into Hikaru, who was waiting for the enemy with Rayearth and sword at the ready. The net effect of that clash was inconclusive, the two swords grinding down to the hilts and neither able to get a good position on the other. After ten seconds of shoving at each other, the two broke apart and began jockeying for position again.

"Your ass is mine!" Yzak shouts as he sights the tango up, first with a shot of beam rifle, then two taps of Shiva, then two of his missiles and another shot of beam rifle. All from a range of two kilometers. The result was ineffective, but when Zagato charged in on the Duel Pilot he took the hit with his shield, instead shooting him at point-blank with the beam rifle. Even a direct hit caused damage, but not enough to really begin slowing him down. Grapneled, Yzak aimed the Shiva down and put a pair into the chest of the Rune God foe, the first slug caroming off the chest armor, the second one hit dead and translated a lot of impact to the enemy; to Zagato, it was as if someone had just mule-kicked him without the benefit of armor.

"_**Dark**_--"

"Yzak, clear!" Athrun shouts; Yzak jets straight downward, toward the planet, and when Zagato's view centers on the new threat axis he fins himself staring down something that looked like a four-leg crab with a small mouth. He never really knew what hit him, even after the beam of the Scylla multi-phase energy cannon tore a chunk off his left shoulder and left bicep.

"_**Lightning Assault**_!" As his sword was held high, a series of lightning streaks emanated from the tip of the sword and struck the units nearest, being Umi's Rune God, the Blitz, and the Aegis, the latter just after transforming to Gundam form. Umi took the brunt of the translated damage, but the Rune God was still good to go. The Blitz took it in the shield, instantly frying its beam rifle/beam saber combo and causing one of the Lancer Darts to fire off toward the planet. The Aegis took the hit in the shield as well, and the translated energy immediately destroyed the left arm beam saber and caused the whole arm to seize up. Transforming properly would now be impossible without ejecting that arm.

"_**Winds of Admonishment**_!" Fuu shouts, and Windam manages to ensnare Zagato's Rune God with them. Nicol was counting on something...

Zagato broke free of the entrapment spell easily, of course. What he was not expecting, however, was less than a second after he was freed, he took a pair of hits unlike any prior. The Lancer Darts carried by the Blitz are rare weapons, relying both on penetration and explosion power. The first missile hit him at a glance, but caused him to spin clockwise and directly into the path of the second. The direct missile embedded itself into the Rune God's left thigh and blew, instantly blowing the leg clear off his Rune God. The tortured screech that accompanied that monumental event was unlike one ever heard by them, even worse than that of Miguel or Olor being killed in battle against the _Archangel_.

"_Archangel_, I'm coming in for a new shield."

"Roger that, Blitz. Port side," Miriallia says. Of all things beyond keeping the orders straight in the melee ahead of the ship, she also had to properly handle incoming and outgoing units as they reloaded, refueled, and rearmed.

"My...my leg...how..." Inside the cockpit, his leg was bleeding from where the Lancer Dart had penetrated the Rune God, the translation from one to the other was that severe. "I will...I must...I can't..."

"This is _Archangel_, we are within range. Standby." Murrue looks to Chandratta. "Fire Valiants."

"Aye." The two Linear Guns spoke, barking a total of four slugs that left the characteristic rifle-groove-swirl behind a glowing yellow projectile that terminated in Zagato's shield. The first one hit hard enough to completely break his shield and send him flying up and away from the unit, the other three sailed into the crystal prison and blew chunks out of the gorgeous surface. Dearka had the follow up, firing a group of four missiles at the wildly gyrating Rune God before it could stabilize. All four hit, though the damage caused was not spectacular in the face of their foe.

"I...I will...I will send you all to hell! _**Dark Matter**_!" Unlike the others, this spell was semi-guided and started chasing down Dearka, who was fast enough to flee away from it as the blue-black ball kept seeking his ass, or, more appropriately his Gundam. Yzak had the answer to it, a single shot of his railgun detonated the ball as Umi pressed in on Zagato to try and distract him. The ball detonated away from Dearka, but not far enough away that his Gundam was unharmed. The blast propelled it into a nearby floating rock, causing Dearka's machine to crater on said rock with a helluva impact.

"Dearka? Man, speak to me?" Yzak asks over the radio.

"I'll live, I think," Dearka says after a moment. "My machine can still move, but I'm slowly losing hydraulic pressure. Ten minutes, tops, and I'll be stiff as a board."

"I'm sure that would impress some chick somewhere, but that doesn't do shit for us right now," Yzak retorts testily. "Now, for this maggot..."

Kira began in first, firing an all-weapons barrage into Zagato to get his attention, and when Zagato moved in on the Strike Yzak made his next move, getting in behind him and hitting him with the 175mm Grenade Launcher under the barrel of his beam rifle. The grenade flew straight to and blew spectacularly, driving Zagato downward toward the planet and causing him to widely miss Kira. He followed up with a pair of slashes from the straight-blade 9.7-meter anti-ship swords carried on the IWSP pack, one to the center of his back, the other on his right shoulder, both hits gouging the armor on the Rune God foe but did little more.

"Nicol here, I'm back in action!" The Blitz had been cat-shot to return it to the fray, and he was just arriving after the initial burst of thrust faded. He had a whole new Trikeros set, including another three Lancer Darts.

Aegis went in against the enemy this time, using his beam saber in his right arm to counter Zagato's blade. It was a designed setup, however, that Nicol immediately took to as he noticed what was happening. Gleipnir went out on line and latched onto Zagato's most important defensive / offensive tool, before he could even realize what was happening. Nicol pulled the sword completely from his hand and threw it away and down, leaving Zagato disarmed but not completely helpless. "Hikaru! Do it!" Nicol shouts on the radio.

Still rather shocked that he had been so callously disarmed, Zagato had a bare quarter-second to see his doom coming; Hikaru had charged him down at full speed, her sword set to impale the enemy. The blade pierced his Rune god from front to back as Aegis just barely cleared away at the right time. The blade's strike was left of center in the chest of his Rune God and penetrated straight through; there was no doubt that the tango was down.

He had the shocker of the day, at the last: "Princess...please...be free..." A moment thereafter, his Rune God shred violently as the energy used to create it vented, in something reminiscent of an explosion but without the massive fireball.

"Holy shit, it's over."

_Be cautious, the next foe you will face will be unlike any other you can imagine_. The mental voice was broadcast, that of the Rune God Selesce.

"What? It's not over?" Yzak immediately asks. "This is bullshit."

_This is the true duty for which you were summoned, warriors from another world. It will not be pleasant_.

"I guess Zagato was just a warm-up. Well, let's get it on. We don't have all week to screw around," Athrun says deadpan.

"This is Buster, I'm returning to the ship for recharge and hydro repair and refill."

"Roger that, Buster. Mechanics are waiting on the port side."

"Duel Reporting, I'm coming in for a reload and Recharge."

"Duel, you are cleared on the starboard side. Aegis, what is your power status?" Miriallia sounded like she was trying hard to keep everything straight.

"Aegis reporting, I'm at 60 percent power. Kira?"

"Strike reporting, I'm at 75 percent but almost empty on IWSP ammo. I'm coming in to swap out to Launcher Strike, over."

"Roger, Strike, you are authorized on the Starboard catapult behind Duel, over."

"Magic Knights, this is _Archangel_ Command. Do you require any rest or maintenance?"

The answer took seconds. "No, we are fine."

Dearka had landed, followed shortly by the Duel, and both immediately moved to their assigned gantries to be repaired, reloaded, and recharged. Kira landed a minute later and positioned to have his Striker Pack changed out. The pack mechanism immediately removed the IWSP pack and installed the Launcher pack, though Kira had left the shield from the IWSP still attached; he had a feeling he would need it in the upcoming engagement.

"How do we get into that crystal fortress?" Yzak asks as he pirates Athrun's feed from his main camera, as the whole group slowly approached the fortress.

"Looks kinda like an urchin if you ask me."

"Nobody asked you, Dearka," though the sharp retort was from both Yzak and Miriallia, Dearka thought it was rather amusing.

"_Archangel_ to all units, we're going to try and blow you an entry into the inside of the fortress using the Gottfrieds, Valiants, and missile launchers. Stand by."

"Why not use the Positron Cannons?"

"Duh, Jerk-wei. We don't want to kill the Princess, we're trying to rescue her..." Yzak replies to Dearka's rather poorly considered question.

"Part of me wonders when our lives became something out of a video game script," Athrun notes to nobody in particular, just on open radio channels.

"After thinking long and hard about this, I don't think it's supposed to fit our definition of 'makes sense', you know?" Sai notes in response.

"Hey, if you want to think about it as being stuck in someone else's game, it could be worse. At least this one seems like we've already won and we we're headed for the credits," Yzak notes with a hint of cheer to his voice.

"In the past five minutes, have you somehow forgotten that Selesce thinks this is going to be the hardest one of all?" Yzak did not reply at all.

"All units, stand clear, _Archangel_ is firing now," Murrue notes as she gives the signal to the weapons officers. The first volley went downrange, in a measured barrage that should have just barely...

The weapons hit at the base of one of the spikes of crystal and caused it to detach from the main body of the crystal. With that accomplished, the next barrage was targeted on the next spire over, enlarging the rent that led to the interior of the area. "Excellent, Captain, just about two more of those spikes and we can get in," Athrun passes on to the Captain. The Valiants were retasked along with Korinthos missiles onto the next spire in that area. Two Linear Gun slugs and four missiles shattered that spire and the next one over, creating a gap more than easy for a Mobile Suit to cross to get inside.

"We can get in, Captain!"

"Rune Gods, Aegis, Blitz, Strike, enter when ready."

"Aye, Captain," Athrun notes.

"You know, I'm not going to look forward to getting back to trying to sink the _Archangel_," Nicol notes.

"Who said you had to?" Kira asks as the Launcher Strike closes up with them.

"You know, after seeing the Curse of the _Archangel_ in action, I don't think I want to try again, either. How many times did something attack the ship and fail miserably? Including us, of course."

Nicol begins ticking the times off on his hand, then passes to his right hand, then back to his left... "Uh, well over forty." More than a dozen of those had been in Cephiro, mostly monsters that thought they were better than the _Archangel_. Oops. The only one that caused serious damage to the _Archangel_ without killing it was Zagato, and he was in little floating bits right now, somewhere behind and above the _Archangel_. It still haunted them, however, his last words to a Princess that he had kidnapped...

"I still can't forgive the Naturals for all they've done to us Coordinators, but he's right. Attacking this ship is asking for your death," Yzak says as he positions himself on the starboard-side catapult.

"Guys, I think we got a problem here," Dearka notes.

"What? An enemy?"

"Well, sort of. If Zagato was supposed to be kidnapping the Princess, why did he tell her to be free as his last words to her?"

"Huh? What the fuck are you on?" Yzak asks somewhere between disgusted and pissed.

"Think about it, Yzak. If you kidnapped Flay, you wouldn't tell her to be free if Kira shot you, right?"

"Disgusting. Why would I want to kidnap _her_?"

"Damnit, Yzak, think about the question, not the actors!" Dearka shouts loud enough to make Miriallia instinctively pull her headphones off for a moment.

"All right, all right, you win, stop yelling already." Yzak thinks back to the question. "Okay, yeah, you're right, I'd probably die cursing Kira's name, not telling Flay to be free. Not that she isn't already to begin with, but..."

A pause of two seconds: "I can't believe you just said that over the radio."

Miriallia had the next: "Yzak, you're hopeless. Completely, disgustingly hopeless."

"Damn straight." Natarle says just barely loud enough for her headset microphone to pick up.

"See, looks like you've just wrecked any chance for a decent relationship between now and when you're thirty." This time, Miriallia actually thought Dearka's comment was amusing.

"Oh, like I actually give a shit. Now, for the rest of us that don't have a wild imagination like you, Elsman, what the hell are you insinuating?"

"I think the thing between Zagato and Emeraude was consensual, not a kidnapping."

"Okay, what the fuck are you smoking, and why ain't you sharing?" Yzak asks crassly.

As a partial confirmation of what Dearka believed, the three Rune Gods and the three Gundams had fled the way they entered the crystal structure; the whole place blows radially in something akin to a very large bomb going off. After the blinding flash and particulate subsided, near where the center of the crystal was now stood something else, what appeared to be a Rune God. "Damnit, I hate it when I'm right."

"What? Then what the fuck's going on?" Yzak's voice now held a lot of desperation, confusion. "Whose Rune God is that?"

"It's Princess Emeraude! Except, she ain't anywhere near as innocent as when she summoned us," Fuu notes as her Rune God takes up position forward and above the _Archangel_.

"Damn, I should have seen this coming a time zone away," Dearka notes dejectedly.

"What?" Athrun asks, now confused.

"We just killed her boy toy. Guess who's next?" Much as confirmation, she immediately tracked in on Zagato's sword and landed next to it, pulling it clear of the rock that Nicol had inadvertently slung it into.

"Please, please tell me your joking. We have to fight the person we're supposed to save now?" Yzak now sounded completely despaired of his new fate.

"No, actually I don't think we were ever intended to _save_ her," Dearka notes rather coldly. "I get this feeling we've been very skillfully manipulated into a position where we have to fight her, because we pissed her off and she ain't going to take 'sorry' for an answer. By a certain someone telling us that we had to stop the 'troublemaker Zagato'." Dearka's rendition of a 'certain someone' was actually quite accurate, despite the disparity in their voices.

"That shit doesn't matter now, looks like she's found a new toy and wants to use it on us," Athrun says as he changes his Gundam's orientation to put his shield between her and him.

"Well, I'll fight anyone I have to to get home, but this is _well_ past absurd," Yzak notes.

"You said it," Kuzzey says just barely loud enough to be picked up by the bridge microphones.

"Duel, you are cleared to launch. Buster, what's your status?" Miriallia asks after being prompted to get things going by Natarle.

"Buster reporting, the techs are closing up my access panels now, reloaded and recharged. I'll be ready to launch in fifteen seconds."

"You got five. Here she comes!" Athrun shouts as he braces for the inevitable...

Hikaru had actually stood between the Gundams and the oncoming foe, and took the brunt of the impact as the two Rune Gods collided. Nicol had the follow-up, first firing out the Gleipnir to distract her, then getting in close with Trikeros, with his beam saber active, to 'test the waters' and see what she really was worth in the melee (seeing as prior to today, she was (in theory) a completely nonviolent person). They clashed four times, all four inconclusive and ineffective in the battle, as Hikaru and Umi vied for position to continue the melee.

"Nicol, pull back! Our Gundams' ain't gonna be worth shit against her!" Athrun shouts. "Kira, Yzak, we need to try and suppress her at range, give her too much to try and do so the Magic Knights can stop her!"

"I read that!" Dearka shouts as his Gundam was cat-shot into the fray. "We got one chance to do this, might as well do it right! Yzak, follow me in!"

"Damn straight!"

The girls retreated, having been stood off by the enemy Rune God, Kira took action next, using the hyper impulse cannon Agni to barrage the enemy. Out of five shots he hit four times, each hammering Emeraude's shield like nothing else. Mu had decided to weigh in on the matter, and having proven himself adept with manual targeting with the Gottfrieds before, did so again this time. The two beams hammered her shield so hard it ceased to be. Dearka was in position for what he was planning now, and with his beam cannon and gun launcher combined into sniper configuration, took one shot at Emeraude; the single shot struck her Rune God in the hip and caused it to double over just as Yzak was positioned for his run. He fired two beams, two shots of rail gun, all five missiles, another beam, a dozen rounds of CIWS, and finally the 175mm Grenade Launcher. From two kilometers all the shots hit, though at the end of the barrage he figured they were now officially out of luck.

"Look out!" Kira rammed the Duel aside roughly and just barely managed to get the IWSP shield into place to defend against her attack. For what 'defending' was worth, in the end; the charged shockwave attack hammered his shield, destroyed it, and hit his left arm hard enough that it quit functioning properly, over and above the Phase Shift protection. In that instant, Kira's mind went clear as he realized what he had to do and how to go about it (1).

The impact had drove the Strike away from the Rune God, but had little bearing on his other arm, which is how he was carrying the Agni right now. The cannon came up and centered on her head, and he fired one quick blast before he lost aimpoint when he hammered his thrusters. The Rune God took the full brunt of the shot and actually seemed to be affected by it, just as Kira closed in on it with his 120mm Anti-ship Vulcan firing into her chest. Up close, he continued firing all three of his Vulcans, then both missile launchers attached to the weapons pod for the Launcher Strike, and finally his knives. The right-side knife came out first and was roughly driven into the chest of the Rune God, just under the left breast, and Kira used all his thrusters to grind it into her as far as his Gundam could achieve. That accomplished, he reached across his Gundam to the left knife and just barely managed to pull it with the right hand. This one he spiked downward into the right shoulder, where the Rune God had less 'armor'; the net result is it penetrated far easier, and would definitely make using her sword arm difficult, but not impossible. As he backed off he fired another blast of Agni, this time into the area where the first knife was. The knife was easily obliterated by the impulse cannon, which meant that the cannon blast was already partway into the Rune God from the knife's wound, and after the dust settled everyone could tell that the Rune God was bleeding from that wound. Rather profusely bleeding, actually.

"Damn you!" The tortured screech caused everyone's heart to flutter for a moment, and might have disheartened some except for her obvious murderous purpose. Despite the knife in her right shoulder the sword came up and she accelerated toward Kira in a blindingly fast manner.

"Kira, No!" Athrun's mind went blank, his body running on some form of berserk autopilot to try to save his long-time friend from some murderous semi-goddess of another world (2).

Athrun hammered his thrusters toward a point he mentally calculated would be an impact zone just before her sword would reach Kira. When they hit it was tremendously violent, though the impact stunned the Rune God more than it did Athrun. That accomplished, Athrun drove the barrel of his beam rifle into the Rune God's bleeding wound and fired three shots, each of which was already _inside_ the enemy. After each shot came a rather tortured screech of pain, and it hurt Athrun's heart to have to inflict pain on one whose only crime was love, but duty was duty and this is something he had to do to get home. He silently figured that he could always shit-kick Clef in the afterlife for this atrocity. A fourth shot on a different angle into the wound and he roughly kicked the Rune God away.

The enemy had righted herself rather feebly, as if the battle was taking a severe toll on her. She did center on a new target, however, being the Rune God Windam, and immediately but weakly began charging Fuu down. Nicol saw this and immediately knew what was happening. "Fuu, she's after you! Move it!" Nicol shouts as he hammers it on an intercept course, his Beam Saber out and ready to do some operating. Still, he was about three seconds too late in his estimation, as Emeraude got to Fuu first, who managed to drive her sword outside an immediately fatal circle centered on Windam's heart, but the rapier-style sword ended up going straight through the left shoulder of Fuu's Rune God, and elicited a pained shout from Fuu, which severely pissed off Nicol. It was his Gundam that should be taking the hits, not a living being that was linked soul-to-soul with a schoolgirl that Nicol figured was too nice to be hip-deep in this shit. He zoned out, his whole being moving on autopilot on a set of actions that he figured he could slow down the battle and prevent any more injury to Fuu (3).

As he closes on the Rune God he fires Gleipnir again into the sword, but this time he does not try to disarm his foe. Instead, he fast-drags her _toward_ him, and when close he grips the blade with both hand and rocket anchor, rendering the sword unusable against him or Fuu. His next actions were possible only because they were in a state of minimal gravity and could operate as if they were in zero-G conditions. With her sword still gripped, he fires his thrusters clockwise, so he was hanging upside down in front of her, still holding her sword and with his left arm free. The eyes of his Gundam flash as he drives his shield into her midriff, instantly centering the Lancer Darts over the prior wound. He pulls the trigger rather deliberately, before she could even begin to react. As each of the Lancer Darts fires into her they continues firing their jets; the contact fuse had not been armed yet. Nicol looses the sword as the third Dart enters the wound, and with all three having penetrated at different angles she was spinning rather fast, in a rendition of some demonic carnival ride designed to make the occupant vomit. This maintained for five seconds as the motors burned down to where they activated the fuses on the explosive charges, and then the missiles blew in a chain reaction that literally blew a chunk off the Rune God.

"Nicol...thank you," Fuu finds the heart to say.

"You all right?" He replies, firing a pair of beams at the severely wounded Rune God that he could sense more than knew was still dangerous.

"I am, except for my shoulder."

"We need to finish her. We're running out of options here," Athrun notes coldly. "Another minute or two at this rate, our units will be down."

"Umi, Fuu, we have an option. Guys, keep her distracted for thirty seconds while we prepare an attack!" Hikaru says as she approaches Fuu.

"I Won't Let You!" Emeraude shouts as she fires a charged shockwave at the three Rune Gods that were now clustered fairly close. The attack hit them all, but the effect was something that nobody expected. After the flash from the attack subsided, it appeared as if the three Rune Gods had just merged into one super-being that was physically larger than the Gundams by a hell of a margin, and it combined elements of all three Rune Gods into one form. If ever a case of Nicol being scared shitless, this was it, even despite being on their side.

"I'm sorry!" The voice was Hikaru's, as it drew a sword of pure energy and charged down the enemy Rune God. The enemy tried to center her sword to impale the Rune Gods, but she didn't get it around in time for the collision. The bolt of energy went straight through the centerline of the enemy Rune God's chest. The battle was over.

Nicol didn't need to see them, he could sense the three Magic Knights were crying. They, like the rest of the team, knew that Emeraude's only sin in this whole endeavor was falling in love. "This sucks," Nicol airs for what his thoughts boiled down to.

_Thank you, Magic Knights_. This was not the voice of the pissed-off Emeraude, but the one that had called them forth to help save Cephiro. Nicol had a fleeting glimpse of the two in each other's arms, Emeraude and Zagato, before a bright flash similar to how they had first came unto this world.

-x-x-x-

"Man, that was good. What the hell did I do wrong this time?" Yzak asks nobody in particular.

"Deja moo," Dearka replies after a few seconds.

"Huh? What the hell does that mean?"

"I get the feeling I've heard all this bullshit before." (4)

"Damn straight," Natarle replies.

When Yzak stood his Gundam up, for every direction he could see nothing more than sand and rock crags. "Are we out in the middle of some frigging desert or something?" As he continued to observe, he could see a canyon in the distance, but that was it. Nothing but rock and desert.

"I—what? This isn't Tokyo Tower!" From Umi, whose Rune God had just stood up. "It's...a lifeless desert. Great."

"Well, everyone back to the ship, we'll figure out what this month's quest is after we've all rested, okay?" Murrue notes, slightly heated of temper of her own right. The operations in Cephiro had taken more than three weeks, almost a complete month, and their supplies for the Gundams were dwindling, not to mention their patience.

* * *

Author's Chapter Afterword:

I will admit that I wrote the final battles with a little less hazard of them being killed. This is because where they are now is going to be nice and brutal for them. On that subject, if you know what a stravag is, you can probably guess where they are now (hint: read the title).

Yeah. I'm going to leave the rest up to your imagination for now. Just know that the hazard of someone getting killed just about tripled, and after all this writing I'm not in the mood to pull punches. Stay tuned, peeps.

Now, as to the battle, correlating a show which is particularly based in Magic (which by definition is grossly fantastic) to one that is based in science (mostly) leaves a lot of gap for who pwnz who. This time, I felt as if the Gundam / MK team had the advantage in both tactics and net power, so that is how I played it. Next time, they may not be so lucky, though I will admit that next time will be a ways off for them, because they have the next hurdle to deal with, and if you know where the hurdle is (from above) then you can guess it isn't going to be a small one.

This is probably publicly overdue, but to those whom I have received reviews from, both named and anon, you have my thanks for taking the time to review and contribute to my motivation to get this on. I can but hope that my next set of chapters are as entertaining and insightful as the last. Be warned, the hints (ha!) of relationships begun below are just starting to bud and blossom. Will Umi chose Yzak? Who will help her? Are Nicol and Fuu really that close, or not? Many mysteries, so little time...

Next up: The unit finds out that where they are isn't anywhere near where they want to be, and the 'locals' are a lot less friendly than those in Cephiro ever thought about being.

* * *

Footnotes: 

(1): Kira went SEED here. Be afraid. (If he normally went SEED, it would be in either Aile Strike or Freedom, not often with a different weapon pack. An interesting premise, no?)

(2): Athrun's turn to go SEED.

(3): Yes, you guessed right, Nicol went SEED. Injuring the one he cares for is a major mistake that he's gonna use on Emeraude for every point of value he can squeeze out of it, especially since she's already taken a helluva beating to begin with. Don't. Piss. The. Quiet. Guy. Off.

(4): I don't have even part of a clue where I picked this quote up, but it's been years since I've heard or seen it, so...not to mention, I figured it would go well with what happened.


	9. 1337 H4x0r, not 1337 Sp13s

Author's Section Foreword:

Welcome to the territory of a true Stravag. My home, etched in the battlefields of the seven story tall killing machines that are easily rival to or superior to a Mobile Suit, is now the haunt of the _Archangel_. Put on your armored underwear and sit back, people. This is about to get frenetic and explosive.

Welcome to Battletech.

SECTION DECLARATIONS:

Note that this is going to be written using a combination of the frenetic action of the Mechwarrior RPG 3rd Edition plus modifications for the sourcebooks and field manuals, the Mechwarrior computer games, and the MechCommander computer games. The storyline is going to follow the old Battletech cartoon, but I am not going to suffer all the little bullshit screwups that Saban threw into that otherwise entertaining cartoon. All battlemechs and omnimechs will be portrayed using their official Battletech TR weapons and armor configurations, or as modified in the storyline. All weapons will have the Battletech boardgame ranges relative to each other, though the actual ranges will be as per the warning below.

There will be a far more massive variety of machines in this story as well, the two sides are not limited to a handful of chassis in the medium and heavy classes. And trust me, the Clanners are going to get rather desperate after their first few fights, so expect to see pilots driving some more varied machines than just the ten or so from the cartoon. On this note, however, I will preserve the machines that the main characters of the Cartoon piloted, for what it is worth. Just for one Saban screwup example, as per the book, the Mauler is a Draconis assault 'mech, and how the hell Captain Hawkins got his hands on one is news to me, especially this early in the time period.

BATTLETECH RANGES WARNING: Note that in the battletech original (board) game, 1 hex range equals 30 meters, and the longest standard weapon range is 30 hexes (Clan LB-2X AC, a not very common weapon). Personally, I think this is a ration of bullcrap, since that means combat ranges would have shortened over the 1000 years of Battletech history. I use the equation of 1 hex equals 100 meters in my writing. Technically, you could probably get away with 1 hex equaling 200 meters to keep to something approximating real life, but 1 to 100 works for most purposes. Note that this also makes Rachel's comment about Kristen's missile salvo range more accurate, since 2.3 kilometers is just barely beyond long range for LRMs if you use 1 hex to 100 meters range profile.

BATTLETECH RULES WARNING: As I play, so shall I write. I use an amalgam of all level two rules as well as some or most level three rules as the battle seems to fit. Expect to see varied damage effects to critical components, advanced artillery and land mine rules, advanced terrain, advanced movement and fire, and double-blind operations rules, and even more experimental goodness as I see fit.

* * *

(Section 2, Chapter 1: 1337 h4x0r, not 1337 Sp13s)

The brief glimpse of Emeraude and Zagato was still etched onto his mind, and likely forever would be, Athrun surmised. After all, he had just killed two whose only crime was loving each other. It was flat frigging disgusting, really, even to the point where he had to stop himself from tearing off the ZAFT sigil on his left arm. He was no longer a soldier, he was a monster, one that had killed those that had earned not his wrath.

"Athrun! Wake up!"

"I am awake, Kira." He even sounded dejected to Kira.

"Then get out, you're wanted on the bridge."

As to confirm, for what it was worth to Athrun: "C'mon, Zala, we ain't got all day," Yzak added, though even he sounded dejected.

Athrun could not escape the logic. For now, he may be a murderer, guilty of a crime that no soldier should ever commit, but he still had things to do besides curl up into a little ball and die for his crimes. And that included getting his men back to allied territory, something he could not do unless he was alive at the end of the day. Reluctantly he punched the command in to open the cockpit, locked down the Aegis OS, and stepped out.

What he was thinking must have been etched on his face. "We all fucked up on this one, Athrun. We got played like a cheap flute, without the blowing, even," Nicol says. Much to everyone's shock, he did not even blanch like he normally did on the 'f' word above. Even he was that pissed off.

"If I ever find that asshole Clef, I am going to drive the right boot of Duel straight up his _ass_," Yzak comments with no shortage of calm fury in his voice.

"When that time comes, there may be a waiting line," Athrun notes coldly. Part of him relished the thought of kicking the shit out of Clef for this stunt; using anyone like this was bullshit, using ZAFT Elite soldiers for this stunt would be a fatal mistake. That is, _if_ they ever met him again.

"C'mon, the Cap'n wants to talk to us all."

Athrun spared one glance for the bay, and within was a marvel unlike any other. One Earth Alliance Gundam, the Strike, still equipped with the Launcher Strike pack. Four ZAFT Gundams, Aegis, Blitz, Duel, Buster. Two Earth Alliance light fighters, Skygraspers. Three Cephiro Rune Gods, Rayearth, Selesce, Windam. Whatever flavor of God was stage-managing this debacle certainly had a sense of humor, in Athrun's estimate. Earth Alliance, ZAFT, and Japanese schoolgirls all working together to try and save a world. And right now, every one of them felt like shit because they had been suckered into killing Princess Emeraude, or more appropriately had been suckered into killing Zagato, which had pissed her off to the point that the second battle was inevitable. And now, from veiled meaning, they were now completely fucking lost...again.

On the bridge, the eight that had took the battle to Zagato and Emeraude stood at the ready for whatever the Captain wanted to unload on them. It was even visible in their demeanor, as if they were pretty pissed and depressed of their own right but they all knew what was going to happen. Murrue was the personable, energetic type of Captain, not one that normally stared out the window at a lifeless desert. That was a bad sign in and of itself.

"Captain, we're all here," Kira says stoically. She taps the window with a fist, pushes away and turns to face them. She appeared as sad as they did; it went without saying that she probably had been listening to the conversations during the battle.

"I'm sorry, everyone. Not only did we have to kill the princess, we're now no longer in Cephiro and definitely not on Earth."

"Are you sure this isn't a desert on Earth, like maybe the Gobi or something?" Yzak asks, now more dumbfounded than pissed.

"No. There's a constellation of satellites around the planet, and they are broadcasting, but none of them are putting out a data pattern we recognize. We're somewhere completely different from where we want to be."

Dearka heaves a massive sigh. "Fuck," he declares in a dejected tone, staring off into space at a weird angle through the ceiling of the bridge.

"Join the club," Yzak notes to his 'wingmate'.

"Okay, if we aren't in Cephiro and we are not on Earth, then where are we?" Fuu asks the question that everyone was wondering.

"We don't know yet. Not for want of trying, but we can't get inside their satellites."

"Oh, crap," Athrun immediately moans. "Please tell me the _Archangel_ is a connect-to-on-authorization ship, please," he asks almost pleadingly.

"I don't follow, Athrun," Murrue notes as she eyes the pilot with a hint of suspiciousness.

Nicol knew what was going on: "If someone tries connecting to your ship, do you have to manually allow the connection?"

"Yes, this is a special forces ship. We have to be a black hole when needed, after all." She meant that when a switch was thrown, nobody could see the ship electronically except for direct radar. In military parlance, it was called EMCON (1).

"Okay, that's a start. Want us to try and hack our way into their networks, see what we can find out?" Athrun asks with the air that what he was offering was no big deal. Dearka gave him a sideways glance that showed his opinion of the matter, but said nothing.

"Can you do it without getting caught?"

That one took Athrun a moment to respond to. "Probably, but I can't be for certain. We know nothing about what we're about to work with." He snorts rather loudly. "Once we figure out what we're looking at, should be easy."

"Natarle? Your thoughts?"

"We don't know where we are or what's going on, so finding out is better than nothing at all." Natarle's voice held the hint that she did not completely agree with what she had said, but she said it still.

"Very well. Anybody object?" There were none. Everyone figured they had to know, which meant they had to get inside the satellite network. "Something tells me I am not going to like what will become of this, but I don't see any other option. Newman, Chandratta, Yzak, Dearka, the four of you are to draw arms and take two jeeps. Newman and Yzak go south for three hours or until you encounter something. Chandratta and Dearka go north, same time limit. Take a long-range radio with you to report anything." The radios were heavily encrypted, so there was no real chance of them being intercepted by any listening parties. "Athrun, Nicol, Kira, you three can try and crack your way into their networks, unless you object?"

"Actually, shouldn't more than just two per vehicle go?" Hikaru asks, referring to the paired scouting jeeps.

"Well, yeah, probably." Murrue stopped to think about it.

"I volunteer," Hikaru noted after about four seconds.

"I will go," Fuu replied just a moment thereafter. She got a sideways glance from Umi for the comment, as well as a questioning glance from Murrue as to why she would want to run around a desert when she wasn't even military. After considering it, Fuu wasn't even sure why she volunteered.

"Should I go, Captain?" Mu asks.

"Yes, that would be a good idea. Natarle, go with Newman's group, Mu with Chandratta's group. Keep it sensible, people. If you don't like the look of things, don't stay around."

"Understood, Captain." The named persons leave the bridge, headed for the armory in the bowels of the ship. Natarle held Hikaru and Umi back, since they were not military personnel, she did not want them on the operation.

"All right, Kira, Athrun, Nicol, you do know what's being asked of you, right?" Since they were being asked and they were not hacking the Earth Alliance networks, it was incredibly unlikely that they would get in trouble for that. With whoever they were working over, however, was another issue; on the flip side, they were going to do this from inside a warship with very big guns to use on anyone who wanted to respond violently.

"Yeah, can do, Captain." Kira says as he sidled down into Natarle's chair in the CIC pit. He switched modes on her console to give him access to the communications grid, which he would need to access the satellite network. The ship had a total of 16 data ports available to use for the operation, which they would invariably use fully, at the least for the sniffing portion.

"First thing we need to figure out, what are we looking at?" Nicol says as he takes a seat in one of the radio stations. Athrun had the site next to him.

"Easy enough." It did not take long for Athrun to write up a program that he could use to examine a data stream. After all, what he needed to see was the raw, to figure out how the data was being structured on their networks. Once that was accomplished, they could actually connect to a device and attempt to crack it. "Nicol, get me a capture of something coming off the satellites. Try and make sure it's not a timing pulse or anything too regular, like from a navigation satellite."

"Roger that." Nicol had already written a program for just that purpose, and was sniffing streams several at a time to find one that did not look like timing pulses or navigation info.

"Kira, can you start building something we could use as a common-interface API, modular, without the actual communication protocols yet?"

"Just the framework? Sure."

"Got one for you. How long of a capture do you want?" Nicol asks after another five seconds.

"Get me a ten-thousand character group, that will give me enough to verify we're looking at the data streams right."

"Here." Nicol sent his console the requested group, including what appeared to be stop and start bits. "It's a bit longer, but this one appears to have a stop and start character at the end."

Athrun's first program was built to break a series of the binary 1s and 0s of a signal into bytes, which an amount of bytes creates a single character of the signal. Now, of a byte, normally only eight of the 1s and 0s are the actual character, the rest is parity, used for error checking in case the signal got distorted. Athrun began playing with various combinations of parity and character combinations to see what he could find out.

_I don't think I'd want to stick a hand in there, it might get broken_. The typing that Miriallia's random thought had commented on stopped, as the three Coordinators stopped to look at her.

"You know, I just don't know how to reply to that," Nicol replied.

"She has a point, Athrun, you were typing real fast on that."

"No, actually, I think Kira was doing the most." Kuzzey notes.

"Anyways..." Athrun gets back to what he was working on. "How's it coming, Kira?"

"Oh, almost there. I'm mapping the protocol I-O structures right now. You want me to write in a module for encryption as well?"

"Yeah, slave it to the Earth Alliance tactical radios and test it out before anything else."

"Give me a second," which actually turned out to be more like a minute, but: "Done. Hold one." He runs the program. "What the? I know I got that right..."

"What?"

"Program crashed at line 126489. Hold on." He does some more fast and furious typing. "Oh, okay, I see what I did wrong, bad data type." A quick flurry of keys. "Done," and he flexes both hands for a few seconds. "_Archangel_ CIC calling Mu, come in please."

"Mu here, kid, what's going on? We haven't even left the bay yet."

"Just testing a new radio program with the protocols from the Earth Alliance tactical radios. You are hearing this clear, right?"

"Clearer than normal. You may have just improved the radios on the ship." Murrue had to stop and laugh about that, since she had always had issues where even the digital radios sounded a bit static-filled and broken, but she never considered that the software was the problem, not the equipment or outside interference.

"Well, if it works, it works. Thanks, commander. _Archangel_ is over and out."

"Kira, if you can, upload that to all the consoles when you are done. If it helps us get the job done and get home alive, I can stare down DRTG later." DRTG was the Defense Research Technology Group, a group of companies whose main initiative is to help LOGOS prepare and deploy the highest technology for the war. As such, they have a lot of clout in the Earth Alliance research programs and would take exception to such software modifications, especially by a coordinator.

"Already done," Kira replies. "Menus modified, so anyone can access it. It should be easy enough to work with."

"Okay, I have a list of everything our sensors are receiving," Nicol says. "I see 82 satellites, 12 ground radio broadcast stations, and about twenty sundry other contacts. List is yours, Athrun."

"All right, got it." Athrun was still typing furiously, though his ops was to break the data patterning instead of writing a framework program or identify stream types. "Oh, whoa, I think I got it."

"You did?"

"Logical characters, unicode pattern, character start parity bit, eight bits for the character, three more for a float, and two end parity. Now, let's read someone's email..." It was an old, standing joke with the ZAFT pilots, dating back to their time in the academy. They had cracked more than a few mailboxes on the academy email server, checking to see which girls were interested in which guys. With the email server the academy was using at that time, it had been dead simple to do. And now, they were doing it for real, without the intent of finding out which girl was looking at which guy.

Which, strangely enough, they accomplished anyway. "Whoa, now that's well...bad. Like S and M bad."

"Man, what kind of girl would want to do that to a guy?" Tolle asks, kibitzing the email they were looking at on Kira's screen. As soon as Athrun declared the data structuring type, he had an idea what was going on and Kira had written an analyzer for text messages for his communication framework. That allowed him to crack email streams rather easily. And now, they were looking at a recipe for "torturing" a guy into doing what a girl wanted to in bed. Apparently sent from one girl to another.

_I don't know, a few of those look like they might work, as to the other things, well, those actually sound fun to try_... Miriallia thought rather slyly, though she didn't realize she had broadcast it, until:

"Tolle, better get outta here before Miriallia decides to use you as a test subject," Athrun notes with what only Kira and Nicol recognized as his usual tone of humor.

"Oh, shit!" Tolle could not have left the CIC pit faster even if someone was pointing a gun at him.

Miriallia figured it was a good joke and that she would play along: "Oh, Tolle, come 'ere, sweetie..." she says in a singsong, alluring voice that would have the attention of just about any guy in Existence...

"OH SHIT!" Tolle had left the bridge and was running toward the port-side, screaming like he was on fire and being chased by a psycho all at once. This caused Murrue, Athrun, and Kira to laugh hard enough to cause physical discomfort.

"Ten bucks, you just permanently traumatized him with whatever the hell you're thinking about doing to him, Mir." Sai says from the ECM operator chair. He was still watching for tracking radars, even while the others did their thing.

"Oh, don't worry, I'll think of some way to make it up to him later today;" again she was speaking in a rather alluring voice, which made them all wonder exactly what she had in mind...

"Well, erm, what else is out there, Athrun?"

"Not a whole lot. It seems that the first satellite I tapped is a commercial Internet bird, and I'm reading a lot of email traffic out of the streams. Most of them are addressed to various addresses, but some of them have a different address scheme that all starts with some form of name, starts with COMSTAR.HPG; here, check it out." The first email Athrun had archived out of whimsy, though he had no practical use for that information (Lacus would definitely not do such things, per se). He had up a second email, a clear-text message headed to Orders (at) Defiance Industries, looking to purchase four Defiance B3M Lasers at 72,000 c-bills each, and had an account number for Tybus Industries Financial Division to be drawn on.

"Look at the requested hop route in the header. Is that each destination this message has to make before it gets to its destination, wherever Defiance Industries is?" Nicol asks. It had well over ten hops to make before it terminated in a transmit address in the same fashion as the local e-mail. At the least, their ability to read clear-text email would not be compromised when crossing the network, Kira figured.

"Yeah, looks that way. These seem like some kind of proper name, not really electronic routing information." Athrun was tracing down the return-separated list with an index finger (2). "Though, I don't recognize the names. Twycross, Andurien, Skye, Tharkad, where the hell do names like that come from?" Everyone around the room shrugged basically at the same time, since it was a rhetorical question to which everyone would have the same answer.

"Anyway, what is a B3M Laser?" Kira asks, and once again people shrugged, since nobody had a clue what it was. Except, someone on the bridge did have a clue, he just did not know what he was looking at.

"Can you get in on any other transmissions?"

"Working on it now, Captain," Kira says as he starts typing again. "Okay, looks like I have an analog PCM audio stream headed up to a low-orbit communications satellite. Listen to this, Captain." Kira flips a switch; the speakers in the room pop for a moment, as the computer works over the unencrypted stream.

"This is Ryder. Badlands west of Dustball City are clear...as usual."

"Any sign of that shit we saw on radar earlier today?"

"Negative, dispatch. I can't find a sign of anything out there except slug-rats."

"All right, bring it back to the barn. The boss says he might have some work for you tonight," The dispatcher says.

"Any details?"

"Hey, Ryder, you think they tell me anything more than Jack and Shit around here?"

"C'mon, man, you gotta know something, otherwise you wouldn't be so good at poker," Ryder says.

"That's laying it on a bit thick, 'Mech-jock."

"All right, all right, you win. I hate frigging surprises."

"You and me both, Ryder."

"All right, nothing else to report, Dispatch. Ryder is clear on this channel."

"Over and out."

Kira flips the switch off. "That was strange."

"Well, they knew something was out here, but they couldn't find us, so..." Murrue was thinking rather hard about the facts here when compared to what she believed when compared to military-style logic. The equation was not adding up. If they knew something was out here, why were they not pressing the search real hard? Large warship, white with blue trim, in the middle of a fucking desert, is not all that hard to find.

"Doesn't make sense. Why did they break off the search, or worse, do it in a half-ass way?" Athrun asks.

"They may not be military?" Murrue asks.

"Want me to go take a look in Blitz?" Nicol asks in reply.

"Hold that thought, Nicol, that may be how we do this," Murrue notes quickly.

"Oh," and after he realized what he just said, he deflates audibly. "Me and my big frigging mouth."

"Conn, radio, we have incoming from the North team."

"On speaker." Murrue steps up to where she can fiddle with the controls.

"_Archangel_ from North Scout, come in."

"Go ahead, Commander," Murrue replies by rote.

"You ain't gonna believe what I'm lookin' at. A whole city, not a small one, inside a glass dome, here about twenty kilometers north of where I'm standing."

"Anything notable about it?"

"Yeah, I'm also watching some kind of steel globe drop down to the east of the city, landing apparently. At a guess, it came down from space."

"Roger that, Commander. Keep an eye on--"

"Captain, I have a machine walking down a canyon from the east. Big sucker, just slightly smaller than the Gundams. Not sure of much about it, but it's right arm from the elbow down looks like a cannon of some large kind, and it has what may be weapons ports built into its chest."

"Integrated weapons? What would possess...never mind. Does it look like it can carry a hand-held weapon?"

"Negative. It only has one hand free, and that one doesn't appear to be doing anything."

"Bring it back to base, Commander. We're going to send a team in on the ground to check things out."

"Roger that. North Scout is out."

Murrue considers how she wanted to go about this. She wanted boots on the deck to see what the place was like, but she couldn't just send anyone, she had to be smart about it. As she stared off into near-space while considering it, her eyes crossed the CIC pit and a certain pair of Coordinators that got along famously, despite the continual threat of a renewed fist-fight. That was...it?

"Kira, Athrun, how would you two like some time out and about?" Murrue asks in what she thought was a rather innocent fashion...

...that both immediately saw through: "Oh, shit," Athrun says clearly. He had done what she was asking in Aube, but this was a whole magnitude different from the neutral nation of disgust (as he thought about it). And he could sense more than else this would not be pleasant.

"Is that the catchphrase of the day?" Sai asks plaintively.

"I think it is," Murrue notes with a dash of irony to voice. "So, you two in or out?"

"In," Athrun says. Despite him seeing visions of his fate interspersed with visions of his love in her beloved rose gardens, he could not see any other way but to do as requested. Someone had to do this, and he had been requested.

"Yeah, I'll go."

"I will go with, ma'am, if it is all right with you," Fuu adds to the plan.

Murrue considers it, then decides that would be too much of a risk. "No, I could not allow it. I can expect these two to be reasonably able to get out of trouble, but I can't bring myself to allow you in that position."

_Whoa, now that's almost a cross-border blowjob, coming from an Earth Alliance Captain_, Athrun thinks sardonically from behind a passive face. He had, of course, forgotten one very crucial thing about the bridge crew of the_Archangel_:

"Oh, that was so wrong, Athrun," Miriallia says from across the CIC pit.

"Fuck." Athrun visibly deflates, realizing what she meant when she had said that.

"No, you still don't get it, do you? Until we get home, there is no ZAFT or Earth Alliance, there's just _us_."

"Whoa, Mir, that's about the last thing I expected to hear from you," Sai says.

"We'll do it, Captain." Athrun stands up and sets down his headphones. "Kira, come on."

"Take a crew vehicle, I'll radio for Commander La Flaga to wait for you at the area where the city is. He'll probably have a few ideas for getting you in. And go in civilian clothes, not your uniforms. No sense making yourselves targets."

-x-x-x-

"Well, Commander, what do you suggest?" Athrun asks as he looks around the rock at the city in the distance.

"You guys are nomads from the Southeast. Yzak has cloaks and some stout sticks for you. Just play it by ear once you get there. And don't do anything I would not do."

"Got it." Athrun had begun to approach the jeep, but Dearka had lightly tossed both of them the stuff, as well as a pair of water canteens and a pair of backpacks that had been 'worn' creatively by physical abuse and liberally coated with sand. The same had gone for their makeshift cloaks.

"I'd suggest you roll yourselves in the sand to add to the illusion, you two. Might as well make it look real," Mu notes.

"Have you done this before?"

"Survival school, Earth Alliance California Academy. Make yourself look like you're from the area, but don't overdo it or you'll stick out. All the same, too little and you will stick out just as much."

"Right. Might as well..." Just standing around had already worked them up a sweat, which made the matter all that easier for them. Dearka had to admit that watching probably the two best Gundam pilots in their world rolling around in the sands of someone else's planet was freaking hilarious. What they were being asked to do was incredibly serious, though the lead-up was turning out to be incredibly entertaining.

"All right, you two look rather...well...shabby. Just like the crew I saw enter the gatehouse down that way about a half-hour ago. Just go in and play by their rules, I guess."

"Can do, sir."

"Good luck. If it looks bad, don't bother hanging around any more than you have to." He started to turn away, but remembered something. "Here." Mu passes Kira his pistol. "If you can get it in, pawn it. I'm sure it would have some value there."

"Right, thanks, commander."

"Good luck, kids." The two vehicles were headed back to the Archangel within a minute.

"By the by, is it too late to request a transfer?" Athrun asks out of whimsy, looking down the canyon at the vehicles headed away.

"Come on." Kira started walking toward the city, far away. Well over twenty kilometers. They were supposed to enter some form of gatehouse just away from where there was a large metal sphere with legs parked, likely the craft that Mu had said had landed from space. Whoever they were, they could live on this dustball and could leave it by way of that craft. Interesting people, Athrun surmised, that is _if_ they were human. If not, he'd be ass-deep in a lot of trouble in a big hurry.

Walking at a rather leisurely pace in the pre-dawn semi-darkness, they arrived at the gatehouse just as sunrise was beginning. The Gate was only about 2000 meters from the craft, which they had a good look at. They could see the turrets for what obviously had to be small-caliber beam weapons, as well as external access doors for personnel and Mobile units of similar stature to the Gundams. Physically the stature of the unit was small enough that Athrun figured it could carry few more than maybe five units plus some other stuff, like cargo or maybe an aircraft or space-faring shuttle or something to that effect. There were personnel out and about, seeing to repairs on the ship, as well as a pair of guys in rather strange dress of some form of vest, shirt, field jacket, pants, and boots. The larger one had a beret on that was red, with a symbol that Athrun could not distinguish at range.

"First time seeing one of those?" Kira and Athrun both looked to the speaker, another one dressed almost exactly like they were. Shabby, a desert wanderer in fact and appearance. "That's a Kurita DropShip. What the hell it's doing on Dustball is what you should be asking. Or, why is a Kurita DropShip carrying FedCom 'Mechwarriors?"

"Huh?"

"Those two in the Cooling Vests. They're FedCom 'Mechwarriors. They just got off a Kurita DropShip. God, are you two dense or just from out in the badlands?"

Athrun decides to take a backwards tack with the other desert wanderer. "If I said we were from out in the badlands, would you hold it against me?" Athrun says in his best English he could muster.

"Hell no. Just watch your step, these urbanite cowards don't have a lot of respect for us sand-dwelling hard-asses, eh?"

"I hear. Appreciated."

"Whoa, wait, are you part of a religious order?" He asks, and even through English was one of Athrun's rather weaker languages, he could still sense the shock in voice.

"Huh? What do you mean?"

"Those gloves on your hands. I've never seen the same, except by a Badlands Priest."

"We're still in training," Athrun replies rather quickly.

"Oh. I was going to say, if you are full Priests, if you could marry me and my fiancée, nothing huge or spectacular needed."

"Well, that is what we are working towards, but we still have a ways to go and our mentor was rather vague as to our allowed rites at this time..."

"Thank you, Apprentices. Good luck on your journey."

Kira gave Athrun a look that quite clearly showed awe at the ability of his long-time friend to throw bullshit when necessary to get a job done. They had done it more than once back in Lunar Prep school, and today they were doing it again. So far, they were making all the right guesses for all the right reasons, but that would dry up soon enough...

Inside the gate house was a rather pathetic sight for a security station. There were two guards on duty, and neither seemed all that intent to move to check anyone right now. They were eying everyone, and one had been checked, but nothing serious. Such security measures definitely would not fly in the PLANTs, Athrun figured.

"I heard about you two. Head on in, and try to avoid causing a ruckus," the guard nearest them says.

"Understood. Thank you." The two had gone through the doors and into the city proper, apparently.

"What the...?"

"Don't argue, just go with it," Athrun tells his long-time friend in their native language of Japanese.

"Got it."

There was no defense in depth here, since the only real guard appeared to be in that shack they had just walked through without incident. There were cargo doors north of the shack entrance, but those were presently closed. The whole place reeked of poor management, despite the air conditioning inside the dome proper. For damn sure a spec ops team of ZAFT personnel could go through the guards like a chainsaw, at the least. The interior had persons dressed the same as the shack guards every other block, carrying what appeared to be a rifle, except it was like no rifle configuration that they had seen before; at a guess, Athrun figured it some form of energy weapon.

After about twenty minutes of wandering and observing, they had come to the business district of the town. Therein, it was not hard to understand what Mu meant about watching oneself, for just about one in four persons looked like a rough customer to Athrun and Kira. Beyond that, few really took notice of them, at a guess because of their rather pathetic appearance, Athrun figured. There were others dressed and likely in similar circumstances as they, panhandling and dealing with street vendors all the same, just as Athrun and Kira were wandering around, looking for a good place to pawn off at least one of the three pieces they were carrying.

Finding that much was actually rather simple, down in the less-than-reputable area of the city, which was lined with shops and vendors down both sides of the road. Of the road, they had seen three types of vehicles: a multitude of wheeled vehicles that took on any expectable shape and purpose, some tracked vehicles that were about evenly split between cargo and construction, and hover vehicles for civilian use, mostly of what looked like rather expensive personal cars. The latter were incredibly noisy and kicked up debris as they passed, even to the point of a shard of rock slashing Kira's face in no small fashion, but Athrun surmised that the driver really did not give a shit about the outside world.

The pawn shop they entered was titled 'Dark Horse Pawn and Gun'. That much had Athrun rather worried in and of itself, but Kira was more worried about the scantily-clad lady that was hanging near the door. The shop itself was rather dusty, rarely entered or left, and showed it. How it was still in business made little sense to Athrun, since it was showing all the signs of a place not frequently shopped at.

"Morning," the shop clerk says. In as far as they could guess, he looked about middle ages, starting to bald, and had the air of someone who could chisel a profit out of a broke customer. Athrun was immediately but not visibly on guard.

"Morning," Kira replies.

"Anything I can interest you two in?"

"Actually, we're here to sell," Athrun replies quickly. "I have a pair of older pieces I'd like to sell off. What's the going rate for a nine-millimeter semi-auto?"

The clerk gags visibly. "Nines? Fairly common, even this late after they were introduced. Depending on the condition and make, a hundred K-bills to two hundred."

"Well, what d'you think these are worth?" Athrun pulls the pistol Mu gave him, drops the magazine expertly, and jacks and locks the slide open.

The clerk accepts the pistol gingerly. "Well, now. Interesting piece. Nine para, fifteen mag, one up the pipe, looks like it has a combat receiver, this is not a sporting pistol. Interesting. How does 175 grab you?"

"Sounds good," Athrun replies almost automatically. He had a dire feeling he was getting ripped hardcore, but he did not know what the market was like so he had little option but to play it level. "Actually, 200 with spare mags sounds good to you?"

"Deal. How many?"

"Two pistols, five mags?"

"You have yourself a deal, mister..."

"Zala."

"Draconis? Or Capellan?"

"Badlands," Athrun replies deadpan.

"Oh. Well, two pistols and mags, four hundred K-bills." He pops his register open and shells out four of the fifty-denomination K-bills and ten of the twenty-denomination K-bills. Athrun had disarmed and prepped the second pistol while he was counting down the cash, and after the cash was handed over Athrun had said his peace, leaving apparently happy. He could tell the clerk knew he had just taken him, but as far as Athrun was concerned he had not lost anything major, and now had some local currency to use. This went in his forward pants pocket, next to the folding knife he was rather famous for.

"That's that," Kira notes.

"Yeah, where to next?"

"I dunno, something to eat?" Kira had just stepped out of the shop, followed by Athrun. They had plenty of time to work with here, so they were not in a huge rush...

The knife came as a rude surprise to Athrun, but he was not caught unawares. As she tried stabbing inward against his throat, Athrun ducked under the stroke and came back up in her face, his nose just barely grazing her halter-top as his fist contacted her sternum roughly. She had started sputtering after taking the punch but maintained the knife; Athrun decided to take her ability to knife people out of play, so he continued. Athrun grabbed her in a wrist-lock on her right arm, spun around her rather fast, and put her right arm in an arm-bar hold. This accomplished, he spun her around and face-first into the wall of the shop he had just exited, but he kept rotating. The sound of her arm breaking was accompanied by a tortured screech as she collapsed to both knees. Athrun had broke her right elbow and shoulder in one swift action, and she would forevermore have serious problems wielding a knife.

"This fight is over." Athrun drops her punk-knife in front of her and starts walking, followed quickly by Kira.

"You! My boyfriend will get you for this!" She shouts out between sobs. Athrun simply waved at her, as he continued walking northbound down the street. They had gotten some looks from the crowd in the area, but nothing else had happened.

Four blocks later, they were standing around in an area of small bistro-style restaurants and apartment buildings. They had just walked past a building that said 'Circus Tybus', of which Athrun could only hazard a wild guess what that was about. What had their attention, though, was the pair of rough customers that were holding what looked like energy rifles of some kind, and they were looking for something, but they were looking high up on rooftops, not on the ground.. Apparently they found it after a few moments, because: "There fuck is! Get 'im, laddies!" He shouts as he aims and fires at a VTOL jet aircraft on top of a roof. The rifle made a rather strange sound as it put out a fairly high-energy beam toward the craft, but the gunner apparently was not the best of shots. The beam hit the side of the building. The second guy fired as well, and fired again a pair of seconds later.

The craft was starting up, and Athrun could hear the engine sounds over the sound of the laser rifles, just as the three FedCom troops that he had seen earlier in the day had arrived, running from the direction Athrun had just come. The craft had taken flight, and the gunners had tracked it but this time they managed to hit the lip of the building's roof, blowing off a chunk of it with an anti-aircraft missile that a fourth shooter was carrying. The crowd observing scattered, and Athrun found himself carrying a young girl away from the falling debris as quickly as he could react.

"Clear the streets, people! Security 'mech coming through!" One of the FedCom officers shouts, and Kira ends up dragging both the girl and Athrun into the doorway of an apartment building to keep them from getting flattened.

The machine that stomped past them was just barely narrow enough to keep both feet on the sidewalks instead of in the apartments to either side. It was almost as tall as the Gundams themselves, but not quite, and shook the ground as would have a GINN unit as it stomped by. After a few moments it fires thrusters to get clear of the ground, jetting up toward the fleeing craft as it rams through the dome glass. The machine just barely clears the dome and starts a landing cycle, but on the way down it aims the massive right-arm barrel at the fleeing craft. The sound that came to Athrun's mind was of the cannons on a ZuOOT artillery support mobile suit fired in series; after a short moment the engine nacelles on the escaping craft shred out from the large-caliber slugs tearing into it. After three seconds more, both craft were out of visual from where they were standing.

"You all right?" One of the FedCom officers asks. From his collar insignia, Athrun could only guess he was a fairly high-rank officer.

"Yessir, thanks," Kira replies. After a few moments, the little girl that Athrun had rescued was reunited with her mother, and the two were on their way. The last they had seen of the FedCom officers was as they were jogging down the street toward the city command center.

"Hey, you, stop!" Before they could even begin to move away from the scene of the shooting, they were being surrounded by the guys with the laser rifles. "I heard you screwed up my girl downtown. Was that you or someone else?"

"You want a broken arm as well?" Athrun asks, now rather pissed off that a government official was using his position as leverage for a personal matter.

"How many holes you want in your ass, boy?" The 'soldier' says as he levels his rifle on Athrun. The others in the group had done the same.

"Athrun, don't," Kira cautions in Japanese.

"I think we can do this with our weapons, Kira," Athrun replies in the same language.

"Don't. We'll get out of this, somehow. Call it a feeling."

"You damn well better be right, or my ghost is going to kick the shit out of your ghost."

"Trust me."

-x-x-x-

As the daylight faded, the _Archangel_ had a few close calls. Nicol was definitely earning his keep today, since his Gundam was the only machine capable to track the enemy machines known as Battlemechs as they patrolled the desert, looking for something but never finding it. The Mirage Colloid made the matter all that much easier, since the enemy never knew they were being tailed.

The thing that was confusing the crew was how the machines they were running were doing so. They were running in four-hour patrol routes, lighter units farther out on faster courses, heavier units in the middle ranges away from the city, and some real monstrous units in close to the city. And they did these runs without stopping, without a recharge, as if their machines had a non-stop operating schedule and some form of energy source that could match it.

The thing that was worrying the crew was that each machine thus observed had integrated weapons, no sign of a hand-carried weapon among their ranks at all. And some of the machines had an array of weapons that just screamed as being a combination of missile, cannon, and energy weapons, and none of them seemed to be significantly light on an amount of weapons. In fact, one of the heaviest units that Nicol had gotten in close on had a pair of missile racks with 20 silos each, two obvious laser weapons pointed forward, and two pointed rearward. The missile silos themselves were built into what would be arms on the unit, each group of silos in one 'arm' that looked like a large barrel attached to the side of a walking box.

It was about 2200 that Sensors picked up a rather unusual occurrence, what appeared to be drop pods coming down for a canyon to the south of the town. Two of them, and on breaking open each pod had a single unit in it, unlike the pods that ZAFT used to drop four machines at once. This meant that each machine was a high-value unit, or was that how they did things around here?

"All hands, level one battle stations," Murrue orders. "Sensors, projected CPA?"

"CPA is well out of visual range, ma'am. Close to 90 kilometers, slightly above."

"Conn, Comms, Blitz reports it is tailing a pack of five machines headed into the canyon that these two newcomers are landing in. Estimate two light units, one medium, one heavy, and one ultra-heavy."

"Roger. Have the Blitz keep his distance, we don't know what they will do or how they will do it." The radio officer was fast enough to relay the orders to the Blitz, before:

"Conn, Comms, Blitz reporting that three more 'mechs are headed toward the canyon, they came out of the ship that landed near the city. Estimate one light, one heavy, one ultra-heavy, not recognized configurations as anything like we've seen before."

"Wonder of wonders," Murrue notes acidly. It was not as if they had seen any of this prior, so... "Have the Blitz find a position of advantage whereby it can observe the whole battle."

"Roger that."

"CIC, I want the Duel and Buster on standby, Skygraspers are to be outfitted with Launcher packs for heavy assault."

"Aye, ma'am," Miriallia replies, and relays the orders to the deck crew.

"We let them sort this out, but just in case we shall be ready to take the field if they want to add us to the battle," Murrue notes to herself.

"Shall I ready the ship's guns?" Natarle asks.

"Negative, the enemy forces are not close enough to justify the chance of them seeing the thermal and electromagnetic blooms," Murrue replies.

"Captain, secure directed feed from the Blitz. It has eyes on and is in Mirage Colloid at this time. Pilot reports minimal hazard detection at this time."

Apparently the Blitz was up on top of a canyon, looking down into the ravine below as the two forces approached each other. The Archangel had been looking at the local forces all day, so they had a partial feel for what they were looking at. The newcomers were even more bizarre in appearance than the local machines. The first looked like three boxes more narrow than tall stacked next to each other and welded together, with arms sticking out of the outsides ending in a pair of barrels on each arm and supported by a pair of legs at looked like a bird's legs but very massive. The second looked more human but still boxy, with massive legs and boxy arms that each had one large and obvious barrel. Over one shoulder they could make out a searchlight that was turned on and highlighting the oncoming 'mechs, and a six-silo missile launcher over the other shoulder, as well as various barrels built into the chest of the unit (3). On the first of the newcomers, they could tell the left and right boxes of the torso had multiple missile silos, probably as many as twenty on each side.

"I am Star Colonel Kristen Redmond of Clan Jade Falcon. Prepare to be destroyed." The arms of the first machine raise up and center on the local machines; as soon as stated, four of the machines turned around and started headed back up the canyon, away from the two new machines.

The battle opened up with a flurry of beam attacks from the smaller of the two newer 'mechs (the weight difference was small, like maybe five tons, but that was it), as it fired on basically all five machines with seven groups from both arms and scored a total of two hits on the four that were fleeing away from the battle. All that remained ready to do battle of the local machines was the one medium-weight design with the cannon for the right arm and the missile silos in the chest.

The second Clan Jade Falcon machine opened up on the fleeing group with the strange cannons in its arms, though they were obviously energy weapons as the blue-lightning streak zoomed in the enemy direction. One hit, flaying open the rear armor of the heaviest of the local machines, but they kept on trudging away as fast as possible while the one medium machine stood its ground...and did nothing.

"Ah, freeborn cowards!" Kristen Redmond shouts on loudspeaker, making it audible to the Blitz and by extension to the _Archangel_. "How dare they turn their backs on honorable combat!"

"Computer, run a diagnostic on Targeting and Fire Control systems!" Nicol immediately recognized the voice as being Valten Ryder, the 'Mechwarrior that they had intercepted his radio transmission earlier in the day.

"System Error!" His computer replies immediately as two more groups of laser fly past him, missing by a matter of meters. Three more groups of laser miss by less of a margin, as well as a pair of the blue-lightning blasts that were so hot they superheated the canyon walls when they hit. Despite his maneuvering, Valten's luck ran out when the chicken-walking machine got a burst into the ankle of Valten's machine, knocking it to the ground. Both of the Jade Falcon machines continued their advance, until they were right in front of the downed local.

"Take heart, little freeborn warrior, unlike your cowardly allies you will perish stout of heart." Kristen's machine aims down to the chest of the downed machine with its left arm. Nicol had little doubt that the downed machine would not survive that kind of abuse for long at that range.

"Can't we just say 'old age'?" Valten offers as a rather wan joke in the face of his imminent death.

"What?" Four missiles impact in the area just north of the downed local. "These forces were never part of the bid!" Kristen shouts as she re-centers the body of her machine and starts northward. After a few moments she begins launching missiles from her body missile packs, putting a total of ten missiles downrange in response to the four that had arrived in her area.

Nicol had to shift his machine north to track the evolving fight, which was a simple task given that he was on top of the canyon and still protected by Mirage Colloid. Sure enough, charging down the canyon were the three new machines from the ship that had landed outside the city. The first was a small machine, way lighter than a GINN, and had four energy weapons forward and one facing rear. The second machine was massive, rather boxy, had two large energy weapons for arms, four cannons built into its gut, and two packs of 15-silo missiles, one pack on each shoulder. The third was by far the most bizarre machine on the field, with two circular missile packs, one to each shoulder, with fifteen silos each, a large energy weapon in its left hand behind the wrist and a hand-axe in the right hand, with three smaller laser weapons on the back of the wrist. The latter machine looked like a rather mean customer, especially when it got close to its foe. For what it was worth, Nicol would not have relished fighting it, even despite his advanced Gundam.

More missiles came north, up the canyon from the Jade Falcons, and this time one of the missiles struck the lightest of the 'mechs. Both the two heavier 'mechs loose four missiles apiece and continue walking toward as some kind of rather large fighter flies down the canyon, using its laser weapons to strafe the ground where the Jade Falcons were standing. As the fighter flew past and made a split-S turn to come back down the canyon, paired lasers blazing again, Nicol got the shock of his life as Kristen's machine did something he was not expecting. The torso of the boxy machine twisted to the right, the lasers in its arms trying to intercept a flying aircraft as it sped not twenty meters over the heads of their machines. A pair of those lasers even came close to hitting Nicol's machine, though he was ready for it with his shield set forward.

The second Jade Falcon machine had charged forward at a speed comparable to a BuCUE and then slowed down, moments before the newcomers struck at it hard. Four lasers came down the way, though only one of the larger lasers from the heaviest of the machines hit the Jade Falcon, and that only enough to cause the 'mech to jolt backwards very slightly (4). When it re-centered on the threat axis, the pilot immediately brought its arms up and onto the lightest of the newcomers and fired both lightning-streak weapons as well as four missiles from its torso-mount missile pack. The two beams hit first, one in the left leg, the other in the right torso; the machine went backwards and down, and the missiles completely missed it, instead impacting on the wall surface and blowing chunks of rock out of it.

"Barbarians!" Kristen's machine had charged forward and was now swapping shots with the largest machine present. The missiles flying in both direction must have been rather haphazardly aimed, as of over fifteen missiles exchanged Nicol could count only four hits. The lasers were doing better, but not by a huge margin. Strangely enough, the machine with the ax was not doing anything as the other two distracted the Jade Falcons, though Nicol could sense what was coming. While supremely distracted by the other two local machines, the Jade Falcons never saw the third sneak up behind them. The axe came down with tremendous force and tore the left arm off the second machine; this was followed by a point-blank shot of the large laser it had right into its torso, as the axe-swinger turned around and started trudging south.

"These Inner Sphere Surats do not deserve a fair fight! We shall withdraw, and wait for reinforcements. This entire pitiful planet shall pay for their deception." Kristen's machine was the last to leave, but again with the torso as it twisted around, so she could continue to fire on the enemy while walking away. More missiles were traded, as well as some parting laser blasts, as the axe-wielder forms up on the two other machines.

After a few moments, the light machine and the fighter began to vector back toward their ship as the other two headed for Valten's machine.

"Archangel, Blitz, the fight is concluded. You did receive the transmission, right?"

"Roger that, Blitz. What is your Mirage Colloid status?"

"Ten minutes at nominal or fifteen at half, Commander."

"Break contact and return to ship, Nicol. No sense hanging around out there at risk of having to fight one of those."

"Roger that,_Archangel_, Blitz is RTB."

-x-x-x-

Athrun had to conclude that the banged-up guy in the cell with them was some kind of intelligence officer. For damn sure, he had managed to get inside both Kira and Athrun's head and squeeze the barest of information out of them, just enough to blow their cover as desert nomads, though not enough to get them to cough up as to their real parent organizations or any other serious details.

Apparently he was well-enough versed in local custom to know that while their gloves were close to something worn by the Dune Priests, they were not close enough to really match. He also was conversant in Japanese, and more than well enough versed to tell that they were not Draconis Combine citizens or spies. Athrun wasn't coughing up details, which had left both sides at an impasse after their initial discussions.

The hours had passed, and all at once Kira got a feeling. "Athrun, I think there's a battle going on."

"Huh?"

"South of here. I can sense it."

"Oh, great, first Mir with her ability to read and talk directly to someone's mind, now you. Who's next?"

"Oh, I dunno, personally I'd figure Ms. Murrue, but part of that is because nobody can figure out what that armband is for..."

"It has to have some use, otherwise she would not have it..."

"There are five machines to the north, in a canyon, painted in desert camo, facing off against two machines that are white with green highlighting, and a symbol, a green bird carrying a sword." Kira had his eyes clamped shut, concentrating hard in the distance as to what was happening.

"Jade Falcons," Martinez says. Athrun had him pegged for intelligence officer, and he had just proved it. "The Clans have come to the planet, probably to take it over like every other planet they have hit. Now, mind telling me how the hell you are doing that?"

"Some...in our group have been developing unusual talents lately," Athrun says, then adds: "Before you ask, no, I'm not going into greater detail yet." The qualifier had Martinez even more intrigued now.

"Okay, I'll settle for that for now, and I'll even make you a deal. Amnesty for the whole story."

"Before I even begin to believe that, I want to know who you really are, then," Athrun replies deadpan.

"Juan Martinez, FedCom Intelligence. And I gather you two are actually Kira Yamato and Athrun Zala, you were not lying about that?"

"Correct," Athrun replies. "I figured you for intelligence asset."

"Normally it isn't this obvious," Martinez concedes. "I was almost away with enough evidence to bag Tybus for good, and one of his henchmen shot me down."

"What's so hot about this guy? Acted like a normal businessman as far as I could tell."

"He's so far ingrained into the criminal empire here on Dustball that he has a large slice of anything illegal going on here."

"Dustball...the name of this planet?"

"Yeah...where the hell are you guys from? Any reasonable person should know about the planet they're on..."

"What's brought us here is anything but reasonable," Athrun replies in kind. "It's...a long story."

"You willing to tell yet?"

"Yet, no. I'm still considering your offer," Athrun notes with a bit of whimsy.

"Battle's changed. Now it's those two against three other machines, one has an ax, the other two just have a lot of guns."

"That would be Major Steiner's unit, the First Somerset Strikers. Who's winning?"

"Not sure. One of the Falcons just lost an arm, I think." He pauses for a moment, then: "Okay, the Falcons are retreating. Something about the whole planet paying for deception or something." He notices something else. "Huh? Oh, that's just Nicol."

"What?"

"Nicol was watching the fight. No wonder I felt something more."

"Oh, makes sense," Athrun says. "His is the only unit that can hide in plain sight."

"Wait, I can't sense anything any more. Strange."

"Maybe it can only be used in fighting?" Martinez offers.

"Maybe," Kira replies.

Silence, for several minutes. "Man, you guys are a strange bunch."

"Could be worse," Athrun replies.

"Oh yeah, how?" Martinez asks.

"At least we aren't little green squeaking aliens."

"No, that would be someone else's department, not mine."

The whole area was quiet for almost an hour, then Athrun could feel the vibrations as 'mechs stomped into the facility, wherever the hell they were. Quite a few 'mechs, actually, more than had left this afternoon.

It was a rather rude shock to the pilots to hear the bars open, and more personnel were shoved into the cell. Athrun immediately recognized the two FedCom officers that had been at the shooting incident downtown, as well as a new entrant with some form of brace around his left leg and a lady that had a distinctly medical air about her. Athrun figured her worth looking at, if he was not already engaged to someone a whole Existence away.

"Ryder? And this used to be a classy establishment." Juan stood up to greet the new entrants. "Juan Martinez, FedCom Intelligence. I was about to nail Tybus when your buddy here shot me down."

"And these two?" The larger guy with the beard asks, pointing to Athrun and Kira, who had evacuated their seats so the injured pilot could be inspected by the doctor.

"They are a long story that I haven't got out of them yet. I suspect it is a very unusual story as well."

"Athrun Zala," Athrun says as he nods to the assembled group.

"Kira Yamato." He was still favoring the glove he had on, but no person in the room suspected it was a weapon.

"Now that we're all introduced, what can you tell us about whatever Tybus was doing? It sounded like he was working with the invaders from what we heard in his control room," the scraggly one declares.

"He is. He was trying to keep FedCom off his back by striking a deal with the Jade Falcon Clan."

"Jade Falcon Clan?" The other officer prompts.

"That's the name of the invasion force, Major Steiner."

_Major Steiner_, Athrun repeats inside his head, _an important FedCom officer. I'll have to keep him in mind_.

"You know his name?" The doctor asks. If anything, her accent sounded the closest to home Athrun had heard yet.

"I know a lot of things, Doctor Nakamura," Juan replies a bit sharply for Athrun's taste, though he masters his immediate reaction.

"What do you know about Somerset?" The Major asks.

"Not much, although my Comstar contact tells me your brother is alive."

"Andrew? Alive?" The Major seemed severely shocked by that bit of information. Athrun filed it away as a consideration that death was a real possibility in battles around here, just like back home...

"Fat lot of good that does us in here," the other pilot replies from his position at the bars to the cell.

"I also know a FedCom Battalion is waiting for my order to raid this rock, if I could find some way to send them a signal." he sighs. "Too bad none of us has a key."

"How did you--" Doctor Nakamura gasps, which draws Athrun's attention to some form of small laser pistol that Ryder was holding.

"I'll show you later, if you ask nicely." Ryder takes aim at the bars, and fires. As Athrun expected, it had little effect. "Uh. That fat bastard slug rat put us the hardened cell."

"Then allow me to try," Athrun offers politely.

"With what?" Juan was even more confused when Athrun indicated his glove. "And that is going to help us how?"

"Let's just say this is part of that story. And it is not a fairy tale." As Athrun drew just one of his swords, he could hear someone behind him fart in reaction.

"Holy shit, kid, I'm not sure if I want to hear this story now," Juan says.

"Well, it's got two flavors of genocide and shit the fairy tales don't even get right. Fair warning." Athrun braces momentarily and then takes two swings, both horizontal against the vertical bars, one at knee level and one at eye level. The affected bars fall to the ground fast enough, allowing them through.

"That's some serious shit you're packing," Juan says just before Athrun stows his sword back in the glove. "Hey, where'd it go?"

Athrun flexes his glove. "Think of this as storage."

"I see," Juan says as they climb out of the hole Athrun had made for them, even though he didn't understand shit about it and wasn't going to say otherwise. Athrun definitely had the intel officer's attention, though.

"If you're looking for your battlemechs, they're this way." Valten leads the group down the corridor and away from the cell block.

"There's a ComStar transmission station not too far from here. I'll use it to contact my unit." Juan broke off down a different corridor, though Athrun and Kira followed along with the pilots.

"You shouldn't be following us, kids," Major Steiner says.

"Any way I can talk you into getting us out of the city?"

"And then what?"

"They wouldn't ask if they didn't have a plan, Captain Hawkins, right?" the Major says and prompts.

"We have friends outside. All we need is to get outside the dome, we can handle the rest."

"Of the same nature as what you have?" Doctor Nakamura asks. It went without saying a doctor would be excellent at reading people, and she just proved it.

"This is just the beginning," Kira says for Athrun.

The group busts through an armored door and into a large hangar that housed quite a few of the war machines. The Major immediately went for the machine that was painted black and had lightning streaks on it; the captain for an ungodly bulky machine that had a lot of varied armaments, though Ryder just looked around for a moment.

"I don't believe this...it's not here."

"What's not here?"

"My father's Centurion. Tybus was keeping it as collateral as I worked off my gambling debts."

Athrun was a bit too engrossed in observing the three Battlemechs to notice the incoming personnel until after it was too late. Tybus himself, carrying a laser pistol like what Valten had, as well as four of his 'security' personnel carrying the high-power laser rifles, and they were all very wary and even one was pointing directly at Kira. "Come down from there, nice and slow," Tybus indicates the Major by the aimpoint of his pistol.

About the time that the Major was making his way down the ladder, an explosion rocked the building. "What was that?" Valten asked.

"It's all over. Martinez is raiding your little rock right now," Captain Hawkins tells Tybus.

"What? That quick? Impossible," Valten counters.

"It must be that Jade Falcon Clan. Call off your goons, Tybus. We're your only hope," the Major says.

"We had a deal!" Tybus whined, just moments before a laser blast entered the building and caused a section of ladder to fall down in front of him.

"Sounds like the deal's off, Tybus."

"All right, you win." Tybus reaches into his vest and pulls out a fairly high-power radio, then tosses it to Major Steiner, who uses it to call to his ship and get his team rolling.

"Major, may I?" Athrun asks, holding his hand out to the radio.

"Yeah, sure. Here." He tosses Athrun the radio and starts to climb the ladder to his 'mech, but makes it no more than three rungs before he stops, stunned by what Athrun had said into the radio after reprogramming it.

"_Archangel_ CIC, this is Zala, do you copy?"

"_Archangel_ CIC reading five by five. Where the hell have you been? We've been worried sick about both of you!"

"That doesn't matter, Miriallia, we got big trouble at the city here. Someone's trying to level it with fighter strikes and long-range bombardment!"

"We know that, the Duel, Buster and Blitz are deploying right now. We're preparing to launch as well. What do you need?"

"Can you dragon-wagon the Aegis and Strike out to a point west of the city, and send a crew vehicle to recover us and transport to our suits?"

"Roger that, what strike pack you want on the Strike?"

Athrun looks to Kira: "Aile Strike."

"Send out the Aile Strike, Mir."

The sigh from Miriallia was not something they expected. "Tell Kira he owes me five bucks. It's on the way, meet the crazy cook at the gate you entered the city, over."

"Huh?" Kira asks loud enough to translate through the radio.

"Sai bet that you would take Aile, I bet it would be IWSP. Kira owes me five bucks. End of story. _Archangel_, out."

"Zala is clear." Athrun changes channels on the radio.

"What are you?" Major Steiner asks.

"Same as you, Major, ass-deep in a war neither of us likes."

"C'mon, school-boy, daylight's wasting," Captain Hawkins says over the loudspeaker of his unit.

-x-x-x-

On the face of it, Dearka could not recall ever seeing Yzak this pissed off. Maybe he was mellowing on certain subjects courtesy of a certain blue-haired girl giving him his just ration of shit three or four times a day, but wherever his usual rage had been going just surfaced. And it was rather frightening to Dearka; he was actually getting used to the slightly calm air that Yzak had been suffering.

"I'm so gonna send each one of those fucks to hell personally," Yzak says through gritted teeth.

"Chill out, dude," Dearka says. "We'll get them all, but not if you're acting dumb. Keep the line and move as a team, we can shock the shit out of them. Then we kill them."

"Shut up and move, Dearka, those civilians don't have all day." Yzak snorts loudly. "Attacking a defenseless enclosed city, this is bullshit. I'm sooooo gonna kill them all..."

"Fighter incoming, not one of those attacking the city," Nicol says as he observes the said fighter, then looks forward. They were still swarming around the city, but they were out of range for even their longest-range guns at present. That would change in a matter of moments...

"Unit, CIC. I have three more 'mechs coming out of the city, mark as friendlies in your computers," Miriallia says; "Also, the Cook has recovered Athrun and Kira, they're three minutes away from their machines. Try not to get killed between now and then, please."

"Mu La Flaga, Launcher Skygrasper, away!"

"Tolle Koenig, Launcher Skygrasper, Launching!"

"All units, this is _Archangel_ command, we're five minutes out at this time. Once we're in range we will aid in the counterattack." Even Murrue was in on this one, she wanted their asses on a plate to serve to whoever was the local ruler. Attacking a city was inexcusable in her opinion.

"How should we do this?" Hikaru asks for the three Magic Knights, all three of which were deployed and running alongside the three ZAFT Gundams. They were on top of one of the cliff plateaus, and about a kilometer dead ahead the cliff dropped straight down to where the fighting was happening. The Magic Knights were in on the battle purely volunteer, as they saw the city being leveled by fighter strikes. It boiled down to either the civilians or the enemy, and in the end all three Magic Knights would stand between a building and a bullet to save lives. In this case, though, they might be able to spare the city a direct attack from the ground forces if they could stop them fast enough...

"Get in close and stay there!" Yzak shouts. "Don't stop swinging your sword until the last one is in pieces!"

"I got tone!" Dearka shouts, stops his machine, and combines his weapons into the sniper rifle combination. He braces and fires at one of the fighters that was nearer to where they were standing. The beam lanced directly to the fighter he aimed at and blew through it from one side and exited out the other side. After a moment the pilot ejected just before the craft started going down, eventually to crater in the sands outside the city.

"Come and get some!" Yzak shouts as the fighters, four remaining, turn in on his position. He takes aim with his beam rifle and fires two beams, then a pair of slugs from Shiva into the nose of the oncoming fighter. The craft, surprisingly, survived the two beams but had lost a good portion of its armor up forward. The first slug had almost completely stoved the nose in; the second blitzed into the center of the fighter, and Yzak got the satisfaction of seeing the pilot become a red paste on the inside of his cockpit just before it nosed down and flew into the cliff edge in front of them

Nicol had an idea. He fired Gleipnir at the oncoming fighter, deliberately aiming high, so the actual anchor would fly over it. This done, the fighter did not have enough time to get out of line of the high-tensile rocket anchor cable in front of it; the collision literally sheared off the left wing of the craft and caused it to spin out of control, to where it eventually flew into the ground. That accomplished, he reeled the anchor in and set his shield forward, still headed toward the cliff edge.

"Gotcha!" Tolle shouts as he triggers off Agni, the hyper impulse cannon that gave the Strike Gundam more firepower than most warships. The beam literally tore through the right wing of the fighter he was targeting and into the innards of the craft, immediately causing its tank of oxidizer to cook off in a spectacular fireball that undoubtedly killed the pilot long before the shards of fighter hit the deck below.

"Mister Chandratta, fire all weapons at will except for the Lohengrins."

"Firing Valiant 1 now." Mr. Chandratta fired the said cannon on an intercept course for the last fighter, and the pilot, so dazed by the ship itself did not realize he had just flown into a 1000-pound rail gun slug going the opposite direction at an absurdly high speed. In fact, the 40 tons of fighter became 40 tons of assorted chunks, now headed more or less straight down or slightly forward still as the slug continued onward, eventually to land on the far side of the city they were launched to protect.

"All enemy fighters are down. Strike team, commence with the ground assault per Commander Badgiruel's orders,"

Yzak had walked the last twenty meters to the edge of the cliff and looked down. There was a nice assortment of 'mechs down in the sands below, and even four of them were 'allied' machines, as if the _Archangel_ was counting anyone among its allies right now. They appeared to be trying to run the enemy ragged, maybe to cause a mechanical failure? "_Archangel_, Duel. Shift port fifteen degrees, that way when you come in you have enfilade to their whole column, over."

"Roger that, Duel. Commence operations."

"Say hello to my little friends," Yzak says in his worst-possible evil falsetto as he sights up one of the long-range machines like what had been used last night. He fired one good shot into the body of the machine, which had caused it to immediately look to Yzak. "That's me knocking, asshole," Yzak twitches his beam rifle to augment the open-channel radio taunt. Blitz had walked up next to the Duel as just about every 'mech on the field looked to them, and took aim at the same target that Dearka had with Trikeros. He fired one of the Lancer Darts and two beams, the beams hitting in the center and right torsos, causing only armor damage to the enemy, but a significant amount. The Dart hit square in the shoulder, sunk into it about a meter, and exploded. The fury of the blast completely detached the arm from the machine and threw the remnant of the Omnimech away from them and down to the sands.

Dearka was next to take position, this time with the same weapon configuration he had just used on a fighter, and targeted a machine that walked like a human, had a rather large torso, and a circular missile pack on the left shoulder opposite a offset head (5). The shot struck a leg and blew right through the armor into the center of the leg's innards, immediately shattering the thighbone of the machine and causing the leg to fold out under the machine; it collapsed to the side and hit the ground, though the pilot was still moving the arms.

"I'm goin' in!" Nicol shouts as he jumps clear over the edge of the cliff and fires his jets before he lands, softening his landing. Dearka and Yzak followed suit, immediately putting the three Gundams down in the fray with over twenty enemy machines, none of which were short on energy weapons, they all knew. The Rune Gods were only moments behind, though they landed with more overt grace than their mechanical comrades.

"I won't let you harm innocent people!" Hikaru shouts as she prepares her sword and starts moving in on them, followed hotly by the other two Rune Gods and the three Gundams.

"Who are these maniacs?" Yzak hears on a radio channel separate from what the Jade Falcons were using.

"Hey, I ain't going to argue with someone who can blow the leg of one of those things clean off!" someone says on the same channel.

"They're our friends, Major Steiner."

"Athrun?"

"Yeah, it's us coming in from behind."

"Nice of you to join us, you slackers," Yzak says with ironic contempt as he hammers the chest of a Summoner Omnimech with beam rifle blasts. Even still, it was resisting the beams, something they were expecting but not liking. The cannon it had in its left arm just threw up sparks as the pellets ricocheted off his armor; the energy weapon it had in its right arm impacted on Yzak's shield and did little to further his position. Shiva came down and centered on the torso of the machine, firing once, twice, then two of his missiles for the kill as a large spark and puff of flame exited the wound Yzak created.

"Kiss my ass, Yzak, I just spent twelve hours in a jail cell with a FedCom spy and Kira." The Aegis had landed and immediately jetted forward, using its shield to ram a Hellbringer more than hard enough to knock it clear to the ground. He slap-grabbed the beam rifle from the hip of the Aegis and aimed dead right and slightly up, at the cockpit of a Mad Dog Omnimech, thinking the head of the 'mech was the same as the head of the Mobile Suit, just a camera relay. One tap (shot) of beam caused the head to explode, as the pilot's oxygen supply cooked off explosively when superheated. Athrun did not see the forearm and hand bounce off the barrel of his beam rifle, since he was looking around the field for more threats.

Fuu had moved in on the main group that was harassing the local 'mechs, and her tactic was dead simple: chop at it with her sword until dead; repeat until no more enemies, since as Yzak had pointed out, it was either these invaders or the civilians. Dead simple choice, really, they all collectively figured. Her sword came down on the missile pack of a Summoner omnimech first, the magicked blade literally chopping halfway down its torso and causing missiles in the pack to explode out the back of the launcher. She drags her sword out from the first stroke as hard and gratingly as Windam could muster, causing a rather violent explosion somewhere in the bowels of the 'mech that caused the rear armor to blow outward and the machine to stagger. With her sword clear, she reset it and drove it inward with a violent thrust that put the blade all the way through the center of the machine's torso and literally out the back, in plain sight to the other Clan 'mechwarriors.

Kira drove in on a pair of Hellbringer Omnis, beam saber and shield at the ready. The one on the left had the common weapons, the same as what was used last night, though the PPCs and lasers it had fired did nothing notable to Kira's shield. As he approached the one on the right fired a 60mm shotgun-style cannon into his machine, followed quickly by a railgun from the right arm. Neither did anything notable to the Strike, which was protected by Phase Shift armor. As Kira finished closing he swung his beam saber upwards in an arc that completely severed the right arm of the machine and caused it to hit the ground; as he reset from the attack the Hellbringer had a surprise for the Gundam pilot, a small laser embedded in the left side of the torso that hit the Strike in the right shoulder armor. It actually caused a significant amount of damage, but not enough to slow Kira down. Seeing that this was the only threatening weapon it had left, Kira stabbed into the barrel housing of that midget laser with his beam saber and withdrew, now assured that the enemy was incapable of harming him. Kira turned back to the first of the machines as it fired a six-pack of missiles that locked on and bored straight in on his machine, though Kira ignored these for the same reason he was ignoring the second machine. As he approached his beam saber went to work, first slashing up against the enemy left arm and severing it, second slashing down against the enemy right arm and removing it as well. With that accomplished he centered his vulcans on the trio of barrels of lasers in the right torso of the machine and unleashed several dozen rounds into them. Kira could see the optics shatter and the barrels distort, making them useless as weapons. To prove his theory right, the second machine had locked onto him and fired two six-packs of missiles into his back, all of which hit and did no damage to the Strike. As Kira jetted onward to other tangos, the pilots were left wondering what the hell was going on, what kind of machine was that, and why didn't he finish the job? (6)

Mu was enjoying job, well, inasfar as he ever enjoyed it. Since the Gundams were operating in force and had the enemy well distracted, Mu and Tolle had decided they were going to support the local machines. Tolle had gone in first, using a high angle of attack so he had a good, clear shot for Agni as he went in on a strange 'mech that walked like a bird but had a rounded body and missile packs instead of the boxy body like their fire support 'mech. It was also one of only two of the machines like it on the field. He lined up, activated Agni, and fired as soon as he was assured a clean hit as it mercilessly advanced on the friendly 'mechs. By either luck or fate, he had missed where he wanted to place the shot, instead the blast had went forward of the centerline and actually half-missed the unit, the other half turned the cockpit of the machine, the bulbous forward part of the torso, into a glowing hot, smoking mess with literally nothing recognizable of the pilot left. After a moment it went face-first into the ground and moved no more. "Thanks for the assist, sky-jock!" One of the friendlies waved as Mu zoomed past, banking and firing his 120mm anti-ship vulcan into a Summoner, followed by the beam turret on top of his craft, and lastrly the two heavy missiles from the combo weapons pod. That combination of hits gave the friendlies enough to work with, as the Axman closed up and slammed the Summoner hard enough to put it chest-first into the ground.

Umi had spread her effort leftward, to where the friendlies and Skygraspers were fighting. She had her sights on the other of the units with the chicken legs and the rounded torso, which was firing lasers at her with alacrity, though as she closed it stopped using its large lasers, instead firing at her continuously using machine guns and the two smaller lasers in its arms. When she got in close, it was all over for the Clan pilot, since her sword was literally the superior weapon in close-quarters in this case, despite the laser in its torso that lanced into Selesce with fury but little notable effect on the venerable Rune God. Her sword came up in a designated slash that cut through the left arm's barrels on a bias, rendering the lasers contained within unusable. Her sword came around and was stabbed into the torso sideways, about three meters behind the cockpit that she could look into and see the gasping pilot. The blade of her sword went straight through and out the other side of the 'mech, the rapier-style blade had penetrated the gyro of the Omnimech and rendered it incapable of standing, much less walking. As she stepped back it went nose-first into the sands, and the pilot had to break out oner of the window panes to escape his crippled machine.

Dearka was not having problems, per se, but the fact that he had no shield meant that he had to keep moving to avoid enemy beam fire. Somehow, he had ended up in a thicket of enemy small 'mechs, of which his Gun Launcher was well suited to deal with since it had the same triking power as some of the cannons carried by the Clan heavy units. He had one of the midget maggots down and one reeling from severe leg and torso damage, but there were two more still to deal with... "You god-damned flies, go away!" Dearka combines his weapons into shotgun configuration, though the one of the two midgets that was closing on him got no part of that; instead, the nearer he dumped all twelve of his missiles into, each one shredding large chunks of armor off until the eleventh buried itself inside the center of the torso and blew what looked like a rather important component clear of the machine, accompanied a moment later by the pilot ejecting. The shotgun he centered on the fourth midget, which barely came up to chest height on the Buster, just as it fired a crimson beam into his unit. The beam sliced through the missile cap on his left-side launcher and kept going , blowing clear through his unit, but since there was no missiles in the launcher, there was no catastrophic explosion. Dearka gave the little shit a ten-meter lead and pulled the trigger. The sheer impact of the 40mm charged shot hammering into the enemy 'mech tore off both arms, caused massive rents in the armor, and knocked it to a skidding fall on the ground; when it hit, it did not move again.

"Barbarians!" Kristen Redmond shouts, aiming to the red machine with only a sword and single-firing missiles from both racks as quickly as she could pull the trigger. The red machine stops and braces its shield, the missiles impacting on it in several locations though they did not cause notable damage to the enemy. "They are more heavily armed than I ever imagined!"

"Star Colonel Kristen Redmond, you have been ordered to cease this unauthorized campaign at once!"

"Oh, spare me your pithy jealousy, Nikolai! Was it not enough for you to steal all the glory on Somerset?"

"You have been ordered to pull out!" Nikolai's voice was cold, cold, even to Yzak.

"On whose authority?" Kristen asks with a dangerous tone.

"On MY authority."

"Galaxy Commander Chistu!"

"I gave no clearance for this operation. There is only one thing more odious than insubordination: failure."

"Oh, that's gotta just piss on her parade, losing at an _unauthorized_ planetary assault," Yzak says gloatingly as the first of the enemy forces begins withdrawing. As they began to take flight downrange toward their ship, the _Archangel_ finally arrived at Yzak's requested location, though it was a moot point since he had assumed they would keep momentum, which they did not achieve. "I got two months paycheck says that she gets demoted or drummed out of their service for this stunt."

"Not happening, Yzak," Dearka notes with a rueful chuckle. "_Archangel_ CIC, this is Buster. All enemies are breaking contact and fleeing east toward their ship. This one appears done."

"Buster,_Archangel_. We roger enemy retreat, no air contacts in the vicinity and all ground contacts are headed away. The Captain would like me to pass onward congrats for stopping them before they got to the city. We probably saved thousands of lives."

"The Armed Forces of the Federated Commonwealth seconds that congratulations," Major Steiner says on the same channel. "Now, for not the first or the last time today, would you please explain to us who the hell you are?"

"And where do I pick up a machine like that?" Ryder asks, pointing to the Buster.

"This is a long story that's going to take a lot of explaining," Athrun says. "If I may, can we at least stow our machines for recharging and refit before we get this discussion on?"

"Athrun Zala, this is Captain Martinez. My offer still stands if you're willing to continue our discussion from earlier today?"

"I think I can live with that offer, Captain Martinez. Captain Ramius, the FedCom Intelligence Captain has offered us amnesty in exchange for an explanation of what we are and where we come from. Are you willing to accept?"

"I can live with that as well. Starboard-side launch bay of the Archangel sound good?"

* * *

Author's Chapter Afterword:

Say hello to my long-time friend.

If anything, Battletech is where I started, well over a decade ago. The game of armored combat, as machine after machine feeds itself to the flames of war. I have even run advanced combat campaigns using the Battletech rules, and am trying to write a cohesive set of rules and conversions for translating Gundam to Battletech, to allow players to simulate Gundam on Gundam battles, or worse, what I just did here (Battlemech versus Gundam). Suffice it to say, I have built very large and complex campaigns under the Battletech rules using my own custom designs that resulted in some incredibly brutal battles, made doubly worse by the fact that when I play, I do so using almost all the Battletech rules from all three levels of game play, including the optional and very complex level three rules of Maximum Tech.

I am unsure if anyone actually pays attention to the Battletech universe any more, but let us suffice it to say that I am writing this section out of my love for both Battletech and Gundam, and more or less out of my love for making things as hairy and frenetic as I can imagine within the confines of my mind. If you followed the above action with an eye to detail, this battle resulted in twelve confirmed kills, five dead fighters and over half that in severely damaged machines that still escaped but would need a shitload of repairs. And some of those kills are very well intact, providing good salvage opportunities to the_Archangel_ and allies...

The whole premise of this final battle was pure shock value. The Clansmen were not expecting the 'Inner Sphere Scum' to have anything near the capability they had shown today, much less such proficiency in getting close and butchering a Clan Omnimech with physical attacks, something that Clansmen consider dishonorable and do not train for. Though they put up a determined defense, the Clanners were caught with their pants down in close quarters and could not break away fast enough to use their traditional advantages of staying power and ranged combat. That alone resulted in a horrendous furball they were ill-prepared to fight, which resulted in grievous casualties that will cost Kristen Redmond severely. Oops.

Now, as for the mixed bag of the beam weapons, I am using the following numbers for anyone who knows Battletech and wants to check my numbers against the TROs:

1. Beam Rifles are 20 points, includes the beam cannon on the Skygrasper.

2. Beam Sabers are 25 points, can be aimed by the Coordinator pilots with almost no chance of missing.

3. Dearka's Gun Launcher is Ballistic, 30 points damage in the same fashion as a LB-X AC

4. Dearka's Beam Cannon is 30 points (not used separate in this battle)

5. All Gundam-carried missile weapons are equivalent to Thunderbolt-10 missiles, including the missiles for the Launcher Strike packs

6. the grenade launcher underslung on Yzak's beam rifle is equivalent to a Thunderbolt-20 (Unused in this battle)

7. Shiva, the railgun on the right shoulder of the Assault Shroud, is equivalent to a Gauss Rifle

8. Agni, carried by the Skygraspers in this battle, has slightly more striking power than a Medium Naval PPC (10 capital damage, 100 standard-scale damage)

9. The 120mm Vulcan on Agni's weapon pod has the equivalent damage and effect to the Ultra-10 AC

10. Dearka's main weapon combined as a sniper rifle has 60 points of damage delivered to one location, and follows the rules for the Armor-piercing Autocannon ammo.

11. Dearka main weapon when combined as a shotgun has 80 points of damage, handled in the same fashion as LB-X AC

For reference, Kristen's Omnimech, the Mad Dog, has 163 points of armor total over the whole body of the unit, and 46 of that armor is just on the two legs. 16 armor points to each arm, 23 to each side torso (16 forward and sides, 7 rear), and 30 in the center torso (split 23 forward and 7 rear); the last nine points are on the head, for what it is worth. As to damage to the Gundams, the Phase Shift blocks all ballistic and missile weapons, but since the armor has no ability to stop beam weapons I am doubling all energy weapon damage to the Gundams, as illustrated in the battle as Kira took a hit from a small laser that caused a significant amount of damage to the shoulder armor of his unit, and when the ER Large that Dearka took completely obliterated the left-side missile pack.

As to the Archangel, I already have my equivalent stats listed in TRO form in chapter 20, Flight of the Jokers Wild, another story I am writing for this site. The damage values for those weapons will be used 1-for-1 as I listed them on that TRO, but remember in the Jokers Wild series there is a variance between classic Battletech and how the Mendel forces use such units, so the damage effects may be skewed in those stories. And yes, each barrel of Gottfried delivers 30 points of capital damage, or 300 points standard damage. When applied to Kristen's Mad Dog, oops, you just turned her Omnimech's boots into ashtrays.

Now, if you are wondering as to the swords of the Magic Knights, I will warn you that I am using a logical pattern here, and I request you bear with me on this matter. I have a logical pattern and it will be explained actually in the body of the story, just at a significantly later time, by an expert in that field. All will be rendered rather clear as time passes and the Archangel meets new and more interesting (or crazy) people on its misadventures.

On an aside, thus far I have managed to dodge any possible questions as to commonality of languages. Since Battletech is a diverse entity that literally takes any factional fighting on Earth to a multi-planet scale, the question about languages would logically follow. This is about to get rather...involved. The main languages of Steiner (AFFC-Lyran half) territory are English and German, and nobody on the Archangel is theoretically versed in German, though that can change. More on this in coming chapters, as more elements makes themselves known.

As to the story itself, I have had some good suggestions as to other worlds to visit, that actually do not dovetail with my initial plan. So, I am considering revising and extending the storyline. If you have two c-bills to toss in on this matter, please drop me a review so I know where to think about inflicting the Archangel in next. This could end up well over 100 chapters if you guys cough up some good and logical suggestions. Also, if you feel like it, toss me a review on general grounds, suggestions and criticism is always welcome. I do reply to my reviewers, I consider it an honor to get reviews and respond to them. I don't always reply in a timely manner, but still...

Speaking thereof, in reply to a trade with a frequent reviewer, yes, there is question as to how aware people were as to the nature of the relations between Blue Cosmos and the Earth Alliance. Prior to Alaska, the general public would not be aware of the relationship. It goes without saying that Special Forces, and even a good portion of the line units, however, would know or at least strongly suspect the National Defense Industry Association (the 'legit' arm of Blue Cosmos) being involved butt-deep in the affairs of the Earth Alliance. And while one could make a case for Barratry (gross misconduct of the officers or a whole unit) in the case of Junius Seven being nuked, from the point of the coordinators the wholesale elimination of civilian like that is unforgivable. Even if the Earth Alliance had declared the involved ship renegade and executed their whole crew, that would not have stopped the escalation. At the time that nukes fly, the war is well beyond the point of negotiation and the only thing left is the test of arms. I will say this much, the Three Ships Alliance had a serious case of brass balls there at the end, because it takes massive ones to stand between two parties that are actively trying to completely kill off the other side with weapons of mass destruction that could just as easily erase the Three Ships out of existence as they could the other side's civilians. The Three Ships got that much right at the end, too bad they spent the first 40 episodes of Destiny more or less jacking off and accomplishing less than nothing.

I've said my peace.

Next up: the 1st Somerset Strikers and the Archangel's crew meet face to face and work out a mutually beneficial arrangement. Also, as some grow closer, others drift apart and others go ever more slowly insane (like the author, for example...)

ADDENDUM TO AUTHOR'S NOTES FOR CORRECTIONS:

First and foremost, serious thanks to Alkard for the PM with the categorical list of errors and gray areas I made in the first posting. The fact that I made 20 screwups in 16000 words means I was typing too fast in too short a time. Since then I have slowed down significantly to ensure I am more clear and correct about how I do things (but not politically correct, of course). Once again, serious thanks, comrade.

Second, the next chapter is in progress, and I hope to have it done sometime before November. These past few weekends have been just plain screwed up, having requests to fix computers, yard work, a whole frigging laundry list that also includes laundry, etcetera, etcetera. And my vacation stunt at the beginning of this month, though inspirational, set me back 5 days in all my projects. And then there is work, of which I shall not go there to protect your sanity. If you are hearing a continual level of tortured screaming coming from south-central Ohio, that would likely be me :P

Last but certainly not least, to those that have dropped me reviews, I will answer at the end of the next chapter any concerns or requests you may have. Of course, since the actual order of where I shall be going is classified, I will have to answer such in a neutral and reassuring fashion for each of you. Sorry, I am not allowed to tell, or I may have to do something to you.

* * *

Footnotes:

(1): EMCON means EMission CONtrol. Basically, the ship puts out no electronic noise and does not respond to any attempt to connect to it electronically. Naval forces typically use this tactic to help maintain stealth, since electronic systems can be seen at three times their effective detection range by the enemy.

(2): A return-separated list would be like typing your name, then hitting the return key, then typing your best friend's name. There is also a tab-delineated list, common in spreadsheets and databases, and a comma-separated list, which are common in computer programs. Just three different ways to sort data, really.

(3): No Hunchback IIC bullshit here. For those that know the cartoon, Kristen wagered two Omnimechs, and the Hunchback IIC is not an Omnimech. You are looking at the Hellbringer (Inner Sphere name Loki), and it is about to make a hellish introduction for itself and its Clan.

(4): Here's another non-sequitur of the cartoon. Yes, a laser has a kinetic component to it when you do the numbers, since it transfers a lot of energy to target in a very short time span, but not enough to cause serious impacts. Thus, when I illustrate this, it is a lot less dramatic than in the games or the cartoon. A PPC is another story entirely, which you will find out soon enough.

(5): In the cartoon, the personal Omni of Nikolai Malthus is the Summoner (Thor to you Inner Sphere pukes). This is what it looks per the Battletech TRO, the cartoon crap is just that. And the TRO version is a lot deadlier to boot.

(6): There is a standing question as to whether or not Kira has realized at this time that he should not be killing people, but in this case that is not it. Kira was being coldly efficient, since there were still a lot of enemies to take down, he simply eliminated the weapons that were a threat to his machine and went on his merry way, headed toward other and more dangerous tangos. I am still debating if I want to 'clean Kira's Act Up' right now, but betting would lean against it at this time.


	10. Lost In A Lost Galaxy

(Section 2, Chapter 2: Lost In A Lost Galaxy)

(A/N: If you have not read the updated Sec. 2 Chap. 1, don't worry too much. All I did was put some clarifications in here and there, no major changes to the line of events and correct a boatload of spelling errors. See the chapter afterword for further details.)

"Talk to me, Natarle."

"I'm leaving this one up to you, Captain. You're a lot better at these things than I am," Natarle notes.

_At least she's honest about it_, Murrue thinks.

"Conn, sensors, enemy ship is lifting off, vectoring away from us," Sai says from his seat in the CIC pit. Eyes were on the window, watching it head away from them at a rather large rate. Indeed, the large ship had left the atmosphere after about ten minutes, all the while headed away from the _Archangel_. Murrue had made it clear earlier that if the enemy ship approached she wanted the Gottfrieds to put it back on the ground—hard, in pieces if necessary.

"Conn, Control, Duel and Strike secured and undergoing initial maintenance checks."

"Thank you, Miriallia. Get the rest in and hangared, we may have to sortie again." She figured these FedCom personnel were on the level, but taking chances was not in her plan of things to do today.

Below and forward of the ship, the Blitz and Buster were just jumping up into the ship's launch decks and entering the hangar area. "Miriallia, have the pilots connect to the ship's power grid and keep their Phase Shift active. I'm not going to volunteer anything to them that I don't have to."

"Roger that, Captain." Mir switches her headset over to the pilot channel, and encrypts it so only the five Gundams would hear. "All pilots, the Captain wants you to connect to the ship power grid and leave your Phase Shift active."

"Isn't that going to kill the Accumulator?" Kira asks hurriedly.

"Negative, we have enough power," Mir replies almost immediately. She looks at the captain for confirmation, who nods. "Yeah, do it, guys. We can worry about anything else later." Miriallia heard something muttered by Yzak in reference to all blow and no show, which did not make her all that happy.

"Those five are our trump cards, since it appears our ability to conduct battle is on par with their machines in at least one way," Natarle notes.

"Well, we also have not seen what the Magic Knights are worth when they cut loose on these enemy machines, so..." The logic of that comment, however, was predicated on the thought that they would actually do so. There was no guarantee that the Magic Knights would fight, and this time Yzak had rallied the battle on the premise that the forces were attacking a city, something for which the ZAFT personnel all had strong feelings against. There may not be that option next time.

"And if they won't?"

"Well, when you get down to it, we're it for our own control," Murrue notes. "I mean, Kira might help us. Might. But, on the bottom line, all our Mobile Forces are volunteer. They have the right to say no when ordered to do something, and really they also hold the biggest Trump card out there. We really can't force them to do anything."

"Oh...right," As far as Natarle was concerned, it was like getting slapped with a ten-pound trout right on the cheek. The ship was good, but against a concentrated mobile forces assault there was no contest. And she had been taking the power and utility of the five machines and three Rune Gods for granted, something that would not continue into perpetuity, since all the pilots were technically not Earth Alliance supporters, and only one of them was technically an Earth Alliance Ensign. She also had to admit that the said Earth Alliance Ensign would readily desert—with the Strike—if he had a reason to. So much for her ideal command structure, where everyone did as ordered when ordered. The sigh after a moment had the attention of the CIC crew, and theirs was the unstated but obvious mockery in question form: _Didn't see that coming, eh_? (1)

"Well, shall we go to speak to the natives? Not like we have anything to lose but our heads and all..." Her joke was predicated on an old distortion of European explorers going forth into the wilds of the world, meeting new and interesting people, and being killed by them.

-x-x-x-

Though the meeting was requested in the launch bay, it had ended up taking place in the shadow of the port-side leg of the _Archangel_, outside the hangars area and off the port-side of the ship.

Major Steiner had already had one of those 'Twilight Zone' days, up to and including the strange music and visual effects. First off, whoever these guys were, they weren't normal kickouts from anywhere in the Inner Sphere, and so far betting was running against them being from the Clans or Periphery as well. Second, though Major Steiner was a Major of ground forces, he knew enough about naval operations to know that he was looking at some kind of small Warship—a Monitor, to be exact, a Warship without a Jump Core (2). As to evidence, well, suffice it to say that the cockpit of his Axman was dead level with the barrel of the heavy weapon on the port-side of the ship and he had little doubt that the slug or beam it put out would tear his Battlemech in half the long way. The ship had done no firing, however, in the past battle, though Adam suspected part of the willingness of the Clanners to back off was from seeing such a monolith swoop in between them and the city they wanted to destroy.

Captain Martinez had climbed off his personal ride, an AWS-8V Awesome assault 'mech, and approached Major Steiner, Captain Hawkins, and Captain Ryder. The 8V version of the Awesome differed from the main 8Q version in that it carried a Kreuss PPC, a Magna Mark III Large Laser, and an Exostar LRM-15, all of which gave it excellent damage potential that increased as an enemy got closer to the unit, as well as mostly solved the overheat problems with the venerable assault 'mech. "Well, the Jade Falcons are gone, and show no sign of wanting to come back for seconds, Major, looks like we got lucky this time."

"No kidding," Valten Ryder notes, staring at the monolithic Monitor in front of them. "Now, where do I sign the lease for one of these things?"

"If their Battlemechs are that powerful, I'd hate to see what this thing is capable of," Captain Hawkins notes. Miles had been in the same line of work as Captain Martinez, as well as part of the Skye Rangers back during the war of 3039, _lo those many years ago_, he figured. A lifetime soldier of the Lyran Commonwealth and now the Armed Forces of the Federated Commonwealth, he thought he had seen everything busting heads against the other Successor States, but what he saw today was beyond insane in his estimate. The armaments these things had, as well as what he thought they had for defensive capabilities, added up to some seriously bad-ass combat capability. If he didn't miss his guess, he thought he saw one of those machines take a pair of missile packs in the back and acted like it didn't even get a paint scratch. And Hawk couldn't remember seeing any kind of AMS (3) on the machines...

"If this is something the Clans have, or worse, have several of, we're dead meat," Captain Martinez notes.

"They do not have any of these ships," Murrue notes rather coldly from just under the port leg of the Archangel. "I am Captain Murrue Ramius, commander of this ship. From context, I gather you have already met Athrun Zala, one of the pilots." Major Steiner had to literally force himself to disregard the fact that she was quite the looker.

"We've met," Valten notes. "He broke us out of jail. They just don't make laser pistols like they used to..."

"Captain, I am Major Adam Steiner, commander of the 1st Somerset Strikers, this is Captain Hawkins," Adam gestures to the taller and rather burly-looking 'Hawk', "Captain Martinez, FedCom Intelligence," the said Captain nods toward the captain of the Archangel, "And Captain Ryder, also in my unit."

"First off, we owe your unit a heap of thanks for stopping the Clanners butt-cold before they could get into the city. There's no telling what they would have done if they hadn't been stopped," Martinez offers to help break the ice, such as it was.

"Glad we could be of assistance," Murrue returns the props, and in truth she was. Any real soldier would not want to see civilians killed pointlessly. "I'm just thankful we were in a position to be able to help." _And also that I managed to give Yzak a 'launch' order fast enough that he didn't cut his way out of the launch deck_.

_We all are_, Major Steiner thinks but does not say out loud. "So, where are you from?" Martinez asks to get things rolling to what he really wanted to know, where the ship and the guys really were from.

"Well, that's a question that is hard to explain. I can give you a good explanation as to how we got from our home to our first misadventure, but not from there to here. My question is, how willing are you to believe me when I say that how we got here probably is not explainable in a scientific fashion?"

"You mean, some form of mystic talents? After Kira's ability to sense battles and Athrun's sword that can cut forged steel bars like a laser torch through butter, yeah, I'll believe it," Martinez coughs, Murrue figured as a cover-up for something. "Well, so long as it isn't too far off the wall, I should add."

"Anything I tell you I can back up with visual evidence." Murrue's voice could best be described as dead serious, which to Martinez either meant that she was a professional liar (unlikely, possible but unlikely he could guess) or that she really was dead serious. "This began in the middle of a battle between our ship and an elite unit of ZAFT, over the Pacific Ocean on Earth in what we can only figure is an alternate universe from where we are now. Same planet, different time-line, that kind of thing."

"Makes sense, I guess," Hawk says warily.

"Now, how'd you get from the Pacific Ocean on Earth—which is over three hundred light years from where we are now, I might add—to the armpit of the Lyran Alliance?"

Murrue wasn't entirely sure what he meant by 'armpit of the Lyran Alliance', but she decided she'd take that on faith. "There are two theories to that happening. One, we were accidentally pulled across dimensions to a world called Cephiro, basically caught in the effect of someone else's summons, or two, we were actually part of a group summoned to Cephiro for a...well...rather unpleasant task. Either way, within a week we were pulled into the fighting on Cephiro, whether we wanted to or not. The local situation was even bad enough that the four ZAFT elite pilots that were trying to kill this ship decided saving Cephiro and getting home came first, sinking the _Archangel_ came next."

"That's the name of your ship, right?" Major Steiner asks in a brief pause. "_Archangel_. Something about just looking at this thing makes that name fit."

"I'll be sure to pass that on to the Engineers that named it, if we ever get home."

Martinez decided he'd let that linguistic nuance slide, though he had come to the conclusion by now that she was not a professional liar. She was just too open to be that kind of person, or she was incredibly good at manipulating people by effect... "So, what's the big deal with Cephiro?"

"A powerful troublemaker by the name of Zagato," Athrun notes, the first thing he had said to point in this conversation. "He was one of those old-school master Sorcerers that could literally chunk a mountain down to a molehill with a few spells. We were under the operational impression that by taking him out, we'd be saving the Pillar of Cephiro, a young lady by the name of Princess Emeraude. We could not have been more wrong in one sentence."

Murrue picked up where Athrun dropped off: "We went through his subordinates, hell, we even had to fight two of them inside the hangar of the _Archangel_, they were that powerful. We brought the three other summoned persons, the Magic Knights, to the shrines of the three Rune Gods. Once awoken, the Rune Gods helped us defeat Zagato. Then we got the nastiest surprise possible: Princess Emeraude, in her own Rune God, decided she wanted to kill all of us because we took Zagato down."

"Wait, wait a second, if you were supposed to rescue her, then why'd she try scratchin' you guys?" Valten asks abruptly.

"We don't know for certain, except that she was royally pissed off that we killed Zagato. And, coming from royalty that was more powerful than Zagato, we almost didn't survive that one," Athrun notes rather dejectedly. "Present theory is that we were sucker-played into killing Zagato, which forced the battle with Emeraude, and after that battle ended, we woke up in the middle of the deserts south of here. It might have been a power-play of some kind internal to Cephiro, and they just used the good intentions of the Magic Knights as pawns in their little game. We don't know for certain who was playing who or what, but if the four ZAFT pilots ever cross paths with some of the involved parties from Cephiro again, it will get messy."

"That's the second time I've heard that name," Hawk notes. "Can you clarify who's who from where you come?"

"Captain?" Athrun defers to Murrue for this one.

"From the Earth we come from, there are several large states formed out of what used to be the hundreds of nations of Earth. There is also a series of colonies, called the PLANTs, which is where ZAFT come from. The war was between ZAFT and the Earth Alliance, a rather loose alliance of some states on Earth. And there's no telling what's been going on since then, since we've been gone a month and counting." Murrue decided she'd keep the variance between Coordinators and Naturals hidden for now. No telling what local customs had to say about genetic manipulation, and she didn't want to find out the hard way that the ethos of Blue Cosmos (if not the said group) was alive and well here. "Now, that being said, can you guys tell me who those maniacs were that tried leveling a city?"

"Here, easier to show you on a rough map." (4) Martinez crouches down and draws what looked like a distorted circle in the sands, and then partitioned it into two smaller sort-of-circles opposite each other, a pair of small wedges, and the bulk of the shape was between the upper-left and lower-right as one contiguous shape that sort-of resembled an angled dumbbell. "Okay, here's Earth, or as we commonly call it, Terra." he pokes a dot roughly in the center, though it was in one of the smaller wedges and toward the 'south' of the map slightly. "This is where you are. Federated Commonwealth territory, a merger between the Lyran Alliance," he indicates the upper-left half of the dumbbell, "and Federated Suns territory," he indicates the lower-right half. "This area is the Draconis Combine," he indicates the large separate state to the upper-right, "and this is the Free Worlds League," which was the state to the lower-left. "This wedge is called the Capellan Confederation." The wedge indicated also included Terra. "This is the Free Rashallague Republic." The wedge he indicated was the northern one that extended all the way to the border.

"This map is accurate to early this year, which by the way it is late March, 3050. Some time in January, the Clans started showing up in force on the border up here." He indicated the 'northern' border of the map, the Draconis top away from Terra and the 'top' of the Lyran Alliance. "Four Clans, Jade Falcon, Wolf, Ghost Bear, and Smoke Jaguar we believe are their names, have attacked inward toward the center of the map. We do not know what they want, other than to take land, planets, as quickly as possible." He draws four slashes headed inwards on the map with each name; the Falcons and the Wolves were headed down the FedCom territory, the Ghost Bears down the Rashallague lands, and the Smoke Jaguars were rampaging through the Draconis, though to Athrun it seemed their lines all pointed to Terra. "You've seen their machines. The Inner Sphere isn't entirely powerless to stop them, they can be defeated here and there, but so far the Clans are winning a lot more than losing. And that's the situation we're in, we estimate that if we can't stop them, it will only be about six years before they have gone completely through the Lyran half of FedCom and the Draconis Combine, which is two of the top four Successor States. That doesn't speak well of their power compared to our chances."

"Not a pleasant thought," Athrun's head whips around to center on the speaker, being Dearka. He was still in his pilot's suit at this time, as was Athrun, though Athrun could not tell how long he had been standing there.

"Major, Captains, this is Dearka Elsman, another one of the pilots," Athrun introduces him; Dearka nods to the assembled officers.

"The unit?" Murrue asks.

"Repairing, recharging and rearming as we speak, Captain," Dearka says in Japanese, his native language, just the same as the rest of the crew of the_Archangel_ with exception to Murrue (who had learned it secondhand in the academy long ago).

"That brings me to another question, did your unit take any damage from the battle? Any casualties?" Martinez asks.

"I lost a missile pack to a laser weapon, and I think the Strike took one in the shoulder, nothing serious. We've all had our machines beat up worse than that before."

"Didn't one of your machines take a pair of missile packs to the back?" Captain Hawkins says. "I think the machine had a red backpack with wings, and was mostly white."

"The Strike, you mean? I don't know what happened over there, I was too busy getting chased around by their midget machines," Dearka says at his most acerbic; Athrun had a chuckle for the thought of seeing the Buster being chased by small enemies, hounded to death by units half its size... "I got four of the little shits, but man do they run fast."

"Welcome to the wonderful world of facing the Clans," Major Steiner replies to the Buster pilot. "Improved speed, heat dissipation, range, firepower, armor, they have just about everything going for them. All we have is the home-field advantage and sometimes force of numbers."

"That never worked for the Earth Alliance, I don't think it's gonna work here," Dearka says deadpan. "Plan B, anyone?" Murrue silently blessed the judgment of the Buster Pilot, when he wasn't being a nihilistic screwoff he actually knew how to think.

"You could always try swiping some of their machines in working condition, Major," Martinez notes. "I mean, no offense to the crew and compliment of the _Archangel_, but most of what you just knocked down is pretty badly banged up."

"The bigger they are, the harder you have to beat 'em down," Dearka retorts slightly acidly to the FedCom spook.

_Ain't that the truth_, Murrue thinks but does not say.

"They punch, kick, choke, and bite harder, too," Valten notes; his comment drew amused snorts from several on both sides of the discussion.

A radio crackles. "Captain Martinez, this is Captain Haralds. We have Tybus in custody. Be warned, some of his 'mechs are loose, though, they may try to jump you guys or that ship, over."

"Last known area?" Martinez asks into his radio.

"Southwest and West of the city. We have radio calls for them to turn themselves in, but I don't think anyone is listening, over."

"Understood. We'll wrap it up here and move in toward the city, over."

"Roger that, Martinez. Over and out." Martinez puts his radio back in its holster. "Well, what does that leave? Oh, yes, I guess the quintessential question: what is your intention, Captain Ramius?"

That answer was dead simple and immediate: "Above anything else, getting my crew back to our home."

It was the expected answer, though not one for which anyone had an answer. "Well, since nobody knows how you got here, I would say even fewer people know how to get you back to the Earth from which you come," Martinez notes.

Murrue could sense where this was going, and she had a counter: "I am willing to discuss options for the interim, of course." Both Dearka and Athrun could sense what she was planning, and they figured better that than trying to scrape by on their own in a world where they could end up dead in the next battle.

"You know, I may just have to take you up on that offer," Major Steiner notes after a few moments of deciphering Murrue's statement. "It'll take me a day or two to get some details ready, you think you can wait that long?"

Murrue had to fight pretty hard to maintain decorum, given that her heart was racing damn near double normal right now. "I think we can manage," she says in a fairly level voice.

"Okay then, I'll see what I can work out for you guys. Thanks again for the assistance, Captain, pilots." He gave them all a slight bow and trudged back to the rope ladder to the cockpit of his Battlemech.

"So, did we win or lose, Captain?" Athrun asks when they were out of earshot and headed for the personnel hatch on the far side of the ship.

Murrue sighs. "Verdict is still out, Athrun, but I think we'll come off pretty high on the pole. I could sense it among all four of them: they don't want us as enemies, but they'd love to have our striking power for their war. I think we'll probably see some form of a mercenary contract offer from them, probably a very generous one by local standards."

"That's...almost insulting. We're ZAFT elites, and you guys are Earth Alliance Special Forces. How can you think about going Merc?" Dearka asks crassly.

"Simple. Do you think you can live as some kind of bandit between now and when we figure out some way to go home, that is, _if_ we ever figure out a way to get home?" Murrue asks quite sweetly to the Buster pilot. "At least this way, we're making an official living, and what the ship makes we can use to repair, resupply, outfit, and upgrade. Hell, we do this right, we might even be able to do some personal things while we're out and about."

"I think you lose, Dearka," Athrun says.

"It's still...well...you're right, it could be worse," he says as they take the few steps into the ship's interior.

-x-x-x- (Day four on Dustball, 1100 hours) -x-x-x-

Of course, there would be some that were not easy converts on such a plan, despite the prospect of personal profit.

"Hell no, no, no, no! Not happening! You and your fucking ideas! Go the hell away, Dearka!"

"Look, Yzak, you have a better idea, or best, a way to get us home right now?" Silence was the answer Yzak returned. "That's what I thought."

"Shut up, Dearka."

"Okay, fine, if you don't want to nobody's going to hold a gun to your head to make you pilot. When the rest of us end up fat-paid and rather famous for our efforts, you'll be left in the dust."

"What—you mean—like..."

"What? Drop you off and leave you somewhere while we trudge forward? Hell no, I'm talking about other things." _Like the prospect of upgrading the Buster_, Dearka thinks but does not say out loud. The possibility of installing a battlemech's fusion reactor in the Buster would change the name of the game drastically for the Gundams. Infinite power for his main guns and Phase Shift armor would render recharging requirements a moot point. The only limit to his battlefield usefulness, in that case, would be how long he could keep the enemy beam weapons off his unit.

"Hey, guys, what's happening?" Dearka and Yzak had stopped their rather loud argument in the pilot's lounge to glance at the newcomers, being Hikaru and Umi.

"Well, I thought we didn't have much of a choice," Hikaru notes with all the innocence of her age and naiveté.

"Technically, it is a catch-22, follow?" Yzak asks, calmly (which was quite surprising to Dearka).

"No, not really," Hikaru notes. She was not familiar with the term Catch-22.

"We can either be mercenaries, paid soldiers basically, or we can be bandits, outlaws in name and deed. Basically, bad or worse. So yeah, we don't really have a choice, we can sell our souls or live as criminals."

"It's not going to be as bad as Yzak makes it sound." Athrun had stepped in and moved to the vending machines in the lounge, which were approaching empty and without 'reloads' he was down to salted peanuts or beef salami, neither of which really appealed to him. "From what the officers are thinking, about the only thing we're going to do is either fight the Clans or work attached to the 1st Somerset Strikers, which amounts to fighting the Clans in the end. Murrue seems to think the FedCom personnel think we're just too powerful to waste on anything other than that." He had a cup of steaming coffee now, the fuel of pilots all throughout Existence. "In fact, it is volunteer for us pilots, and will probably be for you Magic Knights as well. The Captain made it clear that if we don't want to pilot, we don't have to."

"Like hell I won't pilot," Dearka notes clearly while staring at Yzak, or more appropriately attempting to stare down Yzak. "I'd love to get my hands on one of those Fusion Reactors for the Buster. And, if they can make 'em, so can ZAFT for the PLANTs—huh? Kira? What're you doing here?" Dearka's abrupt shift had caused everyone in the room to look to him.

"Well, it's—"

"Get lost, Strike," Yzak orders tersely. Off and on he referred to Kira by the name of his machine, more often than not when frustrated with Kira or some external factor.

"Shut up, Yzak." And the task of defending Kira from Yzak usually fell to Athrun or Dearka. "What's eating you, Kira?"

"Well, I'm trying to, well..."

"Faugh. For the love of—just spit it out, Strike!"

"Well, I'm trying to avoid Flay right now. If she comes by, I'm not here, okay?" There was a corner of the room that he could sit in that made it almost impossible to see him from the doorway without the person entering the room.

"Oh. That I can manage," Yzak notes.

"Why?" Hikaru asks.

"I don't agree with Strike on much of anything, but that one we do see eye to eye. Flay kinda creeps even me out sometimes."

"Oh." In fact, Umi had noticed the way Flay alternated between hotheaded, dazed, pathetically clueless, and perverted (the latter only towards Kira) in such a fashion that it seemed as if she was trying to manipulate anyone around her. It was rather disgusting to Umi, who didn't believe in doing anything except on merit.

"In Flay's defense, she watched her father blown up on a ship right in front of her. Her father was on one of the advance fleet's ships from the 8th fleet. I think the _Vesalius_ destroyed it." Athrun had to look away from his long time-friend, something between disgust and grief tearing at his conscience. There was always a human cost to war that pilots almost never saw or heard, but in this case he just got a crash course in something he had done automatically, a trained strategic reaction to an enemy presence, and what it cost one of the persons he was now living with. "She's not been herself since then."

"Still, enough is enough," Yzak says as he grabs a seat on one of the couches in the center of the lounge. "I mean, I know I ain't the best around here for sympathy—"

"—More like dead last, but—" Yzak slaps his 'wingmate' across the back of his head for the crass addition.

"—But still, live in the here-and-now, not the past. Nothing ever happens in the past."

"Whoa. Wisdom from the silver-haired hothead; film at eleven," Athrun notes with what they could tell was a hint of humor and sarcasm.

"Kiss my ass, Athrun," Yzak retorts archly. "Well, anyways, you know how you can sometimes sense evil coming? I suggest you get to it, Strike, cause here 'evil' comes."

"Great." Kira moved to the couch in the obscured corner, which put a vending machine between himself and the door.

"I have an idea," Hikaru says aloud, then moves to and sits down right next to Kira. "Kira, lean up against the vending machine and act like you are asleep."

"What?"

"Just do it, trust me."

"Oh, I see where this is going," Umi notes just as Hikaru completed her half of the plan, which was to lean against Kira's shoulder and feign being asleep herself. "Now, be respectful, guys, they're sleeping."

"Who knows what they did to wear themselves out like that," Yzak notes with a hint of amusement to voice. He had taken a seat at one of the tables in the break room, followed quickly by Athrun, Dearka, and Umi.

"See, the way I think they're going to play this mercenary detail is simple: we get a fixed rate per month, hazard detail pay, and probably some other perks like kill bounties or salvage rights or something similar. That being said, we do well, we, as in the ship's personnel, might get some slack to spend on whatever world we are on at the time, follow?"

"It still doesn't feel right," Yzak declares obstinately.

"Of course it won't. Probably is also eating at the Captain's conscience as well, but it beats the alternative, and all things considered we can use the hard cash to upgrade our gear for when we get back to the PLANTs. How many Mobile Suits do you know are equipped with fusion reactors?" That had been the main datum point that they had picked up on the enemy units over the past few hours of listening to other people's radio conversations, that the local machines were equipped with fusion reactors, and apparently the Clan machines were equipped with some real high-power low-weight reactors. From context, this was the first good look at the Clan's weapons technology the Inner Sphere had, from what the Archangel's mobile compliment had just shit, beat down, or slashed up. And, all things considered, a Mobile Suit with a fusion reactor and good beam weapons would be an almost uncontested platform, though even a Mobile Suit with a high-charge capacitor and beam weapons would pose a serious threat to an enemy.

"Been there, heard that," Yzak retorted, though after a moment he added: "I would like to have my hands on some of those reloading missile launchers, though, and of course I want a reactor for Blitz."

"Does that mean you're willing to go out if we do become Mercs for a while?"

"Give me a few hours to think about it," Yzak finally concedes. Dearka could sense more than else the potential benefits were weighing heavily on Yzak, despite the necessity of serving as someone else's paid soldiers.

"What about you guys, Umi?" Athrun asks.

"Oh, well, I mean, well..."

"Here we go again," Yzak says. His comment drew sharp looks from all three at the table.

"Well, Hikaru and I are thinking, 'we're part of this ship and we should at least help support ourselves between now and when we get home.' So we're going to do it. Fuu has not said whether or not she wants to either way, so we don't know what she's going to do."

"You're still kinda depressed about Princess Emeraude, I take it?" Surprisingly, the question was from Yzak.

"I think we all are," Athrun answers. It had only been two days ago that they had been forced into a battle for their lives against the one they assumed they were going to save. "I had a nightmare last night, a replay of the battle. Funny how the human conscience tortures those who have to do things like this."

"It's too easy to forget, when you shoot a tank or fighter, there's real people in there you just killed. This time, though, we saw clearly what we had to do, and we did it, and our souls are tormented because."

The silence, as the four looked down at the table, was broken only by Yzak's comment: "This sucks."

"Deja Moo," Dearka notes.

"Don't. Say. It," Yzak stammers through gritted teeth.

"Right," Dearka breaks off, not wanting to start a fist-fight in a lounge were supposedly two were supposed to be asleep. In the silence, they realized that they were asleep, and one of them was snoring lightly. "Hey, which one of 'em is snoring like that?"

"At a guess, Hikaru," Athrun says while looking at them. He was basing his guess off observing their chests as they breathed, and it seemed the snoring was timed to Hikaru's breathing, so...

"They're so cute sleeping together like that..." Umi says wistfully, in her mind drawing more of a link between the brown-haired average-nice-guy pilot of the Strike and the red-haired, spunky Magic Knight than actually existed; her comment drew a questioning glance from Dearka, a shrug from Athrun, and a disgusted grunt from Yzak. "And what was that about, Yzak?"

_Whoa, someone to call Yzak short on his foul attitude, I'm impressed. Where the hell are the people like her in the PLANTs_? Athrun asks within the confines of his own mind.

"Hey, what? So I don't like the pilot of the Strike at all. What makes you think I'm gonna throw him a party for getting with a girl? Mind you, none of the above has happened yet, so I don't see any reason to get your panties in a bunch," Dearka opened his mouth to give Yzak a sharp rebuke; "and that includes you, Elsman." The finger Yzak pointed at his teammate silenced any further retort. Umi looked supremely frustrated with Yzak right now, probably enough to jump over the table and skewer him with a butter knife if she had one at hand. Athrun could sympathize with the Magic Knight, since Yzak was known far and wide to be an arrogant, unruly hothead. Perchance he would make such a name for himself here?

"Hey, Yzak, forget _why_ he's here?" Athrun asks plainly.

"What?"

"He's here because Flay apparently wants to sleep with him all the frigging time, and at a guess I'd say she's managed to work her way into his bed more than once over the past month." Athrun's dictum was delivered almost in a monotone, as if he was reporting the weather would be gray skies with a good chance of rain.

"Point being?"

Athrun holds up one finger. "One, you're a dumbass for not noticing that." Athrun holds up a second finger. "Two, I don't think Kira wants to deal with her any more." He glances to his friend, still asleep, and then back to the table. "And I can't really blame him. Too much is too much, and I think he's subject to way too much in this case. Yeah, you can make a case for Flay being on the wrong end of someone else's war, but still, relationships are a two-way thing, not one-sided as this one seems."

"What about you, Athrun?" Dearka asks.

"I am engaged still, and after all this is done I'd like to go back to my fiancée." He pauses, gauging Dearka's reaction. "What?"

"I'm surprised you still think we are going to get home."

"What?" Athrun asks sharply.

"Now, before the rest of you get your panties in a knot, this is personal belief. I don't think we're going to get home. We got sucked out of our homes courtesy of a summoning spell, and we got thrown back into a technological dimension where going between dimensions is unheard of. By that, I'm guessing this ain't happening, or it might. I see two options: one, we get stuck here, forever, or two, we do find some way to cross dimensions and are doomed to constantly wander, never getting home but always finding new, interesting places." The tone of voice told that he didn't think there was anything interesting about wandering, though.

"You are so dead, Dearka." The looks he got from Athrun and Umi reinforced the comment from Yzak.

"Um, excuse me," The interruption mercifully saved Dearka from being shredded by the other three at the table; it did not take them long to realize that it was Flay who was standing in the doorway. "Have you three seen Kira?"

Yzak decided he'd toss this one straw to the Strike pilot, for what it was worth. He may claim to not like the Strike pilot, and probably never would, but some things he had his principles on, and this was one of them. "Why should three ZAFT pilots give two shits or a damn about an Earth Alliance airhead?"

"I asked a fair question!"

"And I'm still not giving a damn," Yzak counters calmly.

"Have you seen him or not?"

"No," Athrun responds before Yzak could continue torturing her with bullshit answers. "Haven't seen him since the morning briefing today." It was partially true, or completely depending on how you looked at it. After the briefing they had done shakedowns on their machines; Athrun had at that time seen the Strike, and it went without saying that Kira was the pilot, but at that time he did not have eyes on Kira, so technically he had not seen Kira since the morning briefing.

"Thank you!" She even managed to reply with a completely pissed-off demeanor and voice. Seconds later, she was audibly stomping her way down toward the rear of the ship.

"That was almost amusing." Dearka pauses for a moment, considering his tack: "Okay, I take that back. That was very amusing."

"I think you're right, Yzak," Umi was still looking at the empty doorway. "She really is creepy—eegh!" The next person through the door was the Captain, Murrue Ramius, right in the middle of Umi's sentence..

"Creepy? Me?" Murrue gave Umi one of those creepy evil-eye looks similar to the look you get from a school teacher just before she assigns you two weeks detention.

"No, really, I meant Flay, not you Captain Ramius!" Umi corrects in a rush.

"Oh." Murrue shrugs, since she was the captain of the ship and had no place to comment on such, since Flay was part of her crew. She takes three steps to her left, and stops in front of the vending machine for coffee, and dispenses herself 12 ounces of caffeine and roasted beans cocktail (otherwise known as a wake-up-call to some). While it was pouring out Kira had made some kind of grunt-moan sound and shifted his shoulders, immediately drawing Murrue's attention to him, and thereafter to Hikaru, who was still snoring lightly. "Wow," and she looks back to the table with the pilots; "Is that why Flay stormed past me all pissed off?"

Athrun had the most proper answer for her: "Yes and no. She's looking for Kira, but we told her we hadn't seen him."

"This is...crazy. Just...I know I can't order you to do anything, but may I ask that you try to ensure that this doesn't become some kind of love-triangle bloodbath?"

"You're reading too much into this, Captain," Athrun replies. "That," and his waving finger indicated Kira and Hikaru, "is simply a ruse that Hikaru came up with...that worked too well. They've been asleep for a little while now."

"And you four?"

"Trying to avoid that demonic technician. He seems to think that when we aren't on duty, we're free game to help clean up the bay."

"That demonic technician...Murdoch? He can't be that bad, can he?" Murrue asks innocently.

"Well, he's better than some others on this ship, but he's definitely in the top five," Yzak notes sardonically.

"I may have to investigate this," Murrue notes with as much sardonic tone as Yzak. "As you were." Murrue left the break room after a few.

"Someone have a permanent marker?" Yzak asks as he eyes Hikaru and Kira.

"And just _who_ is demonic on this ship?" Umi asks in a scathingly accusatory fashion. Athrun could not help but laugh at one of the few persons willing to call him short on some things.

-x-x-x-

"All weapons are stowed, weapons console is safed," Chandratta turns the arming key to 'safe' and pulls it, hanging it around his neck as customary. Murrue and Natarle also had a key to unlock the weapons, but so far they had not needed to use theirs.

"Helm, charge the levitator, set course to land about 500 meters off the west side of the Dropship dead ahead."

"Helm, park it 500 meters due west of that ship, aye," Newman notes as he begins doing so.

"Sensors, search radars only. Tracking radars, laser designators are to be powered down. When the ship is parked, I want them checked over," _we may have to use them soon enough_, Murrue thinks out loud.

"Sensors, aye," Sai replies by rote.

Murrue picks up her intercom phone and dials in the all-ship code. "Murdoch, please contact 110."

It only took five seconds: "Murdoch here, what'cha need, Captain?"

"You know that plan we went over about a week ago, y'know, draft plan 47?"

"Yeah, you, me, and two of the Engineers. What 'bout it?"

"I'd like to go ahead with that plan. Tell the engineers to get on it within the hour if they don't have anything to do relating to the engines."

"All right, Cap'n, I'll be on it in the half-hour. Out."

"Don't tell me you're going to do that, Captain."

"And why not?" Murrue asks Natarle in response.

"It goes grossly against military procedure—"

"—I don't want to sound like I'm flaunting the rules here, Natarle, but between now and when we get home we're all going to need to really unwind. Because I think us getting home is a long ways off, so we might as well make it as comfortable as possible."

_Could be worse_, Natarle thinks but does not say. _At least she isn't setting __**that**__ up for perverted purposes_. After a moment, Natarle shrugs, resigned to not arguing the point, yet before she could continue other things began happening.

"Captain, just about in position," Newman notes.

"Set it down easy, helm."

"Roger that, Captain." Newman begins the landing cycle, which involved reducing the levitator output until the ship settled down easy. Newman was getting good at it, as well; it only took him thirty seconds to set it down real gentle. "Ship is down, Captain."

"Lock out the levitator and set the engines to shut down, except two to run at idle for power purposes."

Newman enters the appropriate commands on his consoles. "Done."

"Now that we're secured, Sai, you think you can handle the sensors and radios for a half-shift?" Murrue asks calmly.

"Can do, Captain."_It's only five hours_, Sai thinks aloud.

"Very well, bridge personnel dismissed. Commanders Badgeruel and La Flaga to the stateroom."

The stateroom was one that held mixed memories for Murrue, as likely it did for Mu and Natarle. They had some good discussions here in times past, but they also had to scare Kira into following some semblance of discipline in this room, with a court martial that had shocked him straight with the threat of the death penalty for endangering the ship. Murrue really could not fault the kid on moral grounds when he had returned Lacus Cline to ZAFT, but his actions had been grossly dangerous and even he should have known that. Not to mention the threat to the ship, which is what Natarle had 'nailed' him on. Since that day, Kira had more-or-less played by the rule book, though in the end such was a rather moot point given that he has taken serious, almost fanatical initiative to protect the ship and persons afterwards.

Murrue had to remind herself that given enough investigation, a court of inquiry could prove anything. In this case, they would not have to do much investigating, Murrue knew that Natarle had been logging everything going on in the ship, including stuff she was taking part in. A lot of what Murrue did would haunt her come that day, if it ever came, yet right now evidence was suggesting that day would not come. Murrue didn't especially enjoy being pragmatic about things, she preferred the optimistic view, but in the end she couldn't see a way home from where she stood right now. Not that such a feat would be impossible (they went from Earth, CE Era, to Cephiro, to Dustball, Post-Star League era, which was not a small feat), but the 'how' to get home was escaping her.

"You know, the Captain shouldn't look that grim," Mu says as he was standing just at the doorframe. Natarle was directly behind him, though she didn't look all that better. "It's bad inspiration for the rest of the crew."

"Come in and close the door." Both do as ordered, sitting opposite each other from the Captain. "All right, I'm going to start this off by saying that I don't care about the disposition of this conversation. As far as I am concerned, I want both of you to speak freely, since the matters to be discussed affect the whole ship and all persons on it. Clear?"

"Yes, ma'am," Natarle notes.

"Got it," Mu notes after a few moments.

"First off, you know the offer that the AFFC is likely to cough up here in a day or two. I want your opinions, and I want it straight up."

_Could have thought of a better way to state that, Captain_, Natarle thinks but does not say.

"I'm in," Mu says after about five seconds. "I mean, yeah, we're Earth Alliance, but we ain't in Earth Alliance territory and we have to come up with some creative way to survive to get back to where we want to be. Follow?"

"I agree," Natarle says calmly. "Without the supplies and without recognized hard currency, we have no choice but to find some way to make ends meet. That being said, I can't abide by us being pirates, so being mercenary or mothballing the ship and taking up civilian tasking are the only two options I can come up with. Being mercenary at least gives us a chance to keep the ship under our control and maybe keep our fates under our control as well." Both Murrue and Mu meant that she was concerned about some kind of black operations team trying to wrest the ship from them, which seemed unlikely but not impossible, even given their environs and possible patronage. Or, if you wanted to look at it from a conspiratorial point of view, given their environs and patronage the chance of attempted subversion was incredibly high.

"Well, then, that is the route we shall take. Now, related issue, how are we going to distribute funds accrued from the contract?"

"Well, the bulk of it is going to have to go into the ship and units," Natarle immediately says. "I mean, without the ship or the units, we are dead in the water and of no use to our employer. And then there is the prospect of being able to upgrade the ship's arsenal with some of the local weapons would be nice."

"Personally, I think we should also look into investing in some of the local 'Mechs. Or, even better, if we could salvage some of the Clan 'mechs, they look and act real fierce, and might make a nice addition to the ship's forces."

"He's right," Natarle notes. "We still have room for another 7 in the bays, and at worst we could also stack units in the main hangar area not in a repair bay."

"Pilots?" Murrue asks fairly.

"I can learn, probably Tolle and a few others on the ship. Also, we might be able to draw in personnel from the areas we work in, if we are going to be mercenaries that may attract others," Mu says thoughtfully.

"We'd have to make sure the people understand that if they hang around with us, they may end up traveling with the ship if we cross dimensions again," Murrue replies.

"There are bound to be people in this world that don't care about that, and would follow us just for the chance to get away from where they are," Mu replies with confidence. It was true just about anywhere you went in his estimation.

"Yeah, but I have problems with that possibility given that such persons may be spies or saboteurs from one of the local governments, though for that we have our own counter—"

"I have already spoken to Miriallia about this issue once, though with the new circumstances I may have to revisit it with her. Still, I cannot force her to read minds, and nor would I try. That much would be entirely volunteer on her part."

"She's part of the crew, Captain. She should be able to do it."

"I don't know about you, Commander, but I think I would not want to look into the minds of some people, even on this ship, much less random persons here and there. I'm not going to have her do it unless she wants to. End of story." Murrue knocks on the desk she was sitting at, effectively physically signaling the end of that chunk of debate. And, when phrased that way, Natarle even had to agree with Murrue on that one since the inside of someone's mind is a place another normally should not venture. For damn sure Natarle didn't want to know what ran the course through Mu's mind, just for starters.

"Well, back on initial subject, how are we going to work out payment for the crew?" Natarle asks

"Well, that is going to be very iffy. Personally I was thinking about a slush fund that people draw upon as they need stuff..." Mu says, scratching his head in a very pronounced matter.

"And who's going to manage that? You or me?" Natarle asks in retort.

"Well, before we can even begin to worry about that, we need to get the unit's first paycheck in the bank. We'll work out the details at that time. As a cross-reference, Natarle, after we're through here, do a workup on what you think our crew costs and equipment costs would be, assuming the local currency is four times as powerful as ours." The Earth-Dollar had devalued severely in the years leading up to the war, and it was not all that powerful to begin with.

"If that's the case, we officers should be making about 10K a year, the crew should be 5K, the pilots 7K. I'm not sure of the ship's operating expenses, I'll have to go back over the contractor's reports for that."

"Okay, we'll go on assuming that is the case. Now, the last thing to discuss is something that I observed today that maybe one or both of you can come up with a solution to." Murrue pauses, prompting the inevitable from Mu:

"Well, shoot, Captain."

"Well, first, have either of you two been observing the situation between Kira and Flay?"

"I already know where this is going to," Natarle notes as she looks away.

"Well, ideas from the gallery are welcomed here. I mean, I just asked three of the ZAFT pilots to keep an eye on it, try to stop a bloodbath before it occurs, but..." Her sentence trailed off, accompanied by a feeble gesture as to her position.

"Did you ask Athrun or Nicol?" Mu asks.

"What does that matter?" Natarle asks in retort.

"Athrun will look our for Kira if he thinks his friend is in danger. Nicol would as well, based on him being a rather nice person any way you look at it. Dearka I cannot place, I don't really know enough about him to take a guess. Yzak, however, would take bets on how deep the knife wound when Flay tries skewering Kira." Despite the rather humorous punch-line, there were no laughs in the room. A stabbing was a very real possibility in this case, and though nobody wanted to see it, it could happen.

"Dearka, Yzak, and Athrun were at the table, as well as Umi," Murrue replies.

"Good. They might be able to stop or slow her if something happens. As to a real solution, I can't look at you and give you an honest one, since all I can think of is to let this run its course and hope that Kira doesn't piss her off." In both Natarle's mind and Murrue's mind came a vision of how Kira had conducted himself with Cagalli. To their knowledge he hadn't said more than two words in that first encounter, and got backhanded for his efforts. Given his prior record, they both figured that thought was a losing proposition.

The room was silent for over thirty seconds; "Keep them busy and separated?" Natarle throws into the mix.

"Where do we assign Flay?" Murrue asks in retort.

"Well, Kira is a pilot, which mean his duty area is the hangar. So, the exact opposite point of the ship is the engine room."

"The engines...perfect!" Mu slams his right fist into his hand. "We'll assign her to the sauna and hot spring rooms as the attendant."

"Huh?" Natarle asks, staring dim-eyed at the other Commander in the room.

"That might work, provided her shifts coincide with Kira's shifts."

"That I can arrange," Murrue notes with a bit of satisfaction, then halts. "No, that would not work. That would mean that they are off-duty at the same time, which would make Kira fair game for her. I can stagger her shift one place after Kira, which would put her on duty while he is off duty, and she goes off-duty as he goes to sleep, and she is going to bed as he wakes up and goes on duty. All he has to do is deny her access to his room and that problem is solved."

"Well, that makes it official, you are going to put the hot-spring in, then." Not a question, but a declaration from Natarle.

"Well, maintaining discipline is more than just striking fear into the hearts of the enlisted, Natarle. Relaxation and stress relief are as much a part as the rule book."

"Yeah, but that's such an outlandish way to do this, Captain, I cannot help but note that this will be looked on with disfavor by the court of inquiry when we get to Alaska."

"I would prefer to face that rather than building stress and resentment among the ship's crew."

"No arguing with that, in my opinion," Mu notes. "Better that demon another day than adding to it now. And nobody said you couldn't use it, either."

Without even trying, Mu's comment had made her blush beet red and immediately busted what little composure she had left. "I—well—you are planning on making it a divided facility, right?"

"Of course," Murrue notes matter-of-fact. "If I made it a single facility that would cause instantaneous problems that would require Military Police to be stationed there at all times." _Or a babysitter, neither of which this ship has in their staff_, Murrue thinks but does not add to the conversation.

"Well, anything else, Captain? Murdoch wants me in the hangar to service the Skygraspers, since we are so short on personnel." He rolled his eyes famously.

"Actually, that is the last thing I need to cover, how is Murdoch holding up?"

"All the machines are keeping spit-shined and 100 percent operational. I don't see where there is room for improvement, but I do see where he could lighten up a bit. I mean, yeah, there is a good hazard here to us pilots, and having the machines in top form would be good, but at the end of the day he doesn't need to keep his crew going that hard or that fast. Good enough is good enough."

"I agree. If there's any one area of the ship stressed out, it has to be the deck crew," Natarle notes.

"Okay, I'll have a talk with him later today or tomorrow about that. Anything else?"

"Nope."

"That's it for me," Natarle notes on the heels of Mu's comment.

"Then this meeting is dismissed. Thank you both for your opinions and advice." Natarle stood, saluted, and left the room smartly. Mu did not. "Something up, commander?"

"Yeah, I was wondering if you would join me for a cup of coffee?"

"Sure."

-x-x-x- (day five on Dustball, 0630 hours) -x-x-x-

It had taken Kira no more than three bouts to prove himself the one to beat.

The problem was dead simple. His weapon, the twin sword-staff, gave him unprecedented flexibility, two surfaces to which he can challenge or defend against a foe, and being one of the Magic Knights' weapons it had almost zero weight, meaning that he could perform all kinds of acrobatics with it easily. That combination literally meant that the only way to properly challenge him was to keep him at range (Fuu and Mu, failed), be better at him in close quarters (Hikaru and Umi, failed), or have twin weapons to guard against both staff ends (Nicol and Athrun, failed). All in all, Kira was proving himself a right pain in the ass today.

Yzak, whose initial weapon was a broadsword and not a two-handed sword, was still getting used to the unusual method by which his sword was controlled now. Rather than swing the sword in most normal context, he had figured out that the sword worked just as well when used as a rotating object as much as it was a swinging object. The center of gravity of the sword was just forward of the hilt, and rotating the sword centered on this gave him the ability to present a constantly-moving weapon to the enemy, making his actions hard to read and his offense hard to counter. Of this, he came in on Kira with his sword high, eye level and tip set forward, pointing straight to Kira's chest. Kira went in low, an easily blocked strike, and as Kira tried bringing the other end of his weapon in high from the other side, Yzak went into motion, rotating the sword around the balance point to bring the counterbalance weight on the pommel (basically a large lump of metal) right down on top of Kira's head. That hit literally forced him down onto his arse as he lost his footing from the unexpected blow. With that, the melee was over, and it was time for Yzak to be the reigning defender.

"Ow, that hurt, Yzak," Kira notes.

"Then pay attention next time, Strike." Yzak looks away from the pilot to the circle of challengers. "Who is next?"

"I am." Dearka steps forward and gives Yzak enough time to align on him before he charges in. Dearka had set the ax haft forward, as Yzak had set his blade forward and down for a guard, and the sound of them colliding was violent and echoed throughout the hangar. After the impact, Yzak was on the floor and Dearka was still standing, though the cut on the inside of Dearka's left leg made the results of the match a double-loss, not the one-sided knockdown victory that Dearka had attempted. "Man, that sucker hurts," Dearka says as he leans down to cover it.

"_**Winds of Healing**_!" Nicol chants, and all the minor cuts and bruises the group had accumulated in fifteen minutes of practice were restored. "You both lost, so I'll take over the center."

"Good luck." Dearka wanders back to the rim, awaiting his time to challenge the next king or queen of the circle. Yzak had already cleared away with his monster blade slung over his shoulder. Nicol had takes up position, with a half-guard half-offense stance, awaiting the next to challenge him.

The next happened to be Umi, of all persons. Nicol was well past wary of Umi, for he knew that she had once been a tournament fencer and for all his speed and reflexes being a coordinator that didn't always make up for being a novice with blades. She had also proved that having two blades and being a Coordinator didn't make things easier, either, and that was against Athrun. Stories of Athrun and his flip-fold combat knife had made their way around the ship like wildfire; as a result, whenever Nicol had seen Athrun hanging around, there was always a wary air to those nearby. Still, Umi did not seem all that intimidated by matters at hand, and she definitely viewed Nicol as just another match among many.

The initial was fast, as Umi brought her blade up and went straight in, though a bit off-center to make sure she did not actively kill or seriously injure him if the worst happened. Nicol did well enough, managing to bring his left blade up in time to force it outside a circle centered on his heart, and far enough away from his shoulder that the tip of the blade just barely missed gouging his left arm. Nicol countered fast, using his right-hand blade to attempt to stab inward against her left side as she was still moving forward from her own thrust, though Umi was a lot lighter on her feet than appeared; she managed to get inside his thrust line easily, and managed to bounce away from him before he could try again with the paired spatha. Nicol began the next wave, as his left-had sword came forward and he went in swinging from both sides, in the hope that she could only guard from one and not both. That hope proved optimistic, though, as Umi managed to parry each swing in turn, and though good at controlling both Nicol could not put up an offense any faster than Umi could counter it. The matter changed hands, though, as Umi blocked his right sword and immediately slashed inward against Nicol. She contacted with her blade but did not gouge him. "It's over."

"Too fast, just way too fast." Nicol shakes his head, steps back, and bows slightly. "Good match."

_If he had the kind of training I did, he would have eliminated me easily_, Umi thinks behind a passive mien and a respectful bow. Umi did understand the dangerous limitations when facing Coordinators, though she still didn't completely understand what the hatred is or was all about. "Mu, I choose you!" Her sword was pointed to the ground, though her left index finger centered right on the Commander. (5)

"Ask and you shall receive." Mu steps forward and advances on her steady, the pike end of his halberd set forward and low, ready to counter just about any move she made. Seeing this, she began trying to circle around him, though the positioning of his polearm made it impossible for her to get a clear shot at his side. They circled for about twenty seconds, until Mu decided he wanted to initiate the melee and changed hold forms to where the blade(s) of his weapon were now behind and above his right shoulder, and the weighted end of his halberd was facing forward. Since the final battle with Emeraude, the main feature of his weapon that had changed was the weighted end now had a rather nasty-looking spike and the blades on the end of the halberd (pick blade, pike blade, and ax head) all were larger by about half. Umi took this as an opportunity and charged in, though as everyone expected her first strike would run afoul of his haft.

She had made one small mistake, however; "Wah—Yeeee—" **Clong**. Her head hit the metal deck hard enough that she saw stars for a moment. She had made the unconscious mistake of straddling Mu's pole, and for her effort he simply swept her left leg out from under her, though he was simply trying to unbalance her, not trying to knock her to the ground. "Oh...ow."

"Hand?" Mu asks as he braces his pole to the deck and offer her his right hand. She accepts after a few moments, still slightly reeling from hitting the ground that hard. "Sorry if I hurt you."

"No, should have been paying attention to both ends of your pole." She bows gracefully and heads back for the circle.

"Am I the only one that thought that looked and sounded slightly perverted?" Dearka asks toward Kira, who simply snorts in response. "By the by, have you seen—er, what's her name? The one with the bow."

"Miriallia? Last I saw her, she and Tolle were heading toward the rear of the ship."

"Oh." There was three seconds pause before: "I must be doing something wrong with my life," Dearka mutters under his breath.

"No, I think we all are doing something wrong with our lives. Mostly the war, the rest, well, why the hatred?"

"Leave it to you to ask that, Kira," Dearka replies, though his answer was ironic, not derisive and certainly not hateful.

Mu had called on Athrun to continue the battle, and they had been going at it for over thirty seconds so far, which was not an unheard-of amount of time, but better than average. Athrun had the speed and paired blades; Mu had the longer weapon and the battle savvy that the younger soldier lacked. This would be a long bout, everyone could sense, and it came down to which one made a small mistake first.

In this case, the small mistake came from an outside source: "Man, I don't think I'd like gettin' in there. You guys are crazy," Athrun recognized the voice as being Captain Valten Ryder, of the 1st Somerset. Mu had been slightly distracted by the unfamiliar voice and was unable to stop an incoming sword from his right. Athrun managed to gouge his arm bad enough to catch his attention, despite the magicked sharpness of the blade that most the time could not be felt on small cuts.

Eyes were immediately on the speaker, Captain Valten Ryder, who was accompanied by Captain Hawkins and Major Steiner. By silent accord weapons were stowed, since now was a time for talk, not practice melee battle. Seeing the various soldiers stow their weapons was a rather unnerving sight to the Major and Captains, since not one of them removed their gloves. Watching that distracted them from seeing Fuu take care of Mu's bleeding arm. "Major Steiner, a pleasure." Murrue nods to the Major to complete the gesture.

"Captain Ramius, I have an offer from the Major General that I answer to. The Secretary of the Armed Forces doesn't want to list your team as a mercenary formation, since that would draw a lot of unwelcome attention to the ship...likely with unpleasant consequences."

"That's...a creative way to put it," Natarle note dryly.

"That being said, he also doesn't want to incorporate your forces into the AFFC directly, as that would definitely cause conflict within the various prefectures of the AFFC."

"So, where does that leave us?" Murrue asks.

"We're going to do a combination. Your unit will be officially listed as an adjunct to the 1st Somerset Strikers, though in terms of supply and compensation you will be considered a mercenary formation. You guys will be able to draw supplies through the AFFC Quartermaster network, though unlike normal formations that run on an operating budget you will have to pay for your supplies. The Secretary of the Armed Forces took the liberty of setting you up a bank account with ComStar, and deducted the startup fee against the established kill bounty and salvage you've already accumulated. Here's the paperwork on that."

"Uh, 'already accumulated', sir?" Major Steiner looks to the speaker, being Athrun.

"Two days ago, your units went through about a dozen Clan 'mechs, remember? The signing bonus for the terms of employment is those 12 machines you knocked down, though you can sell them back to us for salvage purposes. The one proviso to that is that any data you accumulate on their units is shared with the AFFC for research purposes."

_Not a bad way of going about it_, Murrue thinks. Given the talent on the ship, they could produce schematics for these units from felled enemy equipment, as well as decipher any conflicting design technologies or philosophies and hand it to the AFFC on a golden plate. The Contract that Murrue was now reading over had clearly-spelled-out procedures for that, and the AFFC Technical departments would award bounties to the 'unit' for meritorious improvements turned over to the AFFC. How it defined meritorious or how large a sum payout was not spelled out, however, which left room to maneuver for the AFFC. Murrue silently figured they couldn't do everything by a hard-and-fast book, though.

"Oh." That put a wholly different spin on things: the better they did in battle, the better they got paid, which means they could purchase better gear and unit upgrades as well as keep the ship operating. "No, actually, I was thinking about getting inside those machines, seeing what makes them tick, if nobody objects."

"The eternal tinkerer," Yzak notes. "Just so long as you don't make any of those god-awful Haros, we won't have 'issues'." Yzak flexes his right hand in plain sight to those around him.

"Haro...don't you mean that pink ball thing that was with Lacus?" Mu asks.

"Yes. And yes, I did make that one, and about thirty others that she keeps at her home in the PLANTs."

"Holy—that many, Zala? That is evil!"

"Oh, she loves them."

"Somehow, the phrase 'army of mass destruction' comes to mind," Dearka notes.

"Well, Major, from what I'm reading of the terms of employment, about all that needs to be really covered here is an introductory course to the ship from my end. So, when do you want to begin?"

"One hour sound good? Captain Martinez wants to get those salvaged units dealt with, and I know at least one of your personnel wants to work on them, so where do you want them? They are by contract yours, as soon as you sign those documents." Murrue looks back and forth for a moment, then notices Mu had a pen in his left breast pocket. She quickly lifts it, pops it open with one hand, and proceeds to sign off on the three copies of the contract.

"Athrun, Nicol, I want you two to see to stowing and securing the salvaged frames and gear. Major, do you require any assistance on the ground at this time?"

"No, Captain Martinez has everything in hand."

"Then we'll have a command staff meeting at 0830 and go from there. Unit dismissed."

The last thing the Major noted about the group was the two different styles of salutes in the crowd, and that at least three of them did not salute._Strange, really, how was this unit made up to begin with_? He asks himself within the confines of his own mind.

* * *

Author's Chapter Afterword: 

First, for the story. The deal is struck, the Archangel now is an adjunct to the First Somerset Strikers, and are about to get their first taste of real action as a unit, when the enemy will use every trick in the Clan playbook to send the Archangel to hell...hrm, where have we heard that before? Would it be Rau Le Creuset, or Murutha Azraiel that tried sinking the ship in Gundam SEED and failed miserably? Both? Someone needs to forewarn Nikolai Malthus, he's in for one helluva bumpy ride, facing off against the Archangel.

Second, you can tell the situation between Flay and Kira is getting real tenuous. Kira _really_ does not want to deal with her any more, he knows she's trying to manipulate him and he's not playing that kind of game any more, regardless of how much bed action he gets out of it. Personally, I would say the only question that remains is how venomous (or vilent) the breakup when he finally tells Flay to get lost. Tolle and Miriallia are growing ever-so-closer, for the record they spent some time together in the cafeteria having lunch and then...well...what else they did is classified. Nothing that perverted, though, so keep your pants on. Umi and Yzak are still at the point where they want to knife each other, Umi knife Yzak for his foul attitude and language, Yzak knife Umi for her insufferable continual attempts to 'correct' him all the time. Strictly speaking, I am unsure what I want to do with the two of them at this time, though you can rest assured this is not going to be a quick-hit with them, if a 'hit' at all. Yzak still hasn't gotten over his subconscious conditioning to hate Naturals yet, which is at least half the reason why he gives Umi (and a good chunk of the crew) short shrift all the time.

And lastly, I would like to note that I am looking at two anime right now, three games (both PC and console), and two movies for integration into my evolving storyline (that already has twelve full-length destinations plus two one-shots, and one of those one-shots is going to be _really_ screwed up). Keep those suggestions coming in, people. Your dream is but a drop of fuel for a nightmare.

(And yes, anyone that knows Sonata Arctica knows that is the title of one of the songs off their latest album. I got to see them in concert in Philadelphia at the beginning of October 2007, it kicked serious portions of ass. I'd do it again if I was not broke.)

And now, to the acknowledgements section for reviews and other commentary:

First and foremost, serious thanks to Alkard for the PM with the categorical list of errors and gray areas I made in the first posting of the first chapter of this section. The fact that I made 20 screwups in 16000 words means I was typing too fast in too short a time. Since then I have slowed down significantly to ensure I am more clear and correct about how I do things (but not politically correct, of course). Once again, serious thanks, comrade. Second, I must apologize for the slow updates on this one. These past few weekends have been just plain screwed up, having requests to fix computers, yard work, a whole frigging laundry list that also includes laundry, etcetera, etcetera. And my vacation stunt at the beginning of this month, though inspirational, set me back 5 days in all my projects. And then there is work, of which I shall not go there to protect your sanity. If you are hearing a continual level of tortured screaming coming from south-central Ohio, that would likely be me :P

And, as requested, it is time to reply to reviews that wanted them replied to in the body of the next update, though in the case of suggestions for where to take the Archangel, I will have to reply No Comment since the order and destinations is classified, just like pairing info. Reading is two thirds the fun, after all, and the summaries with pairing spoilers piss me off. I actually like to understand what shall happen during the reading, not prior.

So for first we have Bien, with his long-arse review with many questions. Thank you for the review comrade, that is just amazing. Here are my replies to the questions you posed to me: (note, to reference the points, read Bien's review)

1 For how long the Archagel will be in Battletech, Neg, this is not a temporary stop. Expect the Archangel to have 'issues' with more than one of the Clans in coming chapters.

1.1 As to a hook-up between Blue Cosmos and Word of Blake, not in this story since in this fain the only kickout of the SEED world in Battletech will be the Archangel itself. That is an idea I may execute in the Jokers' Wild series, though, so stay tuned.

1.1B Neg, the Jade Falcons just took one helluva beating, they are not done by a long shot. Malthus hasn't got his just dessert, rest assured. And you can rest assured that I intend on actually killing him, for even by Clan standards Malthus was an asshole. Grr.

1.1C That is an evil thought, dropping the Archangel into Operation Bulldog as the Inner Sphere knocks out the most savage of Clans. I like your style. Officially, though, no comment as to whether or not I will do it.

1.2 Oh, yeah, Romulus is their next destination, for some training time that turns into an escape-the-planet battle. As to Ciro's fate, I am not going to comment on what shall happen to any characters on Romulus.

1.2A as to the Archangel, they got to the Crystal Palace of Cephiro, which was outside the atmosphere, on their own power. The Engines of the Archangel have evolved and are now as powerful as a Battletech Dropship's engines. And this is not the only part of the Archangel I have slated for evolution, so stay tuned.

2 For upgrading the Archagel with a K-F drive, Neg, ships with K-F drives are literally engineered around the drive—ergo, the drive is built first, then the rest of the ship around it, if I remember my analysis of the ship's design from Battletech correctly. The Archangel will not have a K-F drive, but there are a plethora of other options for them going from place to place. The Archangel may even get one or more of them. For now, though, they will hitch a ride on the Kwidan (the Draconis Jumpship).

3 I think I answered that in the prose above, but yes, that should be possible given weight tolerances of the Gundams nearly match most Heavy Omnimechs. As to a tech exchange, some things may get out between the sides, but I don't think it would be feasible for either side to do such an exchange at present. Leaks, however, are inevitable...

4 As to helping Adam rescue Andrew Steiner, there is that possibility, but if they do so it would likely be under different motivation.

5 I will save that surprise for another chapter.

6 Find Star Leaguue caches? That is too big a plot dev to comment on freely. So, no comment.

7 I am unsure if I want to drop any mercenaries into the story, as I am not hugely versed in the merc factions of Battletech. Most of my grounding is in the Houses, ComStar, and the Clans. This is not to say that other Mercenary elements will not show up, but it is a ways off if at all.

7 1 well, I am slightly versed in Robotech, from my Battletech days and also from Macross II (the movie). First off, the great tinkerer Athrun may have to bust out and rejuvenate the dead Inner Sphere arts of Land-air Mechs and some other advanced technologies. Second, as to a crossover between Macross and this story, well, No Comment. Though, if such a cross does occur, note clearly that there is a marked absence of Lacus and Cagalli in this story, so a singing duel between the pop stars is not happening. Sorry, as amusing a thought as that would be...

8 Hell no I am not limiting this to just Anime. I have more than a few games lined up, as well as possible movie crossovers and a possible American Cartoon crossover. Of course, where to go is classified and no amount of glomping the author will get you that information. Period. Just read and review, and it will keep coming.

Next, for CHM01's review, thank you for taking the time to drop two cents into the can. I believe I already commented on the efficacy of doing Naruto in this story (Naruto vs Launcher Strike, oops, why does that smoking crater have scraps of orange jumpsuit all over it?) Not that I am dissing Naruto, but the limiting factor is on the 'local' side and if they really pissed off the Archangel it is over. As to your suggestions, thank you for the input, but No Comment (like usual) as to whether or I will go there. Classified and all. Though, one bone I will toss: yes, the return trip to Cephiro will occur, and it is going to get bloody from there. Not all of Existence is goody-goody and Clef has (by design or chance) managed to piss off the ZAFT soldiers.

Next on this gravy train is dafa nut dafa (sa dota)'s review. And, you know, I have heard all kinds of ranting and raving about Super Robot Wars over the past weeks, and prior to this I have not encountered it...ever. Rather strange, actually. I may have to look into this. You can expect while I do research that I will not be going there, but my timeline of places to go and people to kill is always flexible, so... And since when have I had a mastery? Am I a master of suspense? Hell no. But I enjoy inflicting it on people. Sorry to those with weak wills or stomachs. Thank you for the review, and stay tuned for more 'mech busting action.

And onward to etienneofthewestwind who has been a constant reviewer and always with a kind word. Thx comrade. First, yes, that complacency may cost Athrun now or later, or both. Though, IRL I find the motor-mouths to be more 'up' on that subject than the quiet ones. And, word of advice, never take a long road trip with one of those motor-mouths, it may be hazardous to your sanity (but of course it will be amusing). Character torture...tch. Such a crass way to put it. I prefer to think of it as 'enlightenment' as to the cost of someone else's fanaticism. I have such a good set of ideas as to how to go about this one, so consider this the next (and likely last) look forward I will publicly acknowledge. As to artificial gravity on the Archangel, I just a few ago realized that the Archangel has a gravity block where the quarters are. It is a rotating drum section entirely internal to the ship, though the Archangel could stand to have artificial gravity throughout the length of the ship when you get down to it. Making that modification, though, is going to require some heavy modding and cost. And yes, I do believe that though not public (Civilian) knowledge, elements of the military would know that their own command structure was being manipulated or staffed by Blue Cosmos elements. And yes, that does put a wholly different spin on the position Haliburton takes as well as Murrue's self-appraisal, since Murrue is Haliburton's student that means that whatever tars the Admiral also gets her by association. Politics are soooo messy...and fun to write about.

Next to Maddery, another constant reviewer that has provided much inspiration. Thank you. Since there seems to be a general question as to Battletech, check below the footnotes for some links that I recommend for studying up on Battletech, the game of armored combat. I started in on Battletech back in the early 90s before the Mechwarrior games were really heard of, which is what most people recognize as Battletech, and have enjoyed the franchise since then. After all, in what other game can you run a fight in space and four different theaters of the same planet on the ground with over 1000 units in play total? Granted, completing that game took me almost a year, and the Magi lost, actually (hehe custom factions and 'mechs) in overtime to the Negaverse. It was close, but Queen Beryl's Dark Army (1st Mechanized Assault Army) won over the 3866th Commando Heavy Assault Galaxy. It was not pretty. Something like 40 of all the 'mechwarriors ended up dead in that battle. (note to all: keep that in mind when you read, because death is a very real possibility for 'mechwarriors.) As to the suggestions, I am obligated to deliver the expected, ubiquitous No Comment, though thank you for the input.

And last, certainly not least, Gonging apple, the first review from someone with a rather unique name. As to the suggested, they have been heard and recorded, though as usual No Comment as to whether or not I will be going there. Though I will admit that many of you have similar tastes and evil ideas, which are rather shockingly close to mine in some cases... (erm, still, No Comment). Thank you again.

Now, in closing, I think I should give everyone fair warning that updates from now on are going to be spotty, since I have to knuckle down on my MCSE training in preparation for taking the test next spring. Aff, that may be six months off (or more) but it is going to take me that long to make sure I am getting it right the first time. MCSE comprises no less than six tests, and each test has a three-digit price tag. This is going to take a lot of work on my part, and working full time means I don't have a lot of free time to begin with. Though, as I have sworn, so shall I do: I will not abandon my writing. I will not surrender. I will not be politically correct. I will do strange things to the Archangel. And I will attempt to make sense! (hopefully!)

Thank you. I have said my peace for the day.

Next up: The 1st Somerset and the Archangel do some training on Romulus...that leads to a helluva battle for their lives.

* * *

Footnotes: 

(1): In all fairness to the CIC crew, they were just wondering what Natarle was so resigned about, not mocking her. Part of me thinks Natarle is headed for a mental meltdown at this rate...

(2): In the Battletech Universe, humans travel from star to star using JumpShips, of which explaining is a rough proposition. It punches a hole in space-time using magnetic fields to take a ship from one known point to an estimated location in a matter of seconds, and usually these jumps go from the zenith of the gravity well of one star to the same location on the next system over. They require a lot of energy to execute, and more detail will come into play in the story.

(3): AMS, Anti-Missile System. Basically it is a machine gun connected to an independent sensor system solely for intercepting missiles. Sort-of like the Archangel's CIWS systems when used in auto-track mode, but a lot smaller and designed to be carried on a Battlemech or Omnimech. The Clan version uses different ammunition which doubles its battlefield life, but carrying enough ammo to last a battle is a bitch for either side (in Battletech games I have bled AMS ammo bins dry. It wasn't pleasant.)

(4): If you want a map of the Inner Sphere to follow along with Martinez's logic, look up Battletech in Wikipedia, at the bottom of the page is a series of links to outside sites, you can find dozens of maps of the Inner Sphere (literally—I am not joking here) among those sites. They even have maps showing by the time references. Also, the third link I listed below, along with the guide info accompanying that link, has maps segmented by the year as to the shape of the Galaxy at that time. Very interesting read.

(5): If you think the way I phrased this one makes me a Pokemon fan, guess again. I even once made a Winamp skin with a picture of Pikachu as seen through a telescopic sight. Though, in all fairness, back when I was young and stupid as well as a MechCommander League Gamer my callsign was CS-SCL-Raichu (Raichu Atrebas in RP, Precentor-ROM of ComStar). If there are any Steel Command League gamers reading this, toss me some word in a PM.

* * *

Battletech Links recommended by the author: 

Do a Wikipedia search for Battletech. At the bottom of the page, one of the links is Classic Battletech. On that first page of the Classic Battletech Page, in the upper left corner of the page is a link that says Leap Into The Action. I recommend the third link down on the Leap Into The Action page, it is a PDF document that basically gives the whole G-2 on the history of Battletech Universe in one shot. It even has what happens long after the story I am writing and mossing here :P

And check out the extensive info Wikipedia has through its cross-links, at the bottom of the page. You will learn a lot, grasshoppers.


	11. Those Who Fight Further

(Section 02, Chapter 03: Those Who Fight Further)

"All hands, prepare for liftoff and exit from the atmosphere," Captain Ramius notes over the ship's intercom.

For Athrun, it mean that shortly he would be back in native environs, as he was most used to working in Zero-G and preferred it over working under gravity, strangely enough. Being a ZAFT officer, his home was the colonies, and he had learned early on how to

The catch was, the machines he was working on were not designed for space battle, despite the fact that they were environmentally sealed. Battlemechs worked best when under the influence of gravity, though in a real desperate pinch they could be used in space—so long as they had jump jets. Compared to Mobile Suits, which were primarily engineered to operate in space, it was a sorry way to conduct a battle in Athrun's final analysis. Not that one Battlemech would be weak, per se, as even the small ones were a threat to the Buster, and a quantity would probably be enough to repel a Mobile Suit attack. It came down to differing philosophies, he guessed.

What the Archangel had received as its 'signing bonus' had turned out to be what they had managed to take down (really hard) in the sands of Dustball, and these machines were not slouches. They could go toe-to-toe with some of the best of local machines and usually come out the victor. That clearly showed that the Clans were doing something right—or the AFFC was doing something wrong, or both. Still, the sheer power of the Mobile Suit energy weapons made the matter rather one-sided in the Archangel's favor, which was a good thing as far as Athrun was concerned. _The easier it was to knock them down, the better_, he figured.

The units available to him included three Summoner chassis, all heavily damaged, a Mad Dog that he shot the head off personally, two Timber Wolves, rare 'mechs among the Jade Falcons from all reports but very powerful chassis nonetheless, and three of the midget 'mechs that Dearka had shot up, one with the Gun Launcher, one with missiles, and one with his combined beam cannon and gun launcher in shotgun configuration.

These smaller ones were called Kit Fox, and were potent for being so small, easily the rival to anything that small among the AFFC forces. The Mad Dog units, of which he got one mostly intact plus an arm from another, were fire support units, designed with long-range combat primarily in mind, as the paired 20-silo missile racks and copious reloads showed. The Hellbringer, one of the mainstays of the Jade Falcons, had a berserk weapons config that made it easily capable of blowing the hell out of whatever it faced, though it had serious issues with heat buildup. The Summoner was the premier of Jade Falcon Omnimechs, though; they used it for just about everything, and it had weapons configurations to match, from the versatile primary weapons config to the missile launcher arms of the fire-support variant to the heavy-hitting Ultra AC/20 carried by the close-in variant. This was a very dangerous machine in the right hands. The one that had Athrun really worried, though, was the Timber Wolves, as their primary weapons variant (of which he had two, one without a head and the other without a gyro) had five laser weapons (two Large, three medium) as well as machine guns and two of the same type of missile launcher that the Mad Dog had—as well as a lot more armor than said fire support machine. In Athrun's estimation, the Timber Wolf was designed as a main forward assault unit, solely for taking and delivering serious amounts of punishment to the enemies. He silently dreaded what other weapons configurations there might be for that 'mech, and having to face them in battle.

And right now he had the most intact of each of the machines hangared and racked, to look at their main systems and do analysis on their components. Even at full burn, to get to the Jumpship would take days. So, he planned on getting some real hard analysis done and hopefully he would have an idea as to how to convert some of the engines from these machines into powerplants for the Gundams. Getting the existing machines improved was their first priority, as well as possibly using some of the weapons on the _Archangel_ to improve the anti-air defense of the ship. Nothing would say 'go away' better than a turret assembly next to the Igelstellung guns that had a pair of PPCs to knock down fighters.

Athrun was working on the Timber Wolf, since he wanted to get real intimate with it since there was a good possibility that he would have to face the rather rare Omni in future battles. Yzak and Dearka were in the next bay over, picking apart the Summoner that Dearka had blown the right leg clean off. That pilot had bailed out manually instead of ejecting and hitched a ride on the foot of one of the Hellbringers that Kira had chopped up, so the cockpit was relatively intact. Those three arms that Kira had forcibly detached from their respective Hellbringers were in the bay beyond that, as Murdoch and his personnel were breaking them down to figure out how the machines were assembled and exactly how large the weapons themselves were. They actually did not get a Hellbringer as salvage from the battle, though the arms contained plenty.

"How's it coming, Yzak?" Athrun shouts out from his cubicle.

The reply took a few seconds. "You know, I think I kinda like this machine. Not that I'd give up the Duel for it, but it seems like it would be fun to pilot."

"Well, you guys think you can pull the leg off one of the other Summoner frames and put it on that thing?" Athrun asks.

"Probably, but I'm more interested in the engine," Dearka replies. "I'd love to have one of these engines in the Buster."

"Of course _you_ would." The bent of Yzak's intonation made the accusation obvious: Dearka shot his beam cannon off wildly.

"Man, fuck you, Yzak. I'm more worried about the assholes with the large racks of missiles than your obsession with shooting everything that moves near your gunsights."

"Sure. Keep telling yourself that."

"Stop arguing and get to it, both of you!" Athrun shouts from the cubicle next to them. "If you want the engine, pull it out and get it ready for one of the Gundams!"

"Yes, Master, right away, Master," Yzak chants facetiously, though definitely not loud enough to be heard outside the cockpit of the Summoner. "All right, where do we start?"

"I'd say break our way into the back of this thing and start detaching the engine from the rest of the frame." Dearka opines in response to Yzak's rather brainless question.

"Attention all hands, we have now left Dustball," Murrue notes over the intercom. There were a few cheers from the crew in the hangar, but nothing major.

"That can't be fucking right, we're still under influence of gravity," Yzak notes derisively. Surely anyone with half a brain would know that after having left the planet, they would not have gravity to draw them down to the deck of the ship?

"I dunno, but if we're continually accelerating it would act like we're still under gravity since the ship is constantly moving relative to us," Dearka notes. "Only problem is, this may cause issues with what is up and down in the ship now, since the engines just became the new bottom of the ship."

"No, dumbass, we're still being pulled downward, as in down toward the deck where this one-legged-bandit has its one good foot, or haven't you noticed which way your lead ass is being dragged right now?"

"I don't get it," Dearka notes after a few moments of testing the gravity effects. Yes, there was a bit of a lean toward the rear of the ship, but indeed as per Yzak's crass commenting they were mostly being pulled downward toward the keel of the ship. "Screw it, working under gravity doesn't bother me. C'mon, let's get this engine out."

"Yeah."

"Hey, Athrun, come here a second, I think you need to check this out!" Murdoch shouts across the hangar toward the cubicle that Athrun was working in.

"What is it?" Athrun asks as he runs the 40 meters from where he was working to where Murdoch was working.

"I think we just found out why Kira saw two of the same frame with two totally different weapon sets. Here." Murdoch points to an internal encapsulation surrounding the frame of the Gauss Rifle within the arm that Kira had chopped off the first of the enemy machines. "This whole frame is designed to come out of the arm assembly. You release the lugs at certain intervals, you can pull the whole internal pod, weapon and all, right out of the arm."

"Do it," Athrun says, while inspecting the pod. It was roughly hexagonal, just as was the arm itself, and fit into the arm's weapon enclosure area by way of six locking lugs that could be tripped with the push of a steel rod against them. This one of the mechanics effected, and a heavy equipment gantry was used to pull the pod enclosure out. The shock of the day was that the pod enclosure was an ABS plastic material, it was not metal and really had no structural or armor value except to secure the weapon into the arm.

"Jesus, that thing weighs 12,000 kilos, man," one of the Mechanics notes as he was looking at the load-bearing scale for the gantry.

"What?" Athrun asks, then looks at the device that was about six meters long, two meters tall, and about a meter wide. "That thing weighs that much?"

"Yeah, big sucker for something in such a small package," Murdoch notes. "I'll bet good money that when we do the workup on the Timber Wolf, we'll find similar pod-frame designs in it."

"Oh, I see, it uses an interlocking power connection here," Athrun points it out without touching it, "that interfaces with the main power feed for the arm." He shines a flashlight into the back of the pod assembly. "Oh, wow, look at the size of that slug."

"Jesus," Murdoch says as he looks into the ammo feed that Athrun was looking at. The slug itself had to mass well over 100 kilos, was as wide as Athrun's thigh and just about as long as said body part. "It's definitely bigger than the slugs for the Lightning Striker pack (1)."

"Scary shit," Yzak comments from five meters. Dearka and Yzak were checking out the topic of interest, the pod assembly that everyone was looking at, as well as dodging what they really were not looking forward to, trying to remove a whole engine from a large 'mech. "Looks about the same size as the slugs for Shiva, maybe a little smaller and longer." Shiva was the railgun mounted on the left shoulder of the Duel, and was very effective at knocking down enemy aircraft and causing damage to the _Archangel_. How it fared when compared to the local weapons was still under judgment, though it had destroyed one of the Summoner frames by blowing out the toroid of its engine.

"How long do you think it would take to change out these pods for a different set?" Athrun asks the veteran mechanic.

"Five, six minutes if you had good equipment to do it with and the pods ready and waiting."

"Huh." Athrun ponders something for a few moments. "Hey, you guys think you can pull the gyro out of the headless Timber Wolf and put it in the one that Umi stabbed? I'd love to have the engines out of those two in our Gundams, but I think we can get away with putting the engines from the Mag Dogs and the Summoners in our machines. The Timber Wolf is too good a unit to just leave around, I think."

"We might be able to accomplish that, the _Kwaidan_ is supposed to send over a few persons to help and advise, maybe they can give us some extra help as to what's what." There were definite similarities between the G-Weapons and these Battlemechs, but not all was the same and how certain things worked was a mystery to everyone right now. That would change with enough analysis, and by all accounts in the coming months there would be plenty of time for analysis and modification. "Now, who do we get to pilot it?"

"Crewman Koenig or Commander La Flaga would be able to, with enough time in simulation, I think."

"Well, that's a start," Murdoch notes. "All right, guys, let's get in the headless Timber Wolf and see if we can extract the Gyro out of it. We'll worry about the weapons we have lying around later."

-x-x-x-

"Hey Flay," Tolle says as he wanders past her. She had been called to the Stateroom by the Captain for some reason, and in reality she was feeling almost sick to her stomach with worry about it. _Am I going to be court-martialed because of my affair with Kira_? She asks herself silently, then realized that Tolle had said something to her.

"Hey Tolle," she acknowledges as she goes by, still headed for the Stateroom. There is only so much of a winding path you can take when headed throughout the _Archangel_; inevitably, she had to come to the end of her road, as she saw it. When she arrived, she pressed the doorbell, and waited.

"Come in," The answer finally came after what seemed like eternity and change to Flay. She enters, to find Murrue and Mu sitting at the main desk in the room, going over some papers. "Grab a seat, Flay, we're just checking out some minor details in an engineering plan submitted to us."

"Captain, I, uh, well..."

"You're not in trouble if that's what you're worried about, Flay," Murrue informs her earnestly.

"Oh." That immediately improved Flay's mood from fearful to curious. She did have a seat in the chair farthest away from the two officers in the room, though, as an automatic reaction to dealing with the Captain and Commander. Despite being the more personable of the three command officers on the ship, and a whole helluva lot more social than the four ZAFT pilots, Flay was still rather afraid of them since all three were career military.

"Okay, going by this I think we should have a working facility of the type we discussed, in our ship, within three days. Those Engineering guys are chomping at the bit to get this done, as we haven't had jack for engine trouble since this whole mess started."

"What we could say the same thing about our luck at travel destinations, I guess." Murrue sighs, then continues: "All right, plan approved. Get them on it, they have my permission to borrow Kira if need be, since he was a technical student he might be able to help with this project, but I want that minimized if at all possible. We don't know what kind of capability the enemy has in space, and I don't want to take chances for now."

"Clear. Project Hot Steam begins in thirty minutes." Mu picks up the engineering schematic and salutes the Captain with it. "I think more than a few of us are going to enjoy this..."

"Get to it, Commander, and I don't want to hear about any dirty thoughts crossing your mind pertaining to this, clear?" The unspoken addendum was that Miriallia, being one of the persons likely to use the facility, would definitely report such bad conduct straight to the Captain.

"Clear."

"Dismissed;" Murrue was definitely smiling about something, and Flay could hazard a guess as to what it was in reference to. It did not even qualify as a secret, the two (Captain and Commander) were quite close to each other, and had grown more so since the mystery tour from hell had begun. "Now, Flay, it has been brought to my attention that while you are assigned to the _Archangel_, you are not assigned to a duty section."

"Yes, Captain," Flay responds in the silence after the Captain's observation.

"A position is about to open up that has not been available on this ship prior to now. I take it you have heard the rumors that someone is planning on building a hot spring on the ship?"

"I did not think that was a rumor, Captain. I thought it was a half-concealed dream for some way to relax for the crew."

"Well, as of three days from now, four days tops, it will not be a dream, it will be an actual facility on this ship. That being said, we have a slight issue with who we have available to staff the facility, and your name came up as being available, as well as three other persons that are on this ship and are not active Mobile Forces personnel." _That immediately means that Umi, Fuu and that wench Hikaru aren't it_, Flay thinks sourly. She had misgauged how the Captain was classifying said persons, however. "I am going to need a person that can man the hot springs, keep disputes to a minimum, make sure no perverts try looking in the opposite gender's spring, and run laundry specifically for the hot springs. Since the expected occupancy of the springs is going to be rather high, this is not going to be a simple task while you are on duty. Your shift rotation will be eight on duty, sixteen off. Clear?"

"Am I allowed to use the springs in that case?" Flay asks, wondering what restrictions she would have when she took this position.

"Yes, when you are not on duty. When on duty, you are attending to the springs, not using them, clear?"

"Okay, I'll do it," Flay decides on a whim, happy that she wasn't being court-martialed and she could now actually do something useful...sort of.

"Very well, report to the ship's stores and have the quartermaster draw you these supplies." Murrue had the list prepared already, and it was indeed a laundry list of things that would be used in the hot springs, a laundry list that actually did include laundry, or specifically a whole slew of towels. "Once you have the supplies, you are to transport them to the storerooms that are on the bow-side of corridor E-6, clear?"

"Clear, Captain."

"Get to it, I'd like to see those supplies stowed and ready no later than 1700 hours. Dismissed."

"Thank you." Flay gives the Captain her best salute (which wasn't much), turns and heads out the door. Outside, Tolle was walking past again, with his head in his ancient music player. "Tolle, can you help me with something?" Said in her best innocent, slightly dazed voice; not that Tolle was easily manipulated, but he was always willing to help when someone appeared to be in need.

"Uh, sure, what?"

"I have to move some stuff from the storage rooms to a room down by the engines."

"Oh, sure, can do." They begin the trek toward the storeroom in question. "So, how're you and Kira getting along?" Tolle asks after fifty meters of walking.

"Well, I'm not sure why, but every time I go looking for him it's like he disappears out of the ship. Or he's working on his Gundam," Flay thinks aloud. "It's almost like he's trying to avoid me for some reason."

"I dunno, with all that we've gone through recently, the Captain and Mister Murdoch have been keeping him busy."

"Oh." Silence for ten seconds. "Tolle, has it...really been that bad?"

"Sort of. I mean, we had some hairy battles in Cephiro, and the rude shock we had with Princess Emeraude, but it was a bit better than when we were in the desert on Earth. Now, though, we're in it real deep, 'cause those Clanners aren't playing nice."

"But, we beat them, right?" Flay asks.

"Yeah, this time, because we got them in close with limiting terrain. We face them in an open field, they may go right through all of our machines and come after the ship next." Tolle shrugs. "That's the breaks, though. We all knew what we were getting into when we chose to sign up for this." _And thank God we did, otherwise we'd've all been blown up on that shuttle_, Tolle thinks but does not say to keep Flay from hyperventilating. Strangely enough, the person that had shot that shuttle was now a pilot attached to the ship.

"Oh, yeah, right," Flay notes as she stops in front of the supply room. "Hey, Tolle, where are you going?"

"Huh?" He looks back after having walked five meters farther down the hall. "Oh, right. Sorry."

-x-x-x-

"I don't think this is going to work offhand," Newman notes as he starts bringing the_Archangel_ alongside the _Katana_. It was impressive, being three hundred meters longer than the Archangel for all that it probably only massed a little more than the said monitor.

"Well, nobody has ever accused the _Archangel_ of being a lead-ass ship, but in this case we gotta figure out how to connect our ship to that thing or we ain't going anywhere fast," Mu notes.

"Conn, radio for the Captain."

"_Archangel_, Captain Ramius here," she says after putting the radio broadcast on the main speakers.

"Captain Verstadt of the_Katana_," the caller replied immediately. "Considering the size of your ship, we will need to connect it to multiple of the dock hardpoints. Please have your helmsman invert the ship and slide it under the keel of the _Katana_, back toward the aft portion of the ship."

"Roger that, Captain. Newman, you know what to do."

"Roger that, Captain," Newman replies as he begins the process of inverting the ship.

The _Katana_ was itself an impressive sight. It had a very large sail coming out of the rear of the ship, ostensibly to collect light and radio energy to power the Jump Drive, a massive fabric disc that only appeared to be a few millimeters wide on sensor scan with the picture of the symbol of the Draconis Combine on it, being a large oriental-style dragon. In appearance, the ship itself looked like a graduated cylinder from a chemistry lab, a large disc with a pipe coming out of the top of the disc that ended in the bulbous nose of the vessel. All in all, it was an impressive ship for an impressive purpose, moving groups of ships between star systems in a matter of seconds (if Murrue was interpreting its purpose right). The only thing it lacked was significant weapons clusters, for which it had the _Kwaidan_ and_Archangel_ right now.

"Newman, center the ship between the four underside dock collars," Murrue notes, then picks up the bridge phone at her chair. "Athrun Zala, Kira Yamato, please report to the bridge."

It only took two minutes for them to get to the bridge. "What's going on, Captain?" Kira asks as he walks over to her chair.

"We're just about to dock with the Katana, except that the bottom of our ship doesn't match up to their collars. We're probably going to need some creative way to link our ship to their collars."

"Oh, right, I think we can do that," Kira thinks aloud. "We'd need to build four frames to attach the ship to the collars...huh?"

"What?" Murrue and Athrun ask in unison.

"Look at that, the collars are moving to attach to us," The four collars that the ship was centered on were attached to movable booms that were initially designed to accommodate even the largest of Dropships. In this case, they had moved two of the collars to attach to the bottom of the_Archangel_'s legs and the other two to attach to the back of the engine housing, giving it four points of contact to the _Katana_.

"So much for that problem," Murrue notes ironically. "Now, how do we cross over to the _Katana_?"

"For now, it would be best if you remain on your ship, Captain Ramius," Captain Verstadt notes with a neutral intonation, which very abruptly reminds them that he was still connected to the ship. "We will be conducting a hyperspace jump in thirty minutes. It is best if your crew are not loose at that time."

"Understood, thank you Captain."

"Jumpship _Katana_ is over and out." The link cuts audibly.

"Well, for now we don't get to have a discussion with our ride, later may be a different story." Murrue sets the ship's speakers to 1MC, which broadcast her throughout the ship. "All hands attention, all personnel are to secure any loose material and secure themselves within the next thirty minutes, no exceptions. Be prepared for hyperspace jump at that time. That is all." She switches off the 1MC. "So, how are the machines coming along, guys?"

"We have Duel, Strike, Blitz, Aegis all upgraded with engines we pulled out of the Clan Omnimechs. So far, the engines seem to be running completely normally, and we managed to give them extended 'fuel' tanks so they can operate for a longer duration." The fuel of the fusion engine was plain water, not something reactive or explosive like what the engines of the _Archangel_ ran on. A normal fusion reactor would break down the water into diatomic hydrogen and oxygen, and pump the oxygen to the pilot for breathing while using the hydrogen to fuel the engine. The engine combines two atoms of hydrogen into one atom of helium, in the process generating an incredible amount of heat. The heat was used to heat water into steam, which ran a turbine that produced the unit's power.

"And Buster?"

"We're still debating how we want to do the engines in the Buster. We're trying to figure out if we should wait for another large engine or if we should try to use two or three of the engines from the Kit Fox machines in place of its battery."

"Well, how big are the engines for those Kit Fox machines?"

"Oh, about three and a half tons each mass, physically they are about two meters cube."

"Those things are small, and they can run like that?" Tolle asks from his position at the helm.

"We stumbled into a land where they got some things grossly ahead of us and some things way the hell backwards," Athrun replies deadpan. "They jump between stars in seconds but they still use a lot of fossil-fuel-based machines in battle, or so I've heard." Apparently these Clanners had a disdain of those types of combat units, but the Inner Sphere was not afraid to throw combat vehicles and tanks around.

"This is crazy," Murrue notes, referring to the apparently uneven progress the locals had made over the 1000 or more years that interstellar travel had been available to them. "Athrun, do you think you can get away with putting two or three of the reactors in the Buster?"

"Probably, especially if I dedicate them instead of feeding one accumulator. I think Kira and I can make it work until we get a larger engine for it."

"Then do it, but not right now. Secure anything you two are working on and get ready for the jump."

"Aye, Captain," Athrun responds, salutes, and leaves with Kira in tow.

-x-x-x- (23 April 3050) -x-x-x-

"Ablative gel layer is holding at nominal resistance, Captain," Chandratta notes as they begin the descent into the atmosphere of Romulus. Technically they were still in FedCom territory, but the last word from the HPG networks was that a neighboring system, Wotan, had just been taken by the enemy. That made the matter all the more urgent that they all get trained up and ready to really stick it to the Clans.

The logic was dead simple to Murrue. Even the best of the ZAFT and Earth Alliance still had room to improve, and for all intents and purposes the 1st Somerset was a rather scratch-up and slapdash formation that needed a lot of work. Strangely, despite the technological variance, the_Archangel_'s mobile compliment was more elite than the locals. Despite this, the whole force (including the ship) would report to the Romulus Militia base for a week's worth of extended and hard-core training, then it was down to the spaceport to draw supplies and barter, then back to the _Katana_ to continue the journey of the Augmented 1st Somerset Strikers.

"We're inside the atmosphere now, switching to atmospheric control at this time," Newman notes. "Ship is decelerating to extended flight speeds now."

"Sensors, status of the_Kwaidan_?"

"_Kwaidan_ is coming down on course to land outside the militia base. We will have a twenty-minute flight time before we get to the area."

"All right, Mister Newman, take us to the training field. All ahead quarter."

"All ahead quarter, aye." Newman puts the throttles forward to a quarter and makes sure the Levitator was powered and functioning.

Murrue had the bridge phone set to the whole ship again. "All hands, attention. For the next week, we will be executing field maneuver training on Romulus, the planet we are presently on. Section leads are to keep an eye out for where performance can be improved. All pilots are to report to their machines for the introductory briefing and battle at the Romulus Militia facility."

"Conn, Comms, _Kwaidan_ reports they are on the ground, awaiting our pleasure," Sai reports with a hint of humor.

"Well, we had to come down in a remote area. If we hit the ground in a civilian center, it would have caused tremendous casualties." Not that there were a huge amount of civilian urban areas on this planet, by all accounts this was a farming planet that produced crops for planets within two or three jumps of here. It was a lucrative business, they figured, but not as prestigious as military service or high-tech industries. So far, they had seen plenty of farmland and not a whole lot of cities, so what they heard was tracking with what they were seeing.

"Athrun Zala to CIC, reporting ready for operation."

"Dearka Elsman, Buster is ready for operation."

"Yzak Joule, ready to kick some ass."

"Chill out, Yzak, it's not like we're going head to head with the Clans today," Miriallia chides the Duel pilot.

"Kira Yamato, Lightning Strike, ready for action."

"Roger that, Strike," Miriallia replies. "Lightning Strike pack?" She tacks on after a moment.

"I'm going to do some long-range work today, Miriallia," Kira notes.

"Blitz to command, I'm ready to go."

"Blitz, command requests you do not use the Mirage Colloid today, we want to keep that as our ace in the hole for now, over." Miriallia made sure she had put that out only on the direct land-line communication link to the Blitz, which was a data wire that ran parallel to the power cables that connected it to the ship.

"Understood, command," Nicol replies.

"Tolle Koenig, Launcher Grasper, hot and ready."

"Tolle, you're being a pervert again," Miriallia notes.

"Everyone needs a hobby," Tolle responds offhand, causing a few amused chuckles in the CIC pit.

"Mu La Flaga, Timber Wolf, ready to go." They had not changed the weapons around in the Timber Wolf, though they did replace the lasers that Umi had sliced up. The two laser weapons, damaged beyond repair, were awaiting turnover to FedCom intelligence personnel as per the contract. The remainder of the Summoner and Mad Dog chassis were awaiting similar transfer, or more likely components to finish rebuilding them for eventual use. More than a few crewmembers had stepped up to take the challenge of driving one of the sim pods that Athrun had modded to match the cockpit of a Clan Omnimech (the cockpits were all rather similar), and more than one of the crew was capable of piloting with some level of decency.

"All right everyone, listen up," Natarle begins, then gives a pause to make sure everyone was. "Lock your systems into live simulation mode. All your weapons are presently hot and loaded, this will unload your ballistic and missile systems and bring your beam weapons down to simulation strength. We don't need any friendly fire scenarios today. Confirm lock out now."

"Aegis locked out."

"Blitz locked out."

"Buster is weapons cold."

"Duel is disarmed."

"Strike, locked out."

"Launcher Grasper, locked out."

"Timber Wolf, weapons dry."

"_Archangel_, weapons locked in sim mode."

Yzak picks up a new addition to the arsenal of the Duel and slings it over the left-shoulder missile pack on the Assault Shroud. "I'm going to enjoy using this thing. Twenty silos and 100 missiles worth of reload is going to fuck someone's ozone."

"Just be sure you get a valid lock-on with it, dead-firing those things is likely not going to work," Dearka notes.

"At spitting range it will, and who in this bay has problems with shooting off his guns without a lock-on?" Yzak counters.

"Shut up, both of you," Athrun says directly before the argument could go any farther downhill.

"Right," Yzak counters. "Hey, are the Magic Knights coming along today?"

"Yeah, I thought they were," Nicol notes.

"They might still be helping with final adjustments to the hot springs," Dearka notes. That project had hit some significant snags, strange equipment in strange places that was not on the original schematics, though after a week's worth of delays they were ready to open the springs. If there was any doubt that the _Archangel_ was an evolving ship, those doubts could be laid to rest courtesy of the attempt to put a hot spring into the ship. Athrun had some of the strange equipment broke down and was analyzing it in his off-time, to see what it was for.

"No, here they come," Nicol notes, though he was mostly paying attention to the one farthest from where the Blitz stood. There was a bit of admiration there, knowing that the three persons he was looking at (with a slight system magnification) were schoolgirls from an otherwise nonviolent country that still mounted up and helped solve the problems of someone else's world. He lost sight of them as they boarded the Rune Gods and made ready.

"Nice of you three to join us," Athrun notes on open channel.

"We're ready."

"And willing to learn, of course," Fuu adds to Hikaru's statement.

"Keep your magic talents to yourselves for today, okay? Just go in close, we'll handle the long-range operations," Yzak notes coldly. "We may work for them, but we don't want to give them everything on a platter, y'know?" Natarle silently blessed the pilot fo the Dule; when he wasn't being an arrogant asshole, he actually knew how to think in her opinion. Murrue had managed to pass off the color changes between the Gundams as a side-effect of the manufacturing process for the machines, as well as a bit of psychological warfare (the Gundams were incredibly scary to the opposing side when colored, she had explained, and the Strikers believed it).

"Will do," Umi replies sourly. Though she almost always preferred going in close with her sword, there was logic to using long-range attacks in certain occasions. The best at ranged combat, though, had to be Hikaru, though in pure hammering power the Buster was the heaviest on deck.

"All Mobile Forces, standby to launch. Ten minutes."

"Well, time to try this bad-boy out, see how the Clanners like their own weapons used by superior machines," Yzak twitches the missile pack that he and Dearka had removed from the scrap Timber Wolf and framed to be used by the Duel as supplementary firepower. He could fire it using a single missile at a time or ripple-fire all the missiles one right after the next, with a 100 millisecond gap between each missiles (meaning that when he dumped all twenty silos, it would take two full seconds to fire them all). The silos reloaded after about eight seconds, giving a full cycle time of ten seconds.

"Glad I got my boots on, the shit is getting deep in here," Athrun notes sourly.

"I'd have to agree with Athrun on this one, after driving the Duel and now driving this thing, I find I like the Timber Wolf better."

"We may have to settle this later today, Commander," Yzak's pronunciation of Mu's rank almost made it out to be an insult.

"Boys and their toys. They'll never grow up," Miriallia notes loud enough that her headphones picked it up and transmitted it to everyone.

"It might also be good field-testing for the Timber Wolf, of course," Natarle notes on the same channel.

"Then it's settled, we'll scrap it after our first few battles while the rest of them take a break."

"Simulated, of course," Mu notes to make sure that much was clear in the challenge.

"Of course," Yzak notes with a tone that clearly told that Mu was a dumbass for even considering otherwise.

"Whoa, looks like we were a lot closer than we thought. All units prepare for landing cycle and deployment," Natarle notes on the radios.

"_Archangel_ forces, this is CIC, deploy Duel, deploy Strike. Strike to starboard launch catapult."

"Strike standing by," Kira notes after he gets into position.

"Duel standing by," Yzak notes a moment later.

"Launch Strike, Launch Duel."

The Duel was shot clear of the catapult and basically right down onto the training grounds. The four Battlemechs of the 1st Somerset Strikers were parked over by the facility command building, pilotless, as the personnel were inside the sim command room talking with the militia commander. Yzak wandered the Duel over to where the machines were parked, as well as Kira's Strike Gundam, and both pilots got down off the Gundams to enter and speak with the personnel. Athrun supposedly already had a set of logic written up for the sim that would program in the Gundam's unit specs to the battle, and by request their weapon power had been reduced to make the match more challenging.

"Ah, the _Archangel_'s pilots are here," Major Steiner notes from the control pit in the room. "How many of you are going to be active today?"

"All of us," Kira notes.

"I see what you meant by their machines being nothing like we've ever seen, frankly I'd be afraid to take those things on with an Atlas (2)," The controller notes with a nice hint of awe to voice; saying such definitely made Yzak feel all that much better about what he was doing and piloting. "Oh, two more from the ship."

"Mister Hartman, this is Yzak Joule and Kira Yamato, two of the pilots. And the two that just came out are Aegis and Buster, a general purpose assault machine and their heavy fire support platform."

"Which one of you can give me a run-down on your machines? I'll need that for the simulations."

"Athrun has all that info programmed already, he'll upload and mod it to the sim specs when he gets in," Kira notes as he grabs a seat near the console that Mister Hartman was at.

"Whoa, holy shit, isn't that one of the invader's machines?" Hartman asks, dumbfounded by the fifth machine out of the _Archangel_, never mind the evil-looking sixth machine.

"Yes, that is, you guys got one of them working?" Major Steiner asks as Athrun and Dearka enter the facility.

"Yeah, one of our veteran aero pilots is taking that machine out today." It had a totally different paint job from the usual green-on-gray that Jade Falcons used on it, Mu had it painted in a maroon similar to his mobile armor, and there were the trademark feathers painted on the sides of the missile packs, as well as the Earth Alliance symbol on the sides of the main body. "Mu La Flaga said he could handle it, and I believe him," Kira notes for the benefit of the Major.

"Well, I'm not going to argue the point with him," Valten says as he watched the monitors. "There should be three more and one of the fighters, right?"

"Yeah, that's what's left of us," Athrun notes as he grabs a seat at the consoles. "Where do I upload the information on our machines, sir?" Athrun had taken care to make sure that all that was handled was bare-bones specs, so that someone who came along behind them would have nothing more than the barest amount of data needed to run an accurate simulation, and that if you had a good model of the machines in question or the actual machines. Certainly not enough to rebuild one of the machines was contained in what he was going to upload.

"Right where you're sitting, pilot." He looks Athrun over warily. "You're, what, fifteen?"

"Sixteen," Athrun notes as he really cuts loose with his typing, up to about 200 words per minute, as the machine itself began processing and incorporating the data from the five Gundams, one Omnimech, one fighter, and three Rune Gods. More than a few eyebrows were raised when people saw how fast Athrun was inputting and modifying data.

"Now those things are scary," Hartman notes as the three Rune Gods took up position by the Gundams, waiting for the pilots to finish their briefing. "Those things are basically just for close-combat, right? Kinda limited, don't you think?"

"True, they aren't really worth hills or beans at distance, at least I don't think they have any range capabilities," Major Steiner looks to Kira, whose only answer was a rather neutral shrug and raised eyebrow, "but God help you if they get up in your face," he completes the thought, remembering clearly what he saw of the butchering job the green one had done on a Summoner.

"That bad, huh?"

"Any one of those three could take down my Axman and still have room for seconds _and_ thirds. Same goes for the rest of them, these guys may look young enough to be high-school kickouts, and the pilots of those three are even younger, but they are incredible in battle. Just watch, when they cut loose, you'll see what I mean."

The last of the Rune Gods had launched, being Windam, as well as the Skygrasper with the Launcher Pack. Windam spread its wings to gain maneuverability and landed basically in place with the other three Rune Gods, while the Skygrasper orbited the facility in turn with the Banshee from the Kwaidan. "Even has their own air support, and that ship's probably a mobile battery as well, right?"

"It's got a few surprises, rest assured," Athrun notes drolly, having a long history of being on the receiving end of said surprises. "I'm done, everything is uploaded and ready."

"So, what're you going to do to us, Mr. Hartman?" Major Steiner asks.

"Oh no, I'll leave that up to your imagination once you get out there and get into the fray."

"Oh, I love surprises," Yzak rolls his eyes famously after saying so; "C'mon, Dearka, might as well mount up and prepare for it." Dearka snorts cynically, then follows Yzak toward the door to the parking area.

"For what?" The Wolfhound pilot asks. They had not caught his name yet, and he had not really shown any interest in being civil to the _Archangel_ crew, so they knew little about him, unlike Captain Hawkins, Captain Ryder, or Major Steiner.

"The corn-cob," Yzak replies as he steps out of the building. Major Steiner grimaces at the thought.

"Ignore him. He's always a pain in the ass," Athrun notes as he and Kira begin wandering toward the door.

-x-x-x-

"Looks like it's time to begin," Umi notes. "You guys sure you're all right with this?"

_To understand thine foe, even if the forms are changed, shall help us all return to native lands in due time_, Selece notes telepathically to Umi. _Thine comrades are agreed on the matter, none more so than Yzak, Athrun, and Nicol. Their desire to return to where they believe they belong is unmatched_.

_Take heart, Magic Knights, there shall be ways for us all to return to our homes, and some may come of light soon_, Windam adds to the conversation at hand.

"That is very reassuring, thank you sir Windam."

"Everyone ready? Hold onto your neurohelmets (3), I'm firing up the simulation now,"

The first pair of enemy machines appeared around the group. "Whoa, I know they ain't there, but my sensors think they're the real McCoy," Valten notes.

"Your machines will think they're the real thing, and it'll feel as real as it looks."

"I like this thing already," Yzak says as he takes aim at one of the machines that had popped up on his side. "I guess for this one we just shag 'em all, right?"

"That's **scrap** them all, Yzak," Dearka notes as he rattles off four missiles at a nearby target, a medium 'mech with multiple laser weapons.

"Whatever," Yzak fires off Shiva simulated rounds into the one directly in front of him, while setting his shield forward to block a pair of incoming PPCs from it. As it stops with the PPCs to allow them to cool down, Dearka centers his new LRM-20 pod on the enemy and cuts loose with ten of the missiles, forcing the enemy to the ground. "Hey, wait, my weapons aren't doing a whole helluva lot of damage," Yzak whines as he pelts the enemy machine twice with Shiva again.

"That's how I set it up, Yzak, so we'd get a real workout in this battle," Athrun notes. The damage simulation capabilities of the simulator were impressive, to say the least, as a pair of beam rifle blasts had removed the left arm from a Lancelot Medium 'Mech.

"Feed me, Rachel," Major Steiner notes on the channel going to the Kwaidan, then to the Jumpship where Rachel Specter was stationed right now.

"Tactical Operations Officer reporting, Major, you have a pair of 'Mechs on the other side of the ridge to your north." Kira and Major Steiner were the closest, but the 'mechs weren't on the other side of the ridge, they were damn near in the Striker's faces.

"What the hell is she smoking?" Dearka asks as he trains his Gun Launcher on the machines and fires two simulated shots.

"Look out! They're headed straight for you!"

"Thanks for the scoop, got any fresh intel?" Valten notes as he rattles off all ten missile silos at a King Crab nearby him. Of course, this got the attention of said King Crab, which was double the size of Valten's Centurion and had over four times more firepower... "Oh, shit," Valten says as he realizes what he was facing.

"I got 'em!" Kira shouts as he jets forward and pulls the left combat knife from his Gundam's leg. He stops the jet action as he comes level with the machine and mimics stabbing it in the cockpit. The simulated enemy machine went face first into the ground and did not move again.

"Adam, I'm routing the signal through too many satellite relays, I think it's causing a time delay!" Lieutenant Specter notes with a bit of worry to voice.

"Great, School Boy, our Tac Ops Officer is totally useless right now. Any other bright ideas?" Captain Hawkins notes drolly.

"Quit complaining and work through it, Captain Hawkins."

"Link to CIC in the _Archangel_," Nicol notes as he goes in real close on a Black Knight. He took a punch and his system registered a hit from a Medium Laser that almost penetrated to the engine cavity, but the beam saber on the Blitz won through the day, completely tearing off the arms of the Black Knight and giving the simulated pilot a case of the shits (the sim was programmed to handle the simulated phychology of the pilots as well as the technical details). "Set frequency 185.35 and authenticate to the CIC, then we can work through this mess."

"_Archangel_ CIC, this is Major Steiner, our Tac Ops is cut off, request you take up the slack. Can you accomplish?"

"Major Steiner, have your unit set to channel one for tactical. We'll see if we can get you out of this jam alive," Natarle replies. "Fire control, load Sledgehammers. Target enemy formation at two o'clock low. Skygrasper, try punching a hole in the enemy to the east so we can get the ground forces out to the east, over. All ground units, base of fire right, break through the east."

"You heard the lady, punch through them east!" Mu shouts as he brings the weapons of the Timber Wolf onto target and begins unloading his medium lasers and missiles on a Thug. "I love this 'mech," Mu says as he walks past the downed Thug, with his torso centered on the chest of the enemy and firing his medium lasers and machine guns.

"Huh? Hey, I can't move my leg!" Nicol shouts.

"Your machine think it's leg has been blown off. Your 'Mech is dead in the water."

"Great."

"Aww, shit, all my systems went dead!" Yzak shouts after a few more moments.

"That's two down," Hartman notes after Yzak's cry of despair.

"Screw this chaos! Everybody, formation delta, now!" The Wolfhound pilot shouts.

"What the hell are you trying to do, get yourself killed?" Dearka replies to the hot-headed Mech-jock as he links his weapons up in shotgun formation. A Champion heavy 'mech had closed in on him and was causing a shitload of damage with medium lasers, though one shot of the combined Buster weapons completely trashed the Champion, even in simulation.

"Strike is down!" Kira shouts as his screens go black.

"So much for the aero-jock," Hartman adds to the mounting misery. There was just too many of them to combat effectively, even with support from the_Archangel_ taking them down three or four at a time.

"Hawk is down," Captain Hawkins notes sourly. His last had been to terminate a pair of Hussar Battlemechs, but in doing so he had ignored a Flashman that had crawled up his six and tore into the back of his 'mech like a chainsaw.

"The red one with the shield and sword is dead," Hartman notes, analyzing the status board. "The blue and green ones with the swords aren't far behind."

"Hikaru, you've taken too much simulated damage, take a knee for now," Nicol notes.

"Right." Hikaru sounded rather depressed by that thought, though right now more than half of them were administratively dead and the rest weren't far behind.

"I'm downed? How the hell did that happen?" Tolle asks as he checks his status panels.

"That's it for Windam." When informed, Fuu had Windam take a knee and rest, though she had to admit that Windam's battle expertise and power had loosed quite a few arms from their simulated mechs. "Aegis is dead in the water, engine hits."

"Damn, we've all but lost this one," Dearka says.

"Losing them is nothing new to us, remember?" Yzak says from his position of being dead.

"My weapons are out, I'm done for," Mu notes. He was having a jolly time using his missiles to make life difficult for the enemy, but something had blindsided him and basically knocked all his right-side weapons offline in a matter of seconds. When he reoriented on the near enemy, the enemy Black Knight finished tearing off his weapons with PPC and laser blasts.

"Selesce is down," Hartman notes; "All that's left is the Axman, the Wolfhound, and the Buster." Umi, as per the rules, stopped her offensive and took a knee. She had gone face to face with another King Crab and paid the price for it, the dual Autocannon-20 weapons had torn into Selesce in sim without reserve.

Assaulted from four directions, the Axman, Wolfhound, and Buster managed to take down one last Crab before they were finished off by no less than six enemies.

"I hope you're proud of yourselves, Strikers. This simulation was based on the Clan's field maneuvers."

"Hey, our tactics defeated the Dracs, and the—" Captain Hawkins begins, but is cut off by Major Steiner's rebuke:

"We're fighting a new enemy here! And they aren't impressed with your quaint little defense formations," he says with the finality of a death sentence. "CIC, Major Steiner. Let's review what went wrong."

"All personnel, prepare to receive strategic simulation," Natarle orders. Athrun had written a display application that allowed her to take the sensor data, composite it to a map and show it to all receiving units, as well as use display tools to highlight things as her discussion went on. "I'm going to preface this by saying that I think we could have won if we didn't have a Monday-morning quarterback on the field, Lieutenant Ramirez, and if when I ordered you to break through to the east you actually would have, instead of standing around with your thumbs implanted. Those two failures basically cost us the unit." The display was even available to the three Rune Gods, who were watching it on the side of their control bubbles inside the Rune Gods. "I should note that individually each one of you actually did well given you started surrounded and outnumbered. We lost the battle because nobody was acting like they were on a team—except the enemy, that is."

"All right, Commander Badgiruel, what do you suggest we do next time?"

"First off, listen to your tactical commands. Second, operate with a buddy or preferably in teams, concentrate your fire on the most threatening unit, and knock them down as quickly as possible. Third, don't expose yourselves to fire unless you have to, you paying attention Duel?"

"Thanks for the G-2, Commander," Yzak says testily.

"So, uh, how do we assemble teams? Or do we want to do this in lances?" Captain Ryder asks.

"We'll assemble in three teams, two groups of four and one of five. Strike, you copy?"

"Aye, Commander,"

"Return to the ship to change out weapons packs to Sword Strike or IWSP Strike. First team will comprise the Major's existing group plus Commander La Flaga. You will operate under call sign Mech Team, clear?"

"Yes ma'am." The Major had to admit to himself that he was a bit intimidated by the way she apparently already had a plan for solving this debacle.

"Second team will be Aegis, Blitz, Duel, Buster, call-sign Gundam Team. Clear?"

"Got it, Commander," Dearka replies smoothly. He was liking the prospects of operating under logical teams already.

"Third team will constitute Rayearth, Windam, Selesce, and Strike. You will be the Sword Team, clear?"

"Yes ma'am!" All three reply with a bit more cheer than they had felt over the past few minutes.

"Skygrasper and Banshee will operate as a team as the air support forces. When the _Archangel_ takes active role in the battle the Banshee and Skygrasper will operate as a team with the _Archangel_, clear?"

"Understood, ma'am!" Both Tolle and Kylie reply from their craft.

"Now that we have this settled, let's try this again without the monster screw-ups, okay people?" Natarle asks in a wearied tone of voice.

"IWSP Strike, Launching!" Kira shouts as he gets a cat-shot with the massive IWSP pack. After flying somewhat gracefully for 300 meters, he lands near the three Rune Gods.

"Man, it's like a swiss army knife, it's got more tools and options than I'd know what to do with," Valten notes after seeing the third of the Strike's five weapons packs. "Do you have a 'really big gun' option as well?"

"Simulator command, this is _Archangel_ CIC, please begin the simulation again," Natarle says after Valten's rather irreverent and pointless comment on the Strike.

-x-x-x-

After the day's simulated battles were over, the record was break-even, five losses and five wins, each against superior numbers. With the new force structuring, they had taken another good beating at the hands of the simulated Clan tactics before they got one right. They lost two straight after their win, then won two, lost one more (force of numbers, Natarle had misread the enemy intentions on that one), and won two at the end. Morale was running fairly high for all that they had a fifty-fifty record for the day. Apparently these Clanners were so bad-ass that winning one out of a dozen was a miracle.

Kira had gotten some combat time with each of the packs, including the proper planned use of the Lightning Striker pack and some blasting away with the Launcher Strike pack, which was an impressive sight even when down on 1 percent power. The Fusion Reactor upgrades to the machines were holding, including the three reactors that formed the heart of Dearka's machine. Those three engines had made the interior of the Buster incredibly cramped, but they worked, and that is what mattered.

The machines stowed and the simulator deactivated, the crews had decided to convene for a community dinner in the _Archangel_, and after that some R and R in anticipation of tomorrow's brutal training. Valten, Mu, Dearka and Yzak were last seen at a table in the cafeteria along with the crazy chef, playing poker and drinking DonQ Rum. Of course, Natarle had to confiscate the bottle, but there was no prejudice there. Regulations and all. Tolle and Miriallia were last seen in the pilot's lounge, talking quietly. Athrun and Nicol were last seen headed into an empty storage room he had set up as a small workshop, and they were discussing the strange equipment that had been recovered from the hot spring build. The three Magic Knights were last seen headed in the direction of the hot springs, and for good reason, given that unlike the other pilots they had been on their feet all day and taken a physical toll for the drilling of the day.

Natarle had decided on a whim that she would enjoy the hot springs, since the ship had them and she was really stressed from her time in the CIC pit, trying to keep cohesion in the ad-hoc force structure and stick it to the enemy. There were some real rough personalities in the force, namely Ciro Ramirez and Yzak Joule, both of which were out for glory instead of the team. In both cases Natarle figured it would get bloody, but she'd approach that problem at that time and not worry too much about it for now. Getting them to work as a team for now was the big deal that they had to overcome.

"Oh, Commander, ready to go in?" Flay asks when Natarle steps up to the podium Flay had set up to keep track of occupancy.

"Yes, I think I could use some rest."

"All right, you're in cube 12 for your clothes, ma'am. Yell if there aren't any towels."

"Can do." Natarle steps into the robing room for the ladies' side, and immediately notices the other officer's uniform in the room, being Murrue's uniform. There was also two other uniforms that Natarle did not recognize, probably from the crew of the _Kwaidan_, and as confirmation Natarle could recognize two voices in the springs that did not match what she had heard around the ship, as well as the Captain's voice. The three Magic Knight's rather abused school uniforms were also stowed, and Natarle could distinguish their voices in the room. She was rather fast to strip down and wrap up in a towel.

With a sigh and a bit of internal pep-talk Natarle headed into the springs (4). When she entered, to her immediate right was the Captain, dead ahead and to the left were two that she did not recognize. The room had a wide ledge of stones that had been garnered from the sands of Dustball, giving the room a rather desert look due to the sandy-brown and red appearance of the rocks. This was contrasted by the wall painting that was a picture of a blue sky with a few clouds here and there. The pool itself was six meters wide and about ten long, and there was an artificial wall at the end that likely led to the men's section of the springs.

"Hey, Natarle." Murrue says as soon as Natarle enters and starts to climb down into the springs. She was being a bit slow about it, and for good reason since it was rather warm down in there... "This is Katiara Kylie, Banshee pilot for the 1st Somerset," Kylie was close enough that she could shake hands with the Commander of the_Archangel_'s CIC.

"Thanks for the help in the air, Kylie," Natarle says politely as she finishes slipping down into the springs.

"Hey, just glad we got the job done there toward the end."

"Oh man, this feels great, I think I may have to rescind my complaining about putting a hot spring in a Warship," Natarle notes as she could feel the heat soaking into her bones and innards.

"You were complaining about this?" The speaker was the other person in the spring that Natarle did not recognize. "Hot Springs have known and quantifiable medical benefits."

"Trust a doc to point that out," Kylie notes.

"And this is Doctor Nakamura from the _Kwaidan,_"Murrue finishes up the introductions.

Natarle had settled herself down onto the rock ledge that the engineers had put into the springs for just that purpose. The center of the spring pool had a strip of rocks that served the same purpose, seating in the middle of the spring basically, but there was a oval where the spring went a meter and a half down total that would allow someone to stand with their head just barely above the waterline. As Natarle was sitting, her shoulders were just barely above the water, which meant that the Engineers did their homework right this time when setting the seating up...which also meant that at least one of the Engineers was probably a pervert of some type.

"Think we'll clean house tomorrow, Commander?" Kylie asks.

"Probably not. We've still got too many hotheads on the team to fight as a completely coordinated whole. Each lance does well on its own and in its designated style, but when working together we're losing something. Practice is the only real fix for that," Natarle notes, drawing on lessons of command school and experience from the field.

"Well, general quarters is at 0600 tomorrow, so we'll have all day to work on it," Murrue notes. "Anything particular you want to work on tomorrow, Natarle?"

"For now, the basics. Repelling an assault is the big deal, and I think we need to get the _Archangel_ more involved," Natarle notes calmly. She was reaching a point of relaxation that she had not felt since long before the flight of the _Archangel_ had begun, lo those months ago and worlds away in Heliopolis.

There was silence in the springs for a little while. Since there was no clock in the springs, there was no telling how long the silence had lasted. "I'd like you ask you something, if I am allowed?" the Doctor asks rather timidly.

"Sure, go ahead," Murrue replies after a few moments.

"The Major said you were involved in a war of some kind from where you are originally from. If that is true, then why are you worried about helping us fight a losing war here?"

"Well, maybe in helping you guys, we'll find a way to get ourselves one step closer to home?" Umi tosses into the conversation.

"Or maybe we just don't want to see innocent people be harmed by these nasty Clanners," Hikaru adds to the fray.

"And you two?" The Doctor asks of the Archangel's officers.

"I just want to get my crew home, alive and intact if possible," Murrue notes. "If that means making a living here, for now, that's what I'll do."

"I'm with her," Natarle jerks her thumb toward the Captain.

"We're all trying to do that," Kylie notes. "Though, for us it means taking Somerset back from the Clans."

"Have a good evening, everyone," Fuu says as she stands up and leaves the springs, headed for the showers that the Engineers had put into the robing room. .

It was not long thereafter that the hot springs were devoid of persons, except for two: Natarle and Murrue. Perversely, Murrue was also the first of the occupants to get into the springs, a bit before the Magic Knights had entered into the springs.

"Think we're doing this right, Natarle?" Murrue asks after a few minutes of silence between them.

"No real way to tell if we are or are not. All we can do is hope we get home alive—at least until we find some way to master our dimension-hopping."

"I wonder, do you think there would be someone in life who can move between dimensions like we seem to be doing?"

"I would think so, just never around when you need them," Natarle notes ironically.

"Or, would they even give us a lift home?" Murrue asks in response.

"Well, most people in life aren't...well..."

"Assholes?" Murrue offers as the answer to the word Natarle was hunting for; Natarle nods after a moment. "Well, then I guess we just ended up born on one screwy planet where most people are assholes. Funny how_that_ works."

"Everybody likes a little ass, nobody wants to hear it," Natarle notes after a few seconds of silence.

"Natarle, I never figured you one for the dirty sense of humor," Murrue replies almost immediately, a whiff of shock to voice.

"I went through the same academy as you, Captain. Do you think I could have survived that without a sense of humor and without turning into super-bitch?" What she was referring to was dead simple: the Earth Alliance ranks were 93 percent men, meaning the seven percent of women who actually tried to do their jobs had one helluva challenge in harassment from superiors and teammates. Murrue had indeed put up with all the harassment of two years OCS (5) and walked away alive and relatively unharmed. She had know ladies that did not walk away unharmed, though, and she could not at that time speak out about it because of the male-dominated command structure.

"I dunno, for a while you were doing a fair impression of it," Murrue notes with enough of a hint of humor that Natarle considered it wasn't an insult.

"Thanks, Captain." Natarle throws her a salute. "I'm not trying to be a bitch in any way, I'm just trying to get us all home alive with some semblance of discipline and military order here."

"I do respect that, Natarle, as much as I take actions that may go against what seems as military discipline." Murrue sighs, internally wondering how the conversation had crossed this topic line. "I should warn you, the first major lesson I got from Admiral Haliburton was that in the special forces, the rule book is a guide book, not holy writ. You do what you have to, and if necessary to hell with the rules."

"An interesting lesson," Natarle notes. Said admiral was dead any way you coughed it up, but if you considered his record prior to being killed while defending the _Archangel_, his was a rather impressive record on both offense and defense, inasfar as the Earth Alliance had an impressive record at anything against ZAFT. The G-Weapons were designed to even the odds, but it still took a Coordinator to really use them as they were meant to, or a Coordinator to build an operating system that allowed anyone to use them to potential. "I'm sure someone in the brass would disagree, but in this case I do agree. We do what we have to. We can worry about the rest later"

"Well, in that case, I leave you with command over the hot springs. Good night, Commander."

"Good evening, Captain," Natarle replies as Murrue climbs out and heads for the showers. "Now, how do I get to that temperature control without getting out?" Natarle asks herself, eyeing the offending dial that was probably just barely above her reach range.

-x-x-x- (25 April 3050, 1600 hours) -x-x-x-

"And then there was one," Miriallia notes whimsically as the Sword Lance went in on the last of the Thug Battlemechs. Now that the unit was rebuilt in logical formations that capitalized on the type of machine available, and now that there was some level of cohesion between the three lances, the tactics the enemy was using were no longer all that effective against the Strikers, since it seemed that the enemy apparently attacked only one at a time; victory was to the Clanners usually because one enemy machine could kill one Inner Sphere 'mech reliably and go onward to another Inner Sphere machine without issue.

This last machine was the province of the Rune Gods Rayearth and Selesce. These two came in high and basically landed on it, the two swords passing through the holosimulation with ease and apparently tore two major chunks out of the enemy as well as completely ripped both arms off. The Tiegart PPCs, the main weapon of the Thug, were contained in the arms, therefore it had lost its major weapons in one stroke. Umi had the follow-up, as Selesce directed the rapier into the center of the machine with a thrust attack that went through the main toroid of the fusion reactor. That accomplished, the 'mech shut down and collapsed backwards, the simulated pilot ejecting from the wreckage.

"End simulation," Mr. Hartman says. "You guys are getting better and better with each battle sim. Keep this up and you'll be able to take down these invaders with pocket knives. So, do we want to jump into another battle or take a break?"

"We'll go right into the next battle, Mr. Hartman. We got a lot to do today before sunset."

"Roger that. I'll set you guys up a mobile defense of the _Archangel_, see how well you do trying to keep the flies off the big dog."

"Major Steiner, unless you want us to witness more of your 'battlefield prowess', I request leave to take the Dropship to Remus spaceport for supplies," one of the officers on the Kwaidan notes.

"Granted, Mr. Sakamoto." The dropship lifts off after a few seconds and angles toward the civilian spaceport.

"Archangel CIC to mobile forces, we have a situation here, I show ten enemies on the other side of ridge 26, moving left to right." They had been at it so long that the pilots had written up names or numbers for the hills and ridges. To the left of Ridge 26 was Umi's Hill, so named because of the one time that she had taken the hill by chopping down four enemy machines on it, alone and completely unsupported, before being put down hard by an enemy King Crab. If anything, the Magic Knights had earned a well-deserved reputation as incredibly powerful in-fighters with their sword work that was as graceful as it was merciless.

"No rest for the wicked," Dearka notes sardonically. "Yzak, Athrun, Nicol, shall we?"

"CIC, Aegis, how does the prospects on Bloody Top look?" Athrun asks fast, working through four or five possible plans for holding the wolves at bay. Bloody Top got its name from the analysis of yesterday's battles, after everything was said and done the Archangel team had paid more in every battle to secure that area than any other area in the sim grounds.

"No go, Aegis, we think the enemy has a lance of heavies hiding in that area. Ridge 12 is a possible, though," Miriallia replies.

"Roger that, but if we don't get Bloody Top secured somehow they'll park a few Bombardiers on it and take potshots at the _Archangel_."

"Clear, Athrun, we're working on it," Miriallia replies.

"CIC, Mu here. Can you put a barrage of Sledgehammers on an array of coordinates from Ridge 26 to Ridge 30, one missile ever forty meters or so?"

"Roger that, locking in target zones now. Stand by," the missile bays on the Archangel pop open and the holosim shows missiles in the tubes. "Firing!" Natarle shots as Chandratta hammers the fire commands out, launching twelve missiles into the requested kill zone. After the simulated impacts they could see two ejection pods come up from the low grounds that Mu had requested the barrage in.

"Huh? What the hell?" Sai asks his monitors. He had a sweep radar up, looking for aerial contacts, that was not tied to the simulation, yet it was showing something. "Conn, Sensors, clear the channels. I have possible contacts heading 145, altitude 14000 meters and descending, over."

"Huh? 145 is toward the spaceport," Valten notes, then looks in that direction. When the Dropship had left it was clear; now there were pillars of smoke visible at range.

"Lieutenant Specter, this is Major Steiner, please respond." Nothing came back in response.

"Jumpship_Katana_, this is Warship _Archangel_, _Archangel_ CIC reporting. Please respond on any available frequency," Kuzzey puts out on all normal broadcast channels.

"Conn, Sensors, I'm picking up encrypted traffic bearing 145 and replies bearing 210 azimuth 65, best range estimate 3-7-5 thousand kilometers," Sai notes after converting all his systems back over to 'real' mode (as opposed to 'sim' mode).

"Mister Hartman, end the program!" Major Steiner shouts. After two seconds, the simulated enemies disappeared.

"Aww, you can't cancel the war just because you lost touch with your mommy!" Captain Hawkins shouts just as he was sighting up a Champion for some very personal attention, moments before it disappeared.

"Something is very wrong here, Captain," major Steiner notes gravely.

"Kira?" Athrun asks at a whim.

"I sense it. A battle is happening at the spaceport between the Militia and the Jade Falcons," Kira notes as he was concentrating hard on the action in the distance. "The Jade Falcons are winning, ten to four and still knocking down the Militia machines."

"Mister Hartman, do you have a bolt hole?" Major Steiner asks, referring to a hole that he could hide himself (and possibly the Strikers) in.

"I'm thinking, but right now we need to put some distance between ourselves and—"

"Conn, Sensors, Contact close aboard!" Sai shouts, though it went out on the unit frequency as well. "Heading 230 azimuth 72, heading in for us fast! Gross mass estimate 11000 tons!"

"A Dropship, and a big sucker at that," Valten notes.

The next thing that happened to them could have been something out of a script from a bad thriller movie. The mug that appeared on all their communications screens was an older dude but had the strangest facial tattoos that they had ever seen prior. "Warriors of the Inner Sphere, I am Star Colonel Nikolai Malthus of Clan Jade Falcon; the conqueror of Somerset, Wotan, and Romulus."

"Should I be impressed?" Yzak asks in retort.

"So you're the monster that destroyed my home, my family!" Major Steiner says in response.

"I hereby issue a formal batchall," he continues as if there had been no interruption.

"How did you get on my viewscreen?" Athrun asks, pressing several buttons to try and clear his ugly mug from the screen.

"How many warriors do you bid for this battle?" Malthus asks.

"I'm not bidding anything, 'pal', I'm hitting you with everything I got!" Major Steiner replies with determination.

"How amusing." The enemy Dropship was landing in close, though before it even touched down the bays on its side opened, dropping some form of small mechanical enemy.

"All forces, _Archangel_ CIC, go live, this is not a sim, these shits are real enemies! Repeat, weapons free at this time!" Natarle shouts on the unit frequency.

"Chandratta, arm the weapons, this is not a drill," Captain Ramius notes. "Set CIWS to intercept those things, helldarts, sledgehammers. Charge but do not deploy Valiants, if that ship wants to join the shooting I'll turn it into scrap."

"What the hell are those things?" Valten asks.

"I dunno, but our fearless leader just committed us to battle totally unarmed!" Hawk replies.

"What? You mean you're completely out of options?" Athrun asks. "Retreat to the _Archangel_, Strikers. Gundams, Rune Gods on me!" Athrun shouts as he pulls his beam rifle.

"Gundam Lance, Sword Lance, maintain lance structure, Gundam Lance move to Bloody Top and use plunging fire on them. Sword Lance, Kira, what's your status?"

"Kira here, Aile Strike is good to go!"

"Prepare to come in from Ridge 14 and flank them while the Gundam Lance hammers on them from range, over," Natarle notes.

"Roger that, Commander," Total, there were twenty-five of the little midget machines. They looked incapable to really challenge the large machines, but Kira got the feeling that these were little packages of big destruction.

"I got 'em," Dearka says as he combines his weapons into shotgun formation and levels it on the enemy formation. One shot tore five of the enemy to bloody shreds—and bloody was right, as everyone could see the ground run red with the blood of the troopers in the armor.

The enemy, in response to the loss of a fifth of their ranks in one shot, commenced to spread into four groups of five and scatter, two groups headed for the Rune Gods, two groups headed for the Gundams. Their method of movement was unusual, as they would jump 90 meters at a time and land, running for a few moments, then jump again. It was rather endearing that they would have the ability to armor and support the infantry, Athrun figured. He would have killed for a few of those on the initial assault at Heliopolis, maybe this nasty chain reaction would never have happened.

"They think we can't beat these puny things?" Ciro asks as he closes up on one of the enemy formations.

"Ciro, fall back!" Major Steiner shouts as the Elementals jump up onto his machine and cling to it. After a few moments they begin firing their laser weapons into Ciro's Battlemech at point-blank range, causing significant damage to the Wolfhound just in one volley. After a few moments, the Wolfhound collapses forward as another unit of them head in for the Centurion.

"Hikaru, Umi, Fuu, with me!" Kira says as he pulls a beam saber from the Aile pack and jets up into the sky. When he lands it was _among_ the nearer of the groups that was zeroing in on him, and his machine landed on one of the enemy, flattening it underfoot. Before he jumped again he took two swings downward, and one contacted with an enemy, incinerating the armor and cooking off the propellant for the jets, causing a rather messy and bloody explosion that coated the right leg of the Strike with blood and bits of the trooper.

"Oh, go away!" Fuu brings her sword around and down, onto one of the elementals nearby where Kira had landed, after being frustrated with it shooting some small laser at her and some missiles. Her blade, though as wide as the armored trooper itself, managed to cut the trooper in half vertically and coat the tip of her sword with a combination of blood and some green gel-like liquid.

"Eegh!" Umi had gotten too close to the other two of that five-group and they had jumped up on her Rune God. With her left hand she grabs one of the enemy and slings it to the ground, where it bounces twice and doesn't move for a few moments. The other, sinceit was hovering at head level, she directs Selesce to head-butt it, causing it to lose control of its jump and fly into the ground. The one that had flown into the ground was relocated by Selesce kicking the Elemental for a distance of about 200 meters.

"Agh! Next time you will not be so lucky!" One of the Elementals says audibly, pointing at the Aile Strike.

"Uh, guys, looks like the midget patrol is on its way outta here, but here comes they big guns," Valten Ryder notes.

"Fucking lovely," Yzak says. "Captain, orders?"

"All units fall back to the _Archangel_, we're outta here. Mister Hartman, any ideas?"

"My farm, should be roughly north of here about ninety kilometers. Can I hitch a ride?"

"Get on fast, all of you!" Natarle orders quickly.

-x-x-x- (2100 hours) -x-x-x-

The farm that they had come to was a large one, easily the rival of any of the super-farms in the Earth Alliance territory. All the fields within sight of the farmhouse were the Hartman's fields, as well as an even larger territory that was beyond visual range. The homestead comprised a water tower (that Mr. Newman almost knocked down with the wing of the _Archangel_), a dozen grain silos, a processing facility, a tobacco barn, four barns for livestock, two hangars for farm equipment, and the house itself which was a multistory structure that in construction style dated back to the farmhouses of old Terra. All in all, it would have made a very comfortable residence for a family, more than a few of the Archangel crew figured.

"I LIVE!" Yzak shouts as he drops to the ground; the Duel was kneeled in the bay that the 1st Somerset Strikers had taken up occupancy in, and everyone was securing tarps and wind covers over their units as camouflage. "Though, why the hell did we run? We had them outnumbered and probably outgunned."

"They had us ranged, Yzak," Dearka admits quietly. "Our machines are most effective at about half of what they fight at. Yeah, any of us can stand off and take potshots at them at range, but the only reason we won on Dustball was because we scared them shitless in close quarters. They could have stood off three kilometers and hammered on us until we folded."

"Fire while closing. Next time, I am not retreating."

"We will all do as ordered by the Captain, Yzak," Athrun replies. "You, me, Dearka, Nicol, the Magic Knights, keep one thing in mind: the Captain doesn't have to take any of us anywhere. She's taking us home out of civility, and very politely overlooking the fact that she's Earth Alliance and you're ZAFT. And because of that, I think we're all obligated to play by her rules for now."

"When the hell did you trade your balls in for your red coat, Athrun?" Yzak asks crassly.

"Man, fuck you, Yzak. I'm not getting into this kind of argument. And don't expect me to save your ass if you disobey orders." Athrun stormed off toward Aegis, Leaving Yzak to the wolves in the bay, such as they were.

"All the Clanners have to do to win is leave us alone with each other for a few hours," Captain Hawkins notes

"That was incredibly smart, Yzak. Piss off your teammates. See how many Christmas cards you'll get this year," Dearka notes acidly as he heads back to his Gundam. Nicol said nothing as he turned away from the errant ZAFT elite pilot; Hikaru and Fuu had left with Nicol, discussing something with the ZAFT pilot pertaining to how to fight in close without getting stomped by the enemy. Yet, it was not his comrades that had gotten his attention, it was the intense look of disdain from Umi, before she turned and walked away, that had broken his arrogance.

"I'm with ya, Yzak," Ciro notes to the Gundam pilot who was now suffering a minor earthquake of conscience as to what was and was not proper conduct given that only he believed they stood a chance in that last battle. "Aleksandr Kerensky did not hand out medals like this for cowardice." Ciro was gripping an ancient medal his family had long had.

"Yeah," Yzak's voice held very little conviction.

"Anyone care for some chow?" Mr. Hartman asks as his wife and daughter help carry in some fresh produce and stew buckets. Of course, the_Archangel_ mess hall was adding to the dinner, and quite a few of the non-essential personnel were down helping with the camouflaging of the _Archangel_ and the mobile forces or other tasks around the barnyard, as a basic 'thank you' gesture to the Hartman family.

"Y'know, I'm not sure how we can repay you for the assistance, mister Hartman," Mu notes as he helps clear space for their addition to the cookout.

"You guys are helping the Major to stop or get rid of the invaders. That's more than enough repayment."

_There really are nice guys out there in Existence_, Mu thought to himself but did not say. Such courtesy was definitely lacking in the Atlantic Federation, and for the most part anywhere in the world from which he came as far as he knew.

"Oh, wow, how did you make this? It is excellent!" Fuu says as she tried some of the strange-looking casserole concoction that Mr. Hartman's daughter had brought out.

"You really think it is that good?" Gretchen asks.

"Indeed, it is very tasty," Fuu replies.

"I agree," Mu says with a mouthful of it. "Man, nothing beats good local eats," he says after emptying his mouth in the usual fashion. "I just wish the circumstances could have been a bit better."

"Could have been worse," Kylie said immediately thereafter as she was loading up on roasted turkey. "At least we all got away alive," she noted.

"It's really easy to make, if I had something to write with I could give you the recipe, Fuu." She looks around and spots the pen in Mu's breast pocket.

"Here," Murrue grabs the pen from Mu's pocket without any form of forewarning or explanation and hands it off to her. "I think we're all at least slightly interested how you make this."

"Who do I squeeze for the recipe to this casserole?" Nicol asks the assembled group, thereby unknowingly proving what Murrue had said. Even the ZAFT personnel wanted to know what was in the casserole.

Gretchen had written up the recipe in English on a napkin and handed it to Fuu. "Here. It's real simple, cooks in an hour. My dad says it would work well for military forces on the go, but I'm not so sure if he meant a like like yours..." She hesitates, obviously trying to chew on a rather tough thought. "By the by, where are you guys from, anyways?" Gretchen asks as she hands the pen back to Murrue, who again without forewarning puts it back in his pocket.

"By all accounts, the best explanation we can give is that we are a military group comprised of persons from two different dimensions from this one." Murrue proceeded to give her second full rundown of where the _Archangel_ came from, as well as their journey through Cephiro. The telling thereof took twenty minutes, including interruptions to explain certain things more fully, and made excellent dinner entertainment for the whole group.

Elsewhere in the bay, Dearka and Yzak had reconciled their argument for the night and were wandering down the row of machines along with Ryder when they came across Kira, Tolle, Miriallia, and Kuzzey sitting on a crate, as Kira's robotic bird bounced from one head to the next. "Hey, what's that he's listenin' to?" Val asks, indicating Tolle and his headphones. That mention had Dearka's attention, and by extension also had exposed Yzak to it as well and thereby caught his attention as well.

"Here, let me check," Miriallia pulls the headphone off the side of Tolle's head nearest to her, at the same time that Kira had done the same thing. "Oh, some of the old 'American Metal' that he's so in love with," Miriallia rolls her eyes, quite clearly expressing her opinion on that subject.

"The older the metal, the better, and this band is Metallic—" Miriallia and Kira released the headphones at the same time, causing them to snap down on his ears at the same time. "—Arg, why did you guys do that?"

"Do what?" Kira asks.

"Snapped my headphones—forget it." _Space case_, Tolle thinks of Kira a moment thereafter, and gets an elbow from Miriallia and a telepathic warning to mind his mind, which was fast becoming an inside joke between them. "Anyways, the song's called _Fade To Black_ by the ancient metal band Metallica. They some serious old-school metal."

"I may have to look into them," Yzak says. "Doesn't sound half as annoying as Athrun's fiancée." Yzak was notorious for not liking the bubblegum-pop genre that had grown of late among the PLANTs, of which culminated in the ultra-famous singer Lacus Clyne. Though, by the same token the PLANTs were rather short on good, hard rock bands except in clubs here and there that no self-respecting ZAFT Elite would enter...

"I know, I mean she has a very beautiful voice, but pop definitely isn't my thing." Tolle shrugs, suddenly wondering how in the name of a rather chilly hell he had found anything in common with the otherwise insufferable Yzak Joule of ZAFT. "Y'know, I keep hearing rumors and snippets of a form of music that mixed vocals sorta like Lacus with either some real strange techno music or some really kickass metal, or both. I just can't find a full song of it anywhere..."

"If you do, let me in on it. I gotta hear something like that," _Mostly to have some form of defense against Athrun's obsession with said pop star_, Yzak thinks crossly; his thought earned him a semi-approving snort from Miriallia. The thought of metal mixed with female pop vocals did not really appeal to Yzak, but he figured anything was better than straight-up pop music.

"TO THE _ARCHANGEL_ ON THE DOUBLE! PILOTS MOUNT UP!" Murrue shouts over the din of the gathering. The sound of an autocannon accentuated the matter at hand as something outside took a shot at one of the buildings. Mr. Hartman was last seen by Yzak as he ran out of a personnel door in the hangar, carrying some form of semi-portable laser weapon, something that looked like it was meant for use on vehicles and such.

Yzak was not the first or the last to mount up and fire his systems up. He was, however, first out the door since his machine had one of the highest concentrations of armor in the entire unit and would make a good point-man when the situation was not completely known. "Duel to CIC, what is the situation?"

"All forces, be advised we have fifteen enemy machines, confirmed Clan Jade Falcon, and they are out for blood. They're leveling the civilian structures in retribution for us being here," Sai says. "_Archangel_ is coming on line now, we'll be ready to support in less than two minutes," he tacks on for added effect.

"Roger that, CIC. Gundam Lance is moving out now, we'll see if we can draw their attention away from the civilians, over."

"Banshee is in the air," Kylie declares.

"Skygrasper is airborne with Launcher pack," Tolle notes.

"Sword Lance is deployed," Kira notes as he was the last out of the hangar of his lance. The 'Mechs had just two still to exit, the Mauler and the Timber Wolf.

"CIC is online, awaiting fire support requests," Natarle notes on the radio. "All forces, _Archangel_ is taking off now, close support is available."

"Roger that, CIC, where do you want us?" Athrun asks.

"Sword Lance on the right flank, Gundam Lance in the center, Mech lance to the left and slightly forward. Fire as they come, full release. Magic Knights, if you have a target you can knock out with spells, do it."

"Roger that," Adam replies.

"Right!" Hikaru answers to Natarle's orders.

The battlemechs began trading fire at long range, mostly missiles thrown back and forth between the units with long-range missiles, as well as the Duel getting the first notable action with its carried LRM-20 box. There was something to be said for the interface between the Duel and its missile box, for between the accuracy of the two sides the Duel was outshooting the Clanners and the Strikers two-to-one in hits, though not in volume.

"Oh, I gotcha this time, maggots," Dearka says as he combines his weapon into sniper rifle configuration. When he levels the weapon, he waits for a group of missiles to hit his Gundam and blow, which caused precisely zero damage to the phase shift armor, then he fired. The shot traversed straight into the chest of a Hellbringer and punched straight through, literally blowing out the back of the unit and causing something spectacular inside the machine to cook off, likely an ammo store; the pilot ejected a half-second later as his machine went face-first into the ground.

"Killer shooting, Dearka," Athrun congratulates the unit's unofficial sniper. "Nicol, on my target!" Athrun centers his beam rifle on a Mad Dog and fires once (left torso), then Nicol does (center torso), then Athrun again (left arm,), then Nicol again (left torso again). After Nicol's second shot, the machine fell backward and did not move again.

The lasers started in earnest, mostly coming from the Clan machines, though also headed toward them from the Mech lance. The Gundams had their shields set forward, except for Dearka who had fallen back to make himself scarce for this phase of the battle. He was still using the sniper rifle configuration of his weapons, and as the enemy came on they presented an excellent target profile for him to shoot at. Yzak had dropped aside the missile pack after completely unloading it into the enemy ranks, and was shooting his beam rifle off like the fusion-powered menace machine he really was now.

"Shit, they got bigger and nastier machines in there today, I got track on three of 'em!" Athrun says on the Gundam frequency. "Yzak, Nicol, help me take this monster down over here!" Athrun sights up something that looked strangely like an apartment building with legs and arms, the squat and blocky torso ill-suited or streamlined yet menacing even so. The machine in question sighted up Athrun for the shot it took to the leg and returned the favor; Athrun was only barely able to interpose his shield between the monster's three PPC blasts and his Gundam, because all three were aimed right at his chest. "_Archangel_, Aegis, request heavy support ASAP!"

"Aegis,_Archangel_, hold on to your ass pilot, incoming close support fire." **Close** was the operative word, as the distance between the forces had ground down considerably; they were now at 1000 meters and closing, with just about every weapon in their arsenals barking at each other. A volley of 12 Sledgehammers and 12 Helldarts lanced in on the enemy's heaviest group, which also included the machine that Yzak and Nicol had helped bring down by literally blowing its right leg clean off, though that feat had taken a stunning ten shots of beam rifle with three solid hits to the same 2-square-meter patch of its leg. Hitting the leg of a moving machine is no simple feat, even for ZAFT pilots.

The missiles came down in a cascade, throwing the four machines in several directions as the explosions tore major rents in the enemy armor. Each missile was a lot more powerful than even the Clan's standard artillery pieces, and apparently none of them were all that well interested in dodging or shooting them down, so they took the hits, figuring their machines would shrug off the fire. Oops. The samllest of the machines in that group, a Mech with twelve laser barrels, perversely flew the shortest distance from where it was, since the pilot was acting a bit overeager to get close and rough with the Sword Lance. The largest of the machines, armed with two of the PPCs that Athrun's tormentor had as well as four cannons equivalent to the CIWS guns and a large shotgun-like cannon, was hammered by four of the missiles and catastrophically exploded as its reactor was breached too fast to compensate and safely shut down (6). That explosion, as well as two missiles, finished off the apartment-building-on-legs and the pilot punched out amid the flaming, sputtering remnants of his LRM-10 rack and ammo cooking off. The Helldarts seemed to swarm down upon the one Timber Wolf in the enemy formation, with ten hits that shredded the arms and legs clean off the 'mech, as well as punch a nasty hole in the left missile pack of the 'mech (which had a different array of missiles it had not yet fired at the Archangel's force compliment).

Dearka had lined up on the red Summoner that was running in their heavy star, and had a good feeling about dropping the hammer on this tango, as if he was something important to the enemy formation—maybe a command officer? Before he could put full pressure on the trigger, though, his right arm indicators immediately went to a shade of yellow indicating he had just taken a hit, accompanied by a sound that reminded him of crackling static electric discharge. Strange, that. Nobody had hit him with the dread weapon PPC, he had not seen the shooter, unless they were running a flanking attack as well—he traversed his machine's head right, and got an eyeful of what was shooting at him and just a moment thereafter the _Archangel_. "Oh, shit, guys, flanking attack! Coming in from the north!"

"How the hell—no way, there's another fifteen of the bastards on our right flank!" Yzak shouts in exasperation.

"Sword Lance, move to and support Dearka, priority! He's gonna get cut to ribbons unless—"

**CRACKFZZZZZZ**, a PPC from one of these exceptionally small machines hammered into the upper chest of the Buster as it reoriented on them and changed weapons configurations. The shotgun combination would be most optimal for putting down three or four of them at a time, since they were moving in close formation, a trio of wedge formations headed right at him, basically, and he was standing between the _Archangel_ and the enemy. **CRACKFZZZZZZ**, another hit him in the leg as lasers passed within meters of his machine and he lined up for the first barrage on the enemy machines. Before he could fire, the Archangel had put down a barrage of Igelstellung on the far end of the formation and swept it from right to left, in an attempt to basically distract and harry the enemy machines while Kira got into position to support him. The catch was, the Igelstellungs were not all that powerful a weapon any way you cut it, and Clan Omnimechs are designed to take the abuse, regardless of them being the midget Kit Fox or the monster Timber Wolf (or whatever the bigger machines are named). The shelling managed to knock down one of the smallest of the machines, and scored hits on all of the enemies basically, but it did not stop them from returning the favor to the Archangel or the Buster.

Dearka got his shot off, just a moment prior to a Kit Fox from the left-most wedge put a crimson-colored laser through the left shoulder of the Buster. The 40mm charged shot of the gun launcher and the high-energy beam cannon tore into the center wedge of the enemy, knocking all three of the center machines down in the wedge of five. The laser had punched into the center of the machine, hitting a very vital component in the Gundams that most personnel don't think about unless it does fail. "Oh, shit, they got my hydro master cylinder, I got thirty seconds before my machine is stiff as a board!"

"Get your ass clear, Dearka! You ain't going to be able to—" Yzak begins, then stops abruptly.

In the center wedge of the enemy forces rushing him, the rightmost of the machines that he did not hit was a Nova, A variant pods. The two arms, normally filled with six lasers per arm in the Primary variant, instead carried a single Clan ERPPC (7) in each arm.. The pilot, a veteran Jade Falcon that had seen combat on a dozen words and had his share of kills against the disdained Clan Wolf, had long since developed the habit of firing both PPCs in one Target Interlock Circuit, meaning that both PPCs fired at the exact same time at the exact same targeted location.

**CRACKFZZZZZZ**.

Kira, Yzak, and the whole bridge staff of the _Archangel_ could all see the acintic lightning streak around the waist of the Buster, and they all had enough imagination to tell where the two PPC rounds had hit the Buster. Against a battlemech the PPC is a significant threat, causing thermal, electric, and impact damage to the target Against a Gundam, however, there is almost zero defense against this class of weapons, just as the armor of a Gundam was unprotected against beam and laser weapons.

The first real indication that any of them got that something was wrong was actually Miriallia, as she could sense Dearka's mind, just briefly, then nothing. Like a lightbulb, just before it dies, it burns the brightest you shall ever see it; in that one instant, Miriallia saw many things, but the foremost of the thoughts she could recognize were about going home to the PLANTs and a crush he had on Hikaru that he definitely didn't want to admit. Then, nothing; complete silence from the cockpit of the Buster. The monitors for the IFF coming from the Buster went red, as if it had been disconnected; the error message reported 'signal lost'.

The main physical indicators came after two seconds; the Buster dropped its combined weapons and then fell backwards, and to all it was a moment frozen in time, seeing the charred wreck where the Buster's cockpit had been.

"No, Dearka, no..." Yzak says, totally stunned to the point that he wasn't even firing, just looking at the fallen Buster.

"No..way...he's...gone," Athrun notes.

"God DAMN them!" Yzak shouts as he recenters his view forward, toward the heavy Star that was even still bearing down on them. In an instant, his mind blanked out everything as he quickly figured out a way in which he could make as many of them bleed as quickly as possible. "Follow me in! We'll send them all to hell!" (8)

"We're goin' in!" Kira shouts as he draws both Beam Sabers and jets upward at a pace faster than any Battlemech would using Jump Jets. Before he landed on the offending Nova he sprayed it down with 75mm CIWS, then landed on top of it with both knees, and it was the right knee that crushed the cockpit and instantly killed the pilot. For good effect, Kira ran the beam saber in his left hand into the rear of the torso of the machine and dragged it out as he vaulted off the back of said 'mech.

"Hurt my friends, I'll stop you from doing this!" Hikaru shouts as he closes up on the left-side wedge of small machines, and she did so by the same tactic that Kira did, though rather than coming down on them with her knees she set her sword down and dropped straight in on a Kit Fox, the blade literally puncturing through the body of the mech and coming out right between the legs of of the unit. When she drew her sword out, it came clear coated with grease and coolant, dripping red as if she had just run through a living being. Umi was right alongside her, the sword of Selesce having been slashed through the body of a Fire Moth completely (the Fire Moth is an exceedingly small machine with very little armor), quite literally chopping it into two pieces that proceeded to fall to the ground moments before the pilot punched out.

Yzak, Athrun, and Nicol had all gone in close on the main enemy they were slated to challenge, Nicol starting off by launching all three of his Lancer Darts into one of the few machines on the field larger than the Timber Wolf, and this one had proved itself exceptionally fast but a bit thin on armaments. The lancer darts all penetrate well into the center of the torso and detonate, immediately violently throwing the machine backwards and causing the pilot to eject. Yzak went in on the Nova in the star, using both beam sabers to completely chop its arms off and then swiftly kick the 'mech over onto its haunches. Athrun had challenged the Hellbringer in the same fashion that Kira had, and after blocking the two ER Large Lasers in its arm he went about removing its main dangerous weapons, being the two ER Large Lasers in its left arm. This he accomplished the same way that Kira had before, completely removing the right arm just below the shoulder with the beam saber, where the arm was physically the thinnest and weakest. The shot from the Ultra-5 Autocannon in its left arm was pro forma but pointless against the Phase Shift armor of the Aegis.

"Hey, guys, they're retreating!" Kylie notes from her point of view. The Aerofighters had gotten some work in on the star to the left of the initial enemy wave, but not enough to score any kills from their actions. The 1st Somerset, though, had claimed an Adder and an Ice Ferret out of that same star and damaged all the rest, which was not a simple feat under heavy Clan fire.

The proof was in the enemy Summoner that had jump-jetted backwards 500 meters and turned around in mid air to hit the ground literally running away from the unit. The remainder of both forces that had assaulted the unit, being only half-capable to the battle now, were running hard and fast away from the unit and the _Archangel_.

"I'll fucking chase them down and eat their hearts for lunch!" Yzak shouts, though the Duel was restrained from moving by the Aegis.

"It's over, Yzak. Leave them be for tonight. We'll finish fucking their ozone tomorrow, clear?" The question was not so much a question as it was a warning to the _Archangel_ bridge, and a grossly unnecessary one at that. That proof came a few seconds later:

"Fire!" Murrue shouts to the CIC crew, which was picked up by the microphones they wore. The command was to the Valiant Linear Guns, which were not small weapons by any definition of the irreverent thought. One of the slugs missed; the other struck a Stormcrow square in the back, the slug ripping straight through the enemy machine and in transit completely shredding the engine of the machine. The monster fireball as the machine cooked off and knocked its nearby cohorts to the ground was simply a parting shot of the aggrieved, though, and would have little effect on upcoming battles. A second and third volley netted no results, as the enemy was now moving in random patterns to avoid long-range sniping.

"That's it for restraint," Athrun notes coldly, audible on the all-unit channel. "Major, you have my full support in taking them down and kicking them out of the Inner Sphere."

"Damn straight!" Yzak shouts.

"Major Steiner, Captain Ramius," everyone present recognized the wearied voice of Mr. Hartman. "We have a set of old, unused mining tunnels to the west of here. You can rest in there for the night, and use the time to patch up your unit."

"Unit, recover the Buster and hangar in the _Archangel_," Natarle orders. "We will repair and redeploy the Buster at a later time."

The Strike, the Duel, and the Aegis all labored to pick up and carry the Buster and its massive weapon to the _Archangel_.

For him, as they say, the war is over.

* * *

Author's Chapter Afterword: 

Shocked yet? Actually, I did hesitate quite a bit in writing this last section, Dearka is one of my favorite Gundam SEED characters. You don't encounter very many nihilists anywhere in Existence, since more or less everyone defers to some level of authority somewhere and somehow. Not to mention the Buster kicks ass and the said pilot kicks ass without the whining. Such is fate; the dice roll wicked and the enemies don't play nice, what can I say? I didn't even fudge on the random unit rolling for the Jade Falcons here, except on which designs are legal for 3050 play. I think I rolled the Night Gyr about four or five times for the assaulting Trinary, which is a 3055 design and won't be designed for at least that long, if at all in this altered universe. I ended up re-rolling any invalid designs, and tossing in different pod configs for those I rerolled. That's why the Nova A, which is not common to the Jade Falcons, that killed Dearka's machine.

I do have to feel sorry for Miriallia, though, having to feel the death of one of the pilots has got to suck, not to mention the instant overexposure to the thoughts of that person leaves her in one hellish quandary: does she tell of what she saw in his final moment or not? And if she does, what would that do to the persons left behind? A hellish quandary of conscience indeed.

I believe someone once asked if the characters presented here are actually from Battletech. Yes, they are from the original Battletech cartoon that aired on FOX networks sometime in 1994. The great battle between Major Steiner and Nikolai Malthus was what made that year of grade school bearable, getting to see it every Saturday morning at 1000 CDST was a helluva blast, followed up by Mega Man. Killer entertainment, comrades, at least for a grade-schooler of those times.

Say hello to Tolle the metal-head of the Archangel. You can rest assured that pass-time of his is going to cause a bit of strife, above and beyond Yzak's desire to find something to counter Athrun's love of a certain not-included-character's pop music. And, somewhere down the road he is going to meet someone who listens to the kind of music he is thinking of.

I think I have said everything I need to say in prose for this zone. Just be warned, next chapter will be even more violent as the ZAFT crew draws vengeance for their fallen comrade, and the Archangel does its level best to help on the subject.

And now, for the review or PM replies, whichever applies on whichever subject:

First off, Maddery. Continuing from last msg, the prayer for my sanity on the reading material in question will likely be helpful. Not that I intend on delving too far on that subject, per se. And does the above count as what you were speaking of for a character death?

Thanks, Knives. I have not even begun to write yet, as the old saying goes.

Well, Gonging Apple, mind dropping me the recipe of this health drink? I think I can figure out who among the series in question that I shall violate is immune to such a concoction. And get yer arse out of the hospital, comrade, if it ain't gushing blood it ain't a problem.

CHM01, a helluva idea. I'm thinking a BLU-41 canister filled with Haros made in the fashion that you are speaking of, dropped from the wing of the Skygrasper. "With Love from Athrun" on the side of the cluster bomb case, of course :P As to Murrue's weapon, I'll save that surprise for now. Flay, well, Flay is Flay, and I hope I can keep her out of trouble for now, but her being the mistress of the Springs when Kira is off-duty is going to cause monster problems, I daresay. And neg, Clef did not just piss off the ZAFT people, everyone on the ship feels at least partially betrayed and he's going to have to talk fast to keep his neck intact.

Mega1987: Huh?

Etienne Of the West Wind: continuing off your last, thx for the appraisal of said characters on the subject and the suggestion. The series you mentioned is one of my all-time favs for Sci-fi, I think I watched the first four seasons religiously, having missed maybe two eps out of the whole run. I lost track of it partway through the fifth season, when I was moving from my old home to where I live now, lo those many years ago. I do have all five seasons on DVD, so I may have to think long and hard about that )

Gatomon, thx for the review, I at least hope the OOC that I am developing the characters into is a logical evolution as they get strung out through the worlds they pass through. And, for some reason I enjoy writing epic-style fics, I like having a lot of room to play with prose and concept, building a complex plot and interactions between characters and elements. And building the history that drives the persons, the events is just as fun in my opinion, since nothing happens in Existence without due cause, even if the answer is just 'because I wanted to screw with something' from the person that did it. (I'll leave the question of who screwed with what up to your imagination).

Much thanks for the encouragement and reviews to the persons who dropped them. C'mon, I know there are craploads of you peeps out there reading this monster, drop me a review and your two cents on the story. I listen to everyone's opinion and I do respect conflicting ideas and methods of operation. I have read much of people who do not respect such, and I swear that while I enjoy arguing technical points, I do respect differing opinions.

Next up: The combined unit has to put aside their losses and reclaim their Dropship to get off Romulus, though this means going Through the Falcons..

* * *

Footnotes: 

(1): Not much is told in detail about the Lightning Striker pack, except that it was initially designed to extend the operation lifetime of the Strike on the battlefield. The main weapon of the Lightning Striker is an electromagnetic rifle, which tracks with the method of slug-throwing that a Rail Gun uses, which is the common name for a Gauss Rifle, which is what Athrun is staring at in this sentence. Basically, it throws a big slug at a very high speed at the enemy by pulling it down the barrel using electromagnets. In Battletech, it is said that a Gauss Rifle slug can slam halfway through the arm of a heavy 'mech routinely, and can rip the head off any 'mech completely, regardless of size. I have lost more than one 'mech and 'mechwarrior to a Gauss Rifle to the face in a game of Battletech.

(2): Atlas is the classic definition of an Assault mech, big and brutal and not particularly fast, mounting as much in weapons as the total weight of many 'mechs. It is said that an Atlas can pick up light 'mechs and throw them to the ground as if it was throwing around a child's toy. Even Clanners, with their generally superior arsenal, still have a hard time taking down this venerable assault 'mech, which makes it some very heavy metal.

(3): A neurohelmet is the main way that a 'Mechwarrior interfaces with his machine. It basically reads the pilot's motor-control thought patterns and translates them to the machine, thereby allowing the pilot to use his internal cockpit controls for more serious tasks like putting lasers and missiles on target. The downside is that certain types of internal damage to the machine can cause feedback that can injure or kill a pilot.

(4): This is due to the fact that this is not something Natarle normally does, but sometimes you just have to bite the bullet and do the unusual things, quiaff?

(5): Officer Candidate School. Basically an academy that trains non-commissioned officers (Sergeants) into commissioned officers (Ensigns). Kira got lucky here, he was drafted in as an Ensign.

(6): this is a valid Level Three rule in Maximum Tech. An engine blast causes a helluva lot of damage but in a very small area, as is shown here by the effect of knocking down the neighboring Omni.

(7): ERPPC is Extended Range Particle Projection Cannon. The Clan version has a 23-hex range and 15 points of damage, making it the most powerful energy weapon available to the Clans until the advent of the Heavy Lasers by the Star Adders. For reference, the Beam Rifles used by the Gundams are 20-point damage weapons, the Beam Cannon carried by the Buster is considered 30 points (double the power of the ERPPC), and the Gottfrieds are 300 points per barrel.

(8): Yzak went SEED, and was already pissed off to begin with. This could get bloody.


	12. Vengeance Trip

(Section 2, Chapter 4: Vengeance Trip)

PERSONAL LOGFILE ENTRY

BADGEIRUEL, NATARLE

_I will preface this entry with the note that while I still do not completely agree with the actions the Captain has taken with regard to the ZAFT pilots that are marooned with us in another corner of Existence from our home world, I would not wish the events of the past hours on anyone, friend, foe, or stranger._

_As of right now, I can but assume that half the crew of the Archangel is in shock, the other half is either depressed or openly enraged at the fate of one of the ZAFT pilots, Dearka Elsman. Despite the nature of the relationship between the pilot of the Buster and the ship, losing the said pilot to the Clans and the ambush they set us in fighting late last evening has impacted us all, and this includes myself from both a personal and professional standpoint. Granted, few are impacted more than the ZAFT pilots, though the toll seems heaviest on the Magic Knights and our own Gundam Pilot, Kira Yamato. And though I have made it clear to said persons, both the Mobile Suit controller and the weapons officers on the Archangel believe themselves to be somewhat or more at fault for the fate of the Buster Pilot._

_Simply stated, the pilots of the machines were too wrapped up to have any real chance of providing useful cover and support to the Buster, which had fallen back due to the fact that it is not equipped with a shield and has almost zero resistance to beam weapons. The Buster was caught out in the open when a second enemy company of forces struck the whole formation from the right flank, leaving the Buster badly exposed on unfavorable terrain. The damage the Buster received was extensive, though the killer blow came from a pair of Clan Extended-Range PPC weapons mounted in a smaller enemy chassis. Both said weapons struck the cockpit of the Buster. Death was instantaneous. Despite the whole company of forces we killed off in that one battle, the loss of the Buster represents a significant loss of our striking power as well as an elite pilot that cannot be replaced._

_Worse than the loss of personnel and equipment is the major detriment to morale that this has imposed on the ship. Nobody onboard is immune from the feeling of helplessness and loss this has brought to us this evening, and I do not think any amount of distractions or extracurricular activities is going to fill the nascent void in our collective hopes and will to get home. Even now, I am beginning to believe something that Dearka said, that he believed that either we were fated to remain here or we would find a way to move onto another dimension, and would forever be cursed to wander, never reaching home. What hope I had once derived from the tale of Odysseus, the main character of the ancient Greek tragedy _The Odyssey_, has gone by the wayside in the events of the evening, as though we may find a way to continue our journey there is no real telling what out there is next, or if we shall survive the next long enough to make it home._

_It is my recommendation that the G-Weapon program be modified to account for the fact that even the most basic of energy weapons used on the Gundams can cause serious, if not even crippling damage to a machine in a single strike, and it is not often possible to shield or dodge such attacks, as was demonstrated this past evening. Even the weakest of Battlemechs and Omnimechs seem to have some resilience to energy weapons, in part due to their armor composite, as demonstrated by the Gundams having to fire on a single enemy multiple times to put it down, whereas even one enemy Large Laser, with an estimated striking power of half that of the standard 76mm Beam Rifle, can cause crippling damage to any of the Gundams. This alone represents a serious flaw that can be capitalized on by any force opposing a Gundam, provided they have the technology to use energy weapons._

_Despite what I believe may be our fates, I will not give up on the ship or the crew, regardless of who we add or subtract from it. It is the least I can do for those of us hoping against all odds to return home one day. Myself, I can only hope that what I enter into this journal does not become the last testament of the Archangel and her crew._

As usual, she issued the console command to lock her files and shut down the console. Moments later she was out the door, whereas in prior times she would have simply hung around her quarters.

Even if she would not admit it, Natarle was not today the same person she was days before.

-x-x-x-

"Was...anything recovered?" Natarle asks Murdoch, in a corner and away from the Buster, where the three ZAFT pilots were still around the machine.

"Just his Magic Knight glove. Those PPCs tore right through the cockpit area and destroyed everything, except that glove. We might find...something...but on first check, no, just the glove."

"Memorial service?" Natarle asks next.

"Nothing official yet, though the way it tore up the Captain, I doubt it will be long before we do."

"I think we would all need that," Natarle notes with a bit of dejection to her voice. "Yeah, we'll plan for it to be done after we get off this rock," she adds after a few seconds. "Getting the _Kwaidan_ back and everyone off this rock alive is going to be the major challenge of the next day or two."

"Maybe not as major as first believed, Commander," Major Steiner notes as he approaches the two officers. "Mister Hartman says they have about a half-dozen machines still active and munition stores in these mines. We may not be able to drive them off Romulus, but we can make their lives miserable."

"Sounds good, we'll help in any way we can," Murdoch notes. "ZAFT or not, that kid was one of our team and we'll do what we can to pay 'em back for it."

"Oh? Can your people rig a large explosive charge out of a lot of smaller munitions?"

"Yeah, easily," Murdoch notes. He had several ordinance techs that could likely do that, or make one big frigging rocket to launch up their asses...

"Excellent, what we intend on doing is this..." Major Steiner outlined the battle plan that he was envisioning, and even Natarle was rather shocked at the audacity of it, but in the end she went along given that she wanted them to pay for their actions.

When Natarle finally worked up the courage to approach, the Buster was in its normal machine cubicle, though she could see clear into the reactor encapsulation for the machine, which was behind and slightly above the cockpit area of the Buster. The engines had survived; they were lucky enough to get that much back of the Buster, and its weapon had been recovered intact. It had also taken a large laser to the hydro master cylinder, which had caused that entry wound to 'bleed' hydraulic fluid all over the place and down the front-left of the Gundam. All in all it had taken a hellish beating before it took those two Particle Cannons that killed Dearka.

The pilots were gone, likely ordered to bed to get some rest, since tomorrow was another day and another planned bloody battle. The Magic Knights were gone as well. The Mechanics were presently focusing on the usable machines, being that the Buster was BER (1) at this time and even if it was fixed, Tolle was too green to be of any real use on it. Really, only a few of the crew were still around, wondering as to the fate of the ship now that it was known the Gundams could be taken out.

Natarle approached the safety line of the bay, and found a candle in a jar that had been lit just recently sitting on the safety line; next to the jar was the red-gem partial glove that Dearka had worn but made no real mention of it or his link to Hikaru when he had it. It was strange, really, you would think that something tangible would be left of someone, but the power of those ER Particle Cannons was hellish; Natarle had a strange feeling that the only thing that spared the glove was the magical power that made it manifest. It was odd, really, the most powerful of technology that the Cosmic Era had was not able to surpass a simple magic glove in survivability. _Either something was wrong with the whole concept of technology or magic is just simply the more powerful of the two_, Natarle figured.

"You know, I'm not sure who failed this time around...if any of us failed." Natarle immediately recognized the voice of the Captain.

"They hit us too hard, too fast, too many of them. We didn't fail so much as we were outmatched," Natarle notes. "Next time, though, Major Steiner and the militia has a plan for changing that around so that we have the superior plan and numbers."

"And we're part of it, right?"

"Indeed."

"Excellent. What's the intention?" In military parlance, an intention is the core concept of a battle plan.

"Destroy their transport capability and force them to surrender, those that we don't kill outright."

That was something that Murrue had off-and-on considered as a role for the _Archangel_, prior to the disaster in Heliopolis that left them running for their lives. Though it may seem like overkill, the _Archangel_ would be supremely suited to shipping interdiction, given that the weapons carried by the _Archangel_ would very likely go through an average transport the long way. Very efficient at sending their shipping to the bottom, of course. And the easiest way to bring a battle to a screeching, smoking halt was to cut off the enemy's supply lines, and that involved shipping interdiction.

"We'll do it. Major Steiner and I will need to clear up the details. First, though, we need munitions, and so do the Strikers."

"Right. Might I suggest we head for one of the Militia's munitions bunkers early morning...which isn't all that far off, actually," Natarle notes as she glances at a clock. "Remain on level 2 battle stations for now?"

"No, the terrain favors us if they wanted to press the issue right now. And right now, if we had a line of them cross that hill to the north, I'd slag the hill down with the Lohengrins—with them on it—just to keep them away from our personnel."

"Clear, Captain. I'll have the bridge stand down the ship. I'll take the watch until it is time to move." _And I have no intention of waking you at that time, either_, Natarle did not say. Murrue looked like hell right now, had probably been awake too long to be really coherent, and was letting the stress mount to the point of physical pains, or at least that is what Natarle guessed was happening. In reality, Natarle was underestimating what Murrue had been going through, in both time and severity.

"Did...we do something wrong, Commander?" The voice was a rude shock to Natarle, who had turned back to the candle, the glove and the Buster. She had to look and see who it was, though part of her was not surprised that it was Hikaru, presently without her armor or sword but she was wearing her glove. As Natarle was.

Natarle sighed. It was a question she had herself asked, time and again over the past four hours, and she kept coming up with the answer she had given to the Captain. "No, Hikaru, nobody did anything wrong in the last battle. Certainly not the Sword Lance. We just...well..."

"Well?"

"We got hit by too many of them at once. We couldn't stop them all."

"Oh." Hikaru looks down to the steel deck, wondering what had gone wrong then. "What will...happen next?"

"We're going to have to go into battle again, but this time on our terms. We're going to rescue the Striker's Dropship, the _Kwaidan_, and we are going to destroy the Clan Dropships to force the issue in our favor. If you do not want to be in the battle, we will not ask you to."

"But...if we want to?" Hikaru asks rather innocently, timidly.

"That is your choice, but I would not even ask you to do this. It's only going to get harder as we face more of these Clans, and there is no telling if we will ever get a reprieve from the fighting." _Or if we will ever get home_, Natarle thinks but does not say.

"Oh. Thank you, Commander."

"We did nothing wrong." To Hikaru, it sounded as if Natarle was still trying to convince herself of that fact.

"Commander?"

"Is something else on your mind?"

"Yeah, I just remembered something my brother taught me once. I'm not sure if it would help us, but," her gesture was rather feeble on that account, which led Natarle to wonder how useful the wisdom of Hikaru's brother would be in a military situation. In the end, natural curiosity overrode Natarle's recently-shattered belief that she knew enough to get by; Natarle was now under the notion that anything she could learn, the better.

"Go on," Natarle replies when Hikaru falters.

"He once taught me a trick, I think you'd call it a 'tactic', for when you face a lot of enemies. You have to be fast when doing it, faster than your enemies, or it won't work. What you do is you run just fast enough to get them to chase you. When they do that, they usually spread out, the fastest behind you, followed by the next fastest, and so on. When they do this, you turn, knock one down, then continue running. You keep doing this until they give up or you knock them all down."

It did not take Natarle more than five seconds to see the utility of such a tactic, especially when applied to their present situation. "Hikaru, you may have just saved us all a lot of misery and grief in the upcoming battle." It would work, and work very well, when done right. By all accounts, when the Clanners thought they had you on the run, they often did give chase; being strung out like that would reduce their combat efficiency and give the _Archangel_ immense opportunity to send quite a few of them to hell. Not to mention killing off their Dropships, which by all accounts were not cheap weapons to begin with.

"One question, Hikaru, did you ever have to do that in real life?"

"No...why?"

"Well, I hope we both live to return home, because I owe your brother a serious 'thank you' for that piece of wisdom."

"Thank you, Commander." She bows graciously and turns toward the hatch headed into the interior of the ship.

Natarle turned back to the candle as Hikaru left, and was left with just her thoughts as time passed. After an amount of time, though, she did report to the bridge and stand down the ship.

-x-x-x-

Miriallia was still haunted by the images and feelings that she had seen in the mind of Dearka just before he died.

And she didn't know if she should tell of what she saw or not. Well, inasfar. She definitely was not going to tell Hikaru that Dearka had been nursing a crush on her, that would shred what was left of her heart right now; it did not take a total psionic to tell that Hikaru was definitely depressed by losing one of the team, and more so since she lost one of the persons that was linked to her. His two foremost thoughts had been his crush and his desire to get home, but she had seen other things in his mind at that time, and only with the passage of time had they made sense. He had been rather frustrated with Yzak's conduct and foul mouth. He thought Athrun and Nicol should stop being so hesitant about what they had to do about getting home. And he seemed to think highly of the Captain and Commander of the _Archangel_, inasfar as they were 'Earth Alliance pukes'.

Trying to ignore it was not working; her mind kept coming back to the thoughts she had seen. Laying in bed thinking about it was not solving her problem, either. So, after a few hours of tossing and turning, she exited the crew quarters, headed out for a bite to eat at the cafeteria. _Maybe that will settle my nerves_, she figured.

The galley on a warship is a 24-7 affair, since it has three different shifts to cater to, as well as the nearly-universal requirement of coffee that fueled the modern military. So, when she entered the cafeteria she was expecting to see someone in there, just not the crowd that was in there. Immediately her eyes picked out Fuu, Nicol, Yzak (who by her guess was very enraged still), Flay, and Tolle, as well as about two dozen others. There was also one that she did not recognize, a lady that was talking to Tolle, but by the same token also appeared to be about 25, maybe a little older, so Miriallia wasn't all that concerned about her hitting on Tolle.

Miriallia approached the table that Tolle was at, as he was explaining something he did with a pair of hand gestures to the lady. "Mind if I join you two?" Miriallia asks, hoping that her voice did not sound too tired.

"Oh, hey Mir, I thought you were in bed," Tolle replies immediately, though she couldn't sense any trace of trying to conceal something in his tone.

"Couldn't sleep. May I?" She prompts again.

"Sure, uh, Kylie, this is Miriallia, the combat controller for the _Archangel_."

"Kylie? Oh, you're the pilot of the Banshee, for the Strikers, right?"

"I thought you sounded familiar," Kylie says to Miriallia. _God, half this ship is staffed by kids_, she thinks aloud.

"Yeah, we were caught in the fighting in Heliopolis and the Captain had to take us onboard. We volunteered for the duty after a while," Miriallia replies without realizing that Kylie had not said a thing after her initial greeting.

"I...didn't say anything...but I was thinking...huh?" Kylie asks.

"Mir, you did it again," Tolle says rather drolly; he was referring to Mir's bad habit of replying to another person's thoughts.

"Oh, I did? Oops, sorry about that," Mir replies.

"What? Did what? Can you read minds or something?" Kylie asks as a sort-of smart-ass request for an explanation.

"Well, yes, I can," Mir replies deadpan.

"Oh...wow." Kylie definitely did not sound thrilled about that.

"Where were we?" Tolle asks to keep an argument (or worse) from ensuing about the matter.

"You were explaining how the combo weapons pod on the Skygrasper works for you in flight," Kylie replied.

"Oh, yeah, I've gotten used to using it as either a pinpoint attack weapon, like flying around a target in a circle, or I can buzz along a whole line of targets and just hose 'em all." These two tactics he demonstrated with his hands, which was what Miriallia interrupted. "And that 120mm Vulcan on it is very effective at damaging or destroying ground units."

"Like how I do it with the lasers on the Banshee, start low, pull the trigger, and then pull up, which drags the beam across the whole enemy column."

"Sneaky, I wonder if I can do that with Agni or the beam cannon on the Skygrasper..."

"And did I hear right that you guys can hang some kind of anti-ship sword off the Skygrasper?" Kylie asks with a bit of amazement.

"Yeah, the Sword Strike pack can be mounted as well, and I flip a switch in the cockpit, the sword drops and locks down, giving me about ten meters of clearance and blade to chop something up."

"Have you tried that?"

"No, but the prior pilot of the Skygrasper did, she chopped the cannons off a _Lesseps_ land battleship doing that. I took over the Skygrasper after that, actually, so I haven't tried the Sword in real life yet, but I have been doing it on simulation."

"And?"

"When I don't get shot down on approach, it really chops up the enemy mobile suits. I wonder how it would do against a Battlemech..."

"I'd hate to be in the 'mech when you try it, that's for sure," Kylie notes.

"Didn't you say you were cross-training to be a 'mech driver?" Tolle asks. "What's it like?"

"It's a lot harder than it seems. Up in the sky, you can always fly off for a few and reengage from a different angle, but down on the ground you're expected to get in close and stay there." Tolle grimaces. "Yeah, it's that bad on the ground in a 'mech fight. All I can say is I'm thankful I'm not infantry or armor, they got it real crappy. These Clanners are murder on the tanks and infantry, and those midget-machines are something we've never seen before."

"I wonder what it'd be worth to get our hands on some of them, eh?" Tolle asks.

"Yeah, everyone in the Inner Sphere would want some of those," Kylie notes. "I don't think I could pilot them, though, I probably ain't strong enough for it." The thought of having to move a very large metal suit like that was not thrilling to some, but the possible of having your own armor set with integrated weapons was thrilling to most.

_This isn't getting me anywhere_, Miriallia thinks after having listened to several minutes of fighter tactics. "Tolle, I'd like to speak to you after you two've finished up your discussion, 'k?" Mir asks.

"Oh, sure, no problem Mir," Tolle notes as she stands up.

Miriallia had wandered over to where Nicol and Fuu were sitting, facing each other and speaking about something. "May I join you two?"

"Oh, Miriallia, please do," Fuu immediately replies, and Nicol moves down a half-meter to allow her more room.

"We were just talking about some of the things Dearka had done, or was believed to have done, back before Heliopolis," Nicol notes. "Well, the big one that almost got him thrown out of the academy, along with Yzak and Miguel, was the '1st Team Drinking Contest' that they held. If you can, imagine fifteen high-schoolers in one room, quite drunk and trying to do a series of activities as ordered by the judges, which happened to be Yzak, Miguel, and Dearka. Oh, man, when the Commander of the base busted in, it was extremely funny, since I could hear all the shouting from the next room over. They all got big-time kitchen duty for that one, like a month's worth of kitchen duty, and a clear warning that if they did anything like that again they were gone."

"Oh, and Dearka was involved in that?" Fuu asked

"It was Yzak and Miguel's idea, though Dearka ended up as a judge for the contest."

"Sounds like something that Sai, Tolle, Kira and Kuzzey would have cooked up," Miriallia notes, from past experience. Said four were definitely not angels in the past, and lately that same spirit of daring had been creeping back into them, after all the shock and horror of the battle. Tolle and Kuzzey were the two that initiated the main dirty work, Sai usually did the planning after Tolle and Kuzzey got things kick-started, and Kira did the really difficult tasks involved in their typical rabble-rousing, usually to finish it off with flair and panache (or, to others, extreme annoyance and hazard to one's mental sanity). Miriallia off-and-on found such stunts amusing, so long as it didn't cost her anything (monetary) or did not involve her. She had 'spazzed out' (Kuzzey's words) on the four of them for some of their stunts, but nothing that blessedly crazy had been done recently so they had been spared. "So, what all were they asked to do?"

"Oh, a whole bunch of different things, with the provision that they automatically lose if they fall over."

"That's...cruel," Fuu notes.

"No, that's rather tame for academy cadets," Nicol replies. "Most of what they did was the regular American Field Sobriety Test, something that Miguel had picked up in an old book. The rest were stupid frat things, like stripping and sorting clothes, dirty dancing contest, rave dancing, that's what got the attention of the base commander."

"Erm, the stripping and sorting clothes...that was just guys, right?" Miriallia asked with a bit of trepidation. Sai, Kuzzey, Tolle and Kira had never gone that far...

"I don't know, I wasn't technically in there, but from the cheers I heard I don't think so."

"There were two ladies in the contest," Yzak says rather calmly as he sits down opposite Miriallia and next to Fuu, who did not appear to mind. "They knew what they were getting into, and they both agreed completely. Figured they ran a good chance of out-drinking Rusty. Of course, Dearka gave them both a solid ten on the clothes-sorting exercise, but in the end I think Olor had them beat on both order and speed." Yzak sighs wearily. "Man, I don't know how, but Dearka could pack in the vodka and still walk straight even when the alcohol in his blood outnumbered the red blood cells. The rest of him still looked like hell, though; that's how he usually got caught drinking."

"Oh," Miriallia notes, her reaction to the presence of two ladies in a drinking contest where they had to do such a task.

"Y'know, courtesy of Dearka, Rusty, Miguel, myself, and the rumors floating around about Athrun, I think they rewrote certain parts of the academy rulebook after we left. I know for damn sure the instructors were happy to be rid of us," Yzak added as if that was something to be really proud of. In reality, it had nobody at the table impressed.

"Can I slap him?" Miriallia asks Nicol plaintively.

"What?" Yzak asks.

"I am getting so tired of your foul mouth. So is the rest of the bridge staff, at least one of the Magic Knights, and more than a few of the rest of the crew," Miriallia did not even flinch when Yzak gave her a rather icy glare.

"Yeah, well, I'm getting tired of hearing people complain about the way I—" **WRAAM**. What had the attention of everyone in the room was the instantaneous change in air pressure that accompanied the sound of the explosion, making it seem as if it had occurred inside the ship.

"What was that?" Miriallia could notice the voice of Flay over the din of the crowd.

"All hands, enemy armored midget forces in the _Archangel_! Prepare to repel boarders!"

"That's us," Miriallia says as she drops her roast beef sandwich. As she stood up she pulled her weapon set from 'storage' in her magic glove. Yzak had done the same, as had Fuu and Nicol.

"Move as one," Yzak notes as he steps out the door. "Flay, Nicol with me. Miriallia, Fuu, go right. Stay with your partner. Take them down and don't stop until they all are dead."

Miriallia and Fuu broke off and went right, as the other three went left from the cafeteria. It only took twenty meters before they met Mu.

"Ready, girls? They're going to go for the bridge, so we'll make our stand toward there. First, we'll swing by the armory and pick up some LAWS rockets, that way we don't have to charge someone down."

Collecting the LAWS rockets was the easy part, as well as an assault rifle with a grenade launcher for lighter infantry. Getting to the bridge was just as simple; Murrue was already outside the bridge, along with Natarle, trading shots with the enemy down the hall from which way Mu was approaching.

Natarle partially ducked out into the hallway, fired two shots, and ducked back before the enemy fire could track in on her properly. Mu tapped her on the shoulder, and when she looked back he handed off a pair of LAWS rockets to her. Natarle nods and turns back toward the corridor while arming the first launcher, then quickly ducks around the corner and centers it on one of the tangos that was already a third of the way marching up the hall.

**CRACK—WRAAAM**. The time from the shot to the explosion was almost nothing. The launcher itself made no screeching sound, just something that sounded like an over-loud shotgun as the rocket burst out of the tube. The rocket flew straight into the chest plate of the Elemental and detonated, the crush-type fuse on the nose setting off the detonator in the _tail_ of the rocket, and immediately began the armor-penetrating sequence of events for a normal LAWS rocket. The detonator fired at the back end of the shape charge in the rocket, setting off the charge itself which burned from the back forward, in the process focusing millions of pounds of pressure on an area smaller than Flay's fist, and all that pressure went right into the Elemental armor. That much pressure definitely was too much for the armor to stop, and the result was a hole barely five centimeters wide right into the body of the armor, where a genetically-engineered human was inside the armor. The explosion kicked up the armor it shattered into spall, basically lethal shrapnel that bounced around inside the armor, unable to escape the encapsulation, and this shrapnel shredded the trooper into a collection of bone fragments and red paste, leaving only her left arm and left leg mostly intact. (2)

The first indication that it worked right was the main one, as the trooper's armor fell backwards and literally caused a domino effect as all four of her comrades were knocked down in succession. Murrue immediately chucked aside the spent tube and grabbed for one of the other ones Mu had, since Murrue had picked up Natarle's spare and armed it. The first to stand up also became the second to fall down permanently:**CRACK—WRAAAM**. Murrue could have sworn she saw the visor on the unit pop out after she hit the target.

**CRACK—CLONG—CLANG—FSSSSSST.** The third shot, from Mu, turned out to be a faulty detonator that simply bounced off the breastplate of the enemy unit, then bounced off the wall, the ceiling, and spun around the floor several times before coming to a stop, unpowered and undetonated. "Oh, shit," Mu ducks back as Miriallia decides it was time to put her practice and weapon to use.

_The worst I can get is this thing'll bounce off their armor, and we're already there_, Miriallia thinks.

She nocked an arrow and leaned out into the hallway in the same fashion she had watched Murrue, Natarle, and Mu do so: right knee forward, basically crouching and slinking sideways so as to expose as little of herself as possible. She immediately centers her bow on the rounded breastplate of the nearest, which had raised some kind of barrel-extension and was aiming it toward her. The shot came as almost a surprise even to Miriallia, who had immediately ducked back behind the corner after her shot, but not before she saw it hit. The arrow went straight and true, and for such an archaic weapon it had enough penetration power (somehow) to pierce the armor of the Elemental. Contrary to movie logic, a person cannot fight with an arrow stuck in their chest and themselves bleeding all over the inside of their armor. It may not have killed the Elemental, but it basically rendered him out of action, as he collapsed backwards against the wall to Miriallia's left (3).

Mu ducked around the corner with the assault rifle shouldered, and since it was obvious those things had too much armor for even AP ammo, he fired the grenade launcher under the rifle's forearm at the wedge-shaped faceplate of the enemy armor. The contact-fused HE-DP grenade (4) missed the faceplate by a mere centimeter, a rather lucky shot given that he had not fired one since basic training over a decade past. The grenade did not penetrate the armor as did the LAWS rockets, but it did turn the faceplate into fragments that blew back into the eyes of the Elemental and it did shave off several large chunks around the faceplate hole, turning that armor composite into spall that ended up lodged into his head. Miriallia could hear his mind screaming as his brain had taken the damage and slowly ceased to work properly.

Miriallia had to fight the mental screaming actively; she ended up leaning back against the wall, squinting against the pain in her mind as she tried forcing her telepathy to a null-state so she could not hear it. In doing so she completely missed as Fuu brought down the last of the Elementals by using _**Winds of Admonishment**_ to bind it fast, while Mu used his halberd to disarm and spike the elemental within to a non-responsive state.

"Bridge, Captain, any more?" Murrue asks into a radio.

"We have another group moving up the port-side lateral, second floor, and three groups outside. No enemy Omnimech presence. They probably know we are here, though," Chandratta notes in return.

"Great. Chandratta, use whatever weapons you have to, keep the assholes outside out there, preferably dead. We'll get rid of the demons within." _How the hell did these assholes get this close to the ship without alerting us_? Murrue asks in the confines of her own mind.

"Miriallia? You appear spooked, are you...no, you are not right. What is wrong?" Fuu asks.

"I...I saw it...again...another person's mind as they died...first Dearka, now that Jade Falcon..." She squints real hard and shakes her head twice, roughly. "Damnit, I can't stop now, we don't have time for this."

"Miriallia, if this is going to be a problem, then I'm not going to ask you to continue," Murrue says.

"Hasn't this whole 'thing' been a problem?" Miriallia asks in counter. She closes her eyes and concentrates on something in the distance. "First, one of these we just stopped is still alive, the one against this wall," and she taps her fist on the wall to the left. "Second, it sounds like Yzak, Nicol, Hikaru and Flay have an ambush set for the Elementals coming down the port-side lateral, just outside the cafeteria now."

"Well, at the least your telepathy is improving," Murrue throws in as something aiming to cheer her up. It worked, partially. "All right, we'll go down through the central corridor on this floor, take an access ladder down, and join the ambush."

"I have point," Mu says as he steps forward and shoulders the assault rifle. They had to take a circuitous route to get to the central corridor, though finding an access ladder after that was dead simple. Again, Mu went down first, followed quickly by Miriallia, who was the only person presently armed with a decent anti-elemental weapon. Natarle had broke off to take over the bridge.

The _Archangel_ is equipped with 16 Igelstellung 75mm light-cartridge CIWS guns (5). eight of these are considered the 'upper array', meaning these guns fire from horizontal to skyward, eight of them are the 'lower array', meaning they fire from horizontal to groundward. It was the lower array that did the talking, as Chandratta flipped the 'magic switch' on his Igelstellung console and sat back to watch the fireworks. Immediately, throughout the hull the tearing sound of a rotary machine cannon came to everyone's attention, as the eight guns focused in on a total of fifteen Elementals. Despite the inherent weakness of the guns, within the first five seconds the guns had killed off seven of the troopers and severely wounded four more.

This sound had given the Elementals pause, since the second point inside the ship was to have already taken the bridge, and now could not be raised on the radio. Something had eliminated them all in a matter of less than a minute, because they had reported resistance outside the area of the bridge, and now nothing from their Point Commander. The unit commander, Star Commander Natalya, was beginning to dislike these stravags, and she was beginning to nurse a dark suspicion that they were not normal Inner Sphere barbarians, since their machines did not match anything else the Clans had faced before. Not to mention this ship was definitely not a Dropship, it was more like some kind of small warship...

"Continue advance. Wilt, Elena, double back and take that corridor on the left, then come up the parallel corridor," The augmented ambush party hears audibly.

Mu taps Nicol and Flay on the shoulder and signals for them to follow him. They do so, leaving Yzak, Murrue, Hikaru and Miriallia at the primary ambush point. Miriallia had taken three steps back and a partial step to the left while nocking an arrow, though had not drawn back since that might make noise and she did not want to take a chance on how good an Elemental's 'hearing' was. All that was left was to wait.

The first group came on faster than expected, and that left Yzak and Hikaru forward to face off against three Elementals with their magic weapons. In theory, the Elementals still had the overwhelming advantage, due to their advanced armor, maneuverability, and hellishly powerful weapons.

Theory and practice don't always match.

"SHIIIT!" Yzak shouts as he brings his sword up and around from behind him, through the ceiling plating almost effortlessly, and down into the main body of one of the green-colored Elementals. The sword itself chopped into the armor with minor hesitation, though it did end up penetrating a good half-meter downward before the two-handed sword stopped moving on inertia.

The blue-colored Elemental, Star Commander Natalya, had her preference of anti-infantry weapons, and in battles past she had found a preference to sub-machineguns, for their good combination of ammo, raw damage potential, and maneuverability. She had one mounted on the left arm of her unit, in the standard Anti-personnel Weapon Mount, with a pair of ammo hoppers that gave her 100 rounds to work with. She had seen the first stroke of that massive, strange sword that had chopped all the way down to Keren's sternum, and she didn't have to look over her command panels to know she was dead. The fool with the blade had left himself woefully exposed, though, and she intended on rectifying that. An arrow missed her armor by half a meter, and missed the third trooper by that much as well.

"Die, surat!" Natalya shouts as she pulls the trigger on the Sub-machinegun, for a calculated five-round burst that hit Yzak in the gut. She takes one step closer to the warrior with the massive sword and takes a swipe at him with the left-hand battle claw on the Elemental, immediately tearing a large gouge in his left shoulder and upper chest, right through the maroon overcoat he was wearing. (6)

"Yzak!" The one lady in white shouts, as she had seen the whole affair since she was right behind him. Natalya had been missed again by the one with the bow, but she realized that her intent was not to hit her, it was the third trooper—the archer was supporting the midget girl with the large sword, the one that had darted past her foolishly but just outside her claw range. Right now, Natalya had realized that not trying to stop her had been a big mistake, as that big sword plus the second arrow had killed her third point officer. Natalya was all alone.

Natalya had centered the support laser on the archer, but did not fire due to the most rude shock she had ever seen. The lady in white had her fist balled in front of her chest, staring down an elemental like she wanted to rend the armor of the Clans apart by hand. This was nothing new to Natalya; what was, and what had her stunned and scared shitless was the lady's left hand was glowing, along with the gem on the armband. The energy ball grew to a point where it was double larger than her fist, the centroid held in the palm of her hand. "What—what kind of stravag trick is this?" Natalya immediately centers the support laser on her right arm onto the lady in white, but it was too late. The glowing ball of energy had been thrown dead into the gut of her armor, and it had kept going. In similar fashion to an armor-piercing slug the magic 'shot' had continued through, transiting her gut and out her back, just barely missing causing any spinal damage to the Star Commander. The energy 'shot' continued through the large backpack of the Elemental's armor, in the process disrupting the control mechanism for her jump jets. Eight centimeters higher and it would have cooked off the ready reload of the left-side missile tube on her Elemental armor.

This wound had been treated by the LSSU, despite the fact that it had basically blown a two-centimeter hole straight through the trooper, Natalya found she still had the strength to continue, though not a whole lot. The Clan LSSU unit was designed specifically to keep an Elemental going over and above damage to the trooper that would have knocked them out. It was not a solution for death, as three of her team had found out: A quick glance over her command interface showed that the other two Elementals she had sent to move up the central corridor were both down, down, though one of them was still alive, barely. And Natalya still had three stravags she could send to hell right in front of her.

"_**Ruby Lightning**_!" The voice was that of a little girl, indeed, and from behind her and to the left. Again, Natalya ignoring the little girl cost her severely, as some form of pure electrical attack struck her armor and immediately caused all the musculature to seize up and fried out all the major and redundant musculature controls. Both her arms immediately shot straight up due to the myomer muscles (7) contracting from electrical surge, and after a few moments her suit simply collapsed forward, unable to move, shoot, or even to take the armor off.

She was defeated. One of the best Star Commanders of Elementals, defeated by these stravag nobodies...

"Yzak! Is he—" the lady begins, but is cut off by someone else.

"He'll live, he's still alive but badly injured. Nicol, can you help him?"

"Can do," someone (Natalya presumed it was this guy Nicol) says, then continues: "_**Winds of Healing**_!"

Strangely enough, after hearing that, Natalya stopped feeling like she had been shot. Of course, this inevitably led to the incredible feeling of being hyper, as the LSSU solution was still working on her body without any actual damage to counter. And her Elemental would not move at all, with all the musculature contracted and seized up, so she was basically feeling incredibly hyper and nothing to do. And sulking about it.

"Get a medic here, immediately, on the port-side lateral just aft of the cafeteria. We have a man down, critical!" the lady shouts.

The distance between the infirmary and the cafeteria must have been a rather short one, for the Medtechs were upon them in a hurry. "Jesus, that is some bad shit. How'd these gouges happen?"

"The claw on this thing," someone kicked the side of Natalya's armor, which made a very resounding **CLANG** throughout the body of it. "The pilot in this one is still alive, but her ability to move the armor is nil. Hikaru hit it with that lightning attack, and according to the pilot's thinking fried out the major controls on the armor. The armor is dead and she ain't going anywhere fast."

"Fuck 'er, let her stew for an hour," the voice sounded like that of the lady, and she was definitely not pleased. "Bridge, Captain, status of tangos outside?"

"All tangos down, presumed dead. After the auto-track got through with them, I went back over them with the Igelstellungs in manual and made sure they were down and staying there."

"Well, is there anything left?" She asks in reply.

"Not a whole helluva lot, Captain." A pause for a few moments, then: "Is Yzak going to make it?"

"Nicol got to him in time, I think he'll survive, but with trauma like that he's out of the piloting business for a while."

_So, that freeborn whelp was one of their pilots? That should make Star Colonel Nikolai's job that much easier_, Natalya thinks aloud.

**CLANG**; another boot applied to the side of her Elemental. "I heard that, wench. And just because you're on the ground doesn't mean I won't shoot you for being an asshole."

"What was she thinking?"

"Some bullshit about tearing Yzak up doing her side some good."

"No, that just pisses us off more, makes me like that plan Major Steiner came up with all the more," the lady says. "We'll have to open up these tin cans at a later time. Mu, get Newman to prepare to move us away from here, and have Sai contact the Romulus Militia, we need to move forward with our munition gathering so we can begin our primary operation."

"Roger that," A guy (presumably Mu) says.

"Fuu, up by the bridge is the remnant of the force that tried taking the bridge. One or more of them may be alive. Take Miriallia to the armory and get a detachment of Marines to help you secure anybody up there. If they're alive, give them medical help and throw them in the brig, we'll deal with them later. Then report down here and secure anyone alive down here, clear?"

"Yes, ma'am, will do,"

"This has been one hellish week, and it's only Wednesday," the lady notes.

"Could be worse, at least the ship is still intact," 'Mu' replies.

-x-x-x-

"Whoa, that's a lot of...everything," Murdoch notes as the bunker lights come on and reveals what the group was looking at. There was just about everything in here, from ammo to spare Autocannons to the head of one very strange-looking 'mech, detached from the rest of the machine.

"This used to be a major base back when Kerensky was in charge, but nowadays it's just used for storage," Colonel Hartman notes. He signals for the militia 'mechs and the Strikers to come in and start parking in the bunker, which both do. "Now, Mister Murdoch, you think your boys can build us a large explosive charge out of some of these?"

"Oh, yeah, I think we can do that, right guys?"

"Hell yeah," Athrun replies grimly. Dearka was dead, Yzak was laid up in the hospital for at least two weeks, and the_Archangel_ itself had been violated once again by tangos. He was starting to get real pissed off at the locals...

"We're in," Nicol says. "First, we need an encapsulation. How about that large container?" the one Nicol was pointing to was about ten meters long, one meter tall and three meters wide.

"That's gonna make a helluva IED, Nicol," Athrun replies, following his pointing. "I think I got a plan already,"

"Oh?" from Colonel Hartman.

"It's gonna be a directional device, so you'll have to put the top up. I'm thinking, three to five massive shape charge with self-forging penetrators, that should do exactly what you want it to do."

"For someone that's three times younger than I, where do you cough up these ideas?" Colonel Hartman asks plaintively.

"Actually, fighting the best of the enemy all the time is good practice," Nicol notes wistfully, as well as cover for the real answers he wanted to give.

"Oh, that makes sense," Colonel Hartman could sense that the pilot was covering something, but decided against pressing.

Kira had skipped the preamble and gone straight to work, immediately hopping into a cargo exoskeleton and starting to move whole pallets of ammo from storage to their needed locations. Fuu and Umi joined him on the cargo exoskeletons, as Hikaru, Mu, Natarle, and Murdoch aided in the actual reloading of the machines. To Valten's Centurion went two pallets of 115mm Autocannon ammo and a pallet of LRM-10 ammo. To Hawk's Mauler, the ammo was 50mm Autocannon and two pallets of LRM-15 ammo. To the Major went two pallets of LRM-15 ammo as well.

The big one, however, was to the explosive charge builders, who received pallet after pallet of Long Tom and Thumper Artillery ammo, as those shells had the largest amount of actual explosive per ton of ammo. The primary explosive was used to build four large shape charges in the charge case that Nicol had singled out. The gunpowder (actually low-level blasting agent) from the propellant for the shells served a secondary purpose for the Gundams, who had some hellish ideas for how to use that to its most efficient. The propellant for the artillery shells, itself a blasting agent in all but name, was molded into several large bricks and fused by Nicol into a series of four Gundam-sized satchel charges, each one weighing about two tons. One charge each would be carried by the Rune Gods, Nicol would carry the last under protection of Mirage Colloid to use on the Clan Command Center. (8)

"Isn't this a bit overkill?" Kira asks as Nicol was putting the finishing touches on the ripcord one of the Militia machines would use to activate the detonator on the large explosive charge.

"No, actually not," Nicol replies deadpan. "Dearka was one of my best friends. None of us asked for half the shit that has happened to us over the past month. I'm afraid to say it, but I am not going to hold back on the Clanners from now on."

"Oh," Kira replies. The large box, the satchel charges, the initial plan had been to make their stay on Romulus miserable; today, it seemed as if they were out to eradicate Clan presence on the planet at the present time.

"Kira, I hope I hope you are ready for today," Athrun notes. "We're going to kill off as many of them as possible. If they don't surrender, they go down."

"Athrun, is this really—"

"Yes, Kira, it is. This is gone well past the point of trading punches. It's either us or them, and all things considered I have no love for the Clanners." If Athrun's voice could have sounded any colder, how was lost on Kira. "It's like your insistence on protecting your friends the whole time before we came to Cephiro. This is the same for us, only now we want to stop them from taking anyone else down."

"Okay, I get it, I guess." _I'll go in with Launcher Strike this time, that should give me the firepower to knock them out_, Kira figures. He still had to protect his friends, and now that included the three remaining ZAFT pilots.

"This is probably going to torture us all in the coming nights, but at least we'll be alive to think about it," Nicol says deadpan as he finishes sealing up the detonation encapsulation in the large IED. "It's ready, Mister Hartman,"

"Right, thanks kid, we'll be ready to deploy in about an hour. What about you guys?"

"We'll get going here real soon," Major Steiner replies. "Nicol, Athrun, are the _Archangel_ pilots going to be ready?"

"I don't know about Mu or Tolle, but the Gundams are good to go right now," Athrun replies.

"I'm loading up on missiles right now, five minutes," Mu replies from the gantries around the Timber Wolf.

"Tolle's good to go right now," Tolle replies on the radio, having been forewarned of a question about his readiness by Miriallia. Tolle had to admit that he was sort-of getting used to hearing just her mind speak, but the fact that she could read his thoughts was a bit unnerving.

"Then we deploy. Mister Hartman, we'll tie up the enemy forces, you guys sneak in from a flank and do what you can," Major Steiner says.

-x-x-x-

The enemy had been caught dumb and complacent at the starport, though the haul was not as high as expected by the Gundam team. There were only four Dropships at the spaceport, instead of the hoped-for six or more.

_Oops_, Athrun thinks without much in the way of real feeling on the subject. If they were dumb enough to hang around with their tumbs up their butts, their problem, not his.

"Team, ready to begin," Athrun prompts.

"Strike, ready," Kira replies as he hauls down Agni and precharges it.

"Blitz, ready to infiltrate," Nicol notes.

_Rayearth, I'm ready_, Hikaru says by way of Rayearth's telepathy. The call was directed to just those nearby, and did not have the range to get to the Clanners.

_Selesce, ready_, Umi replies nervously.

_Windam, ready_, Fuu was just as nervous. The nerves in the case of the Magic Knights was simple, as they had not pitched a battle against a real military force prior, and Yzak had made it clear that what happened on Dustball was a lucky break on their part; today would be far different for everyone.

"Axman with four, ready," Major Steiner notes for his lance that also included Mu La Flaga for now.

"Mauler with five, ready," Colonel Hartman notes. What was left of the Militia had been rearmed, slightly repaired, and readied to hammer the hell out of them, though their primary task in this battle would be a lot more brutal than just picking off enemy machines.

_Plan phase one: the Strikers and the _Archangel_'s mobile compliment will assault the enemy forces and attempt to cause as many casualties to them as possible_, Kira thinks aloud, focusing on what he was going to have to do to prevent last night's tragedy from happening again. He was going to have to take lives to prevent this from getting worse for the _Archangel_. There were quite a few machines down there, and word was there would be a lot of them inside the Dropships, but today was a different story for everyone. The Strikers and _Archangel_ would be doing all the attacking and very little of the bleeding, or so the plan went.

"All forces ready op, Commander," Athrun forwards to the _Archangel_ CIC.

"All forces, begin operation. Colonel Hartman, you have three minutes to get into an advantageous position before you begin your march," Commander Badgiruel notes.

"Kira, on me!" Athrun shouts as he charges over the hill crest and toward the starport.

"Right!" Kira had the shield from the IWSP pack mounted to his left arm on a swivel-mount, so it would hang free while he was using the left arm, or he could grip the shield's handle and fire the 35mm high-power Gatling attached to it. Of course, he also had the beam boomerang on the shield, and the Launcher Strike's weapons compliment that would cause serious damage to the enemy.

"Blitz, moving out under Mirage Colloid," Nicol notes. Just like the Lancer Darts, the satchel charge he was carrying was being shielded from view by the Mirage Colloid.

"Strikers, moving out," Major Steiner adds as he horses the throttle forward into a dead charge.

"Rune Gods, moving now!" Hikaru says as she charges over the crest of the hill, headed toward the enemy's left flank as was her designated operations area.

"Whoa, these are different machines," Captain Hawkins notes.

"They probably use weaker, older designs for garrison duty," Major Steiner notes as he stops momentarily to unload both missile racks on the enemy. His flights of LRM-15 rounds going downrange were joined by similar flights from Captain Hawkins, a 10-missile salvo from Captain Ryder, and two 20-silo dumps from Commander La Flaga. All told, the 110 LRMs (just short of a full ton of long range missiles) were targeted on a series of Clan Omnimechs that were marching toward the training grounds, which put their back toward the Strikers. They had no real warning that doom was headed their way, and when 65 of the missiles hit home on the rear of the four machines, the result was extremely catastrophic for them. The least damaged of them was the Summoner in the four; the most damaged would never walk again without a serious rebuild, the Gyro took that much damage.

"Good morning, assholes, this is your wake-up call," Athrun says as he takes precision aim to something that bore significant resemblance to the Hunchback in Colonel Hartman's lance, but it had two cannons instead of one. With one shot at over 2 kilometers, the beam zoomed to and struck right between the shoulder-mounted Autocannons on the Hunchback, where the heavy combat cockpit on the 'mech is. Even the clan's re-engineered cockpit was not enough to withstand the power of the Aegis beam rifle; the mech was walking at the time toward the unit, though after taking the hit it went chest-first into the ground and did not move again.

There were several rather unusual 'mechs posted with radomes on top of them, as well as four barrels instead of two arms. These machines proceeded to lock up the Strikers and the Gundams, and they had an insane fire rate of large laser that could only mean they were using Large Pulse Lasers. Athrun and Kira both had to hunker down with their shields and fire around them. This proved a worthy distraction for the Mobile Forces as they approached, giving extra time to the crews and the 'mechs in the Dropships to deploy.

The recoil of Agni bucked the Strike slightly as Kira had the next, targeting one of the radome-and-laser 'mechs with the hyper-impulse cannon. The Rifleman IIM took the shot in the leg, blowing it clear off and rendering it unable to move again. With the fire slacked courtesy of the downed machine, Kira and Athrun were able to resume their advance as Hikaru, Umi, and Fuu began their trek down the left flank to hit the enemy between the Dropship landing field and the main starport buildings. Major Steiner's unit was moving up the right flank even under increasing fire, to hit the south edge of the starport and the enemy garrison there.

"Air support, bring it in," Commander Badgiruel orders. "All teams, we are now five minutes out, keep the pressure on," she adds on the unit general frequency. Due to the nature of the battle at hand, Tolle's Skygrasper had been equipped with the IWSP Strike Pack, which gave him both a serious improvement in firepower and maneuverability. After about ten seconds he came screaming in from the south with the Banshee close behind, and Tolle tried the new trick he picked up from Kylie, using the beam weapons to strafe multiple targets. With the nature of the beam cannon on the Skygrasper this turned out to be less than optimally effective; after that only panned out on hitting two enemy machines (where Kylie got six with the two lasers on her machine), he switched over to his guns and dumped a hundred rounds of 75mm and 30mm cannon into the nearer of the two he hit, which at the least knocked the enemy unit down to the ground. As he came up off that pass he targeted the enemy Dropship that was nearby the Kwaidan and hammered it with a pair of anti-ship missiles as well as a beam shot, then reefed hard right and went down as low as he dared go to clear the area. Tolle had decided he would deliberately hold back on the 120mm heavy cannons on the IWSP for now, much less the swords, since they would give him an incredible amount of shock value to work with.

"Nice shooting, Tolle, you knocked one of 'em down and put two big holes in their Dropship," Kylie shouts over the radio frequency.

The momentary distraction the Aerofighters gave the Clanners was enough for the Strikers to finish their push inward, with the Gundams and Rune Gods not all that far behind. Mu was the lead element in the push, followed quickly by Major Steiner and Captain Ryder, with Captain Hawkins and Lieutenant Ramirez one block south and pushing in the same direction. In between the hangars to the south of the starport, the Strikers realized that what they were facing that had two barrels and a lot of similarity to the Hunchback was its Clan equivalent, and both those barrels were live and kicking. Ciro's Wolfhound takes one of the two shells from one of the Hunchbacks and hits the ground, a serious rent in its armor on the left chest where the slug had tore into the lighter 'mech and basically obliterated the whole left torso internal structure, as well as caused some damage to the center torso of his Wolfhound. The pilot had made the mistake of not following up on the far larger MAL-1R Mauler directly behind it, and for that oversight received a basic alpha-strike from Hawk. An alpha-strike is basically firing all your weapons at once into a single target, and on most Battlemechs and Omnimechs this results in two things: one, a severe heat spike, and two, usually not all that many hits. In this case, the latter was mitigated by the total distance between shooter and target being 50 meters, where the weapons the Mauler carried were all good out to 2000 meters. Four salvos of autocannon, one of the two large lasers, and about half of Hawk's missiles hit the target all within a matter of a second and a half. The sheer impact of that much ordinance hitting the target all at once knocked it down, though the pilot was good enough that he immediately began levering up his second-line Battlemech to continue the battle. While hawk's machine was cooling down he continued firing on them with the four 50mm Autocannons mounted in the torso, each cannon actually weaker than the vulcans carried by the Gundams but not by much. After a good ten seconds of such abuse to the enemy machine, Hawk hammers it with both missile racks from point-blank again, and this time the Hunchback did not stand up

"How're you doing, Ciro?" Hawk asks as the Wolfhound stands up.

"I'm all right, but my 'mech just had a chunk tore out of it. I have no left arm and my left-side medium laser is dead."

"Can you fight?" Natarle asks immediately thereafter.

"Roger that, I can still give these Clanners a taste of Fed-Com Steel, give me a vector to the front, over," Ciro requests.

"Next intersection, second intersection, head due north. The Gundams and Rune Gods are getting into it heavy in the areas north of your present position."

"Roll 'em up from the side," Captain Hawkins notes, putting words to what the Commander had just asked them to do.

The Strikers had turned into the main cargo transfer road just as the Magic Knights made it to the same street. Major Steiner was very abruptly reminded that they were a fighting unit unlike any other as the Rune God Windam literally chopped a Nova in half vertically (9), which strike also instantly killed the pilot of the machine. Due to a slight slope in the roads in this part of the spaceport, the unit's two halves collapsed to Windam's right, as Athrun charged forward with his shield set to protect Fuu from incoming gauss rifle slugs.

"Keep moving, Fuu, you don't have a shield," Athrun says to the less-experienced Magic Knight, and then himself heads down one of the side-roads of the one that Major Steiner was on.

"Right," Fuu says graciously as she follows the Aegis down between a pair of large warehouses.

"Attention, I'm reading a power spike on the_Kwaidan_, they're powering the ship up!" Kylie notes as she passes within two kilometers of it.

"Militia Forces, this is Archangel CIC. Engage, Engage, Engage, acknowledge my last," Natarle says hurriedly.

"Militia forces are engaging now, thirty seconds to target."

"_Archangel_ is now three minutes out, all personnel continue to draw their attention, over,"

_Phase 02: Colonel Hartman brings his troops in from the west, while we have the main garrison coming south toward us, giving him a clear shot at the Dropship that is standing guard over the _Kwaidan, Kira thinks aloud as he hears the code phrase for the next part of the battle. The concept was simple: Captain Ramius did not want to chance causing damage to the _Kwaidan_ by using capital-scale weapons in the vicinity of it, so the Militia would handle it with the help of one monster IED built by Nicol, Athrun, and a half-dozen of the _Archangel_'s mechanics.

He had followed Athrun close, but the Aegis had broke off and jetted forward fast to protect Windam. That left Kira to himself, which meant he moved up to the main cargo transfer road as the Strikers were approaching his block, and as a pair of old Jenner-style 'mechs closed in on them. Agni spoke, the hyper-impulse beam blew through the light 'mech the long way and out its arse, even with enough power to continue onward and cause significant damage to the building behind it. The transit of the beam had been centered on the toroid of the enemy's fusion reactor, and that explosion had even clipped the Strike and knocked it into a building behind it. The second Jenner had been caught in close proximity to the blast and effectively was no more, though the pilot had been smart (or lucky) enough to have his auto-eject active, so when the SRM ammo in its torso cooked off he was ejected clear of the machine.

**BA-BOOM**! The Clan Command Center suddenly, mysteriously became a hail of flying structural members and concrete chunk as Nicol's satchel charge blew. More than a half-dozen of the enemy machines immediately turned from their intercept course to the south, now headed south-east on the assumption that another attack vector was coming from that direction. _They could not have been more wrong on that call_, Athrun thinks as he fires a pair of beam rifle shots around his shield. "Nicol, good op, man, good op, you just diverted a half-dozen of them, maybe more, over."

"I'll take care of them when they arrive, Can Fuu come my way to assist, over?"

_I'll be on my way momentarily_, Fuu replies by way of Windam's telepathy.

"Hikaru, you and Umi follow me in, we're going to attempt to secure the grounds around the _Kwaidan_ so the Strikers can board and leave," Athrun says. "Kira, put some pressure on their left flank, see if you can take out the rest of those pain-in-the-ass radome-thingy-mechs, over," one of which was trying to draw a bead on the much-faster Aegis and failing rather miserably.

"Roger that," Kira says as he jets left, putting a building between himself and a [MECH that had taken personal interest in him. After it rounds the corner, Kira had one good knife for his efforts, right to the bulbous cockpit on the Clan omni. When the blade came out it was coated in both 'mech coolant (green) and copious amounts of human blood (red) that turned Kira's stomach momentarily, until he remembered why he was doing this to begin with. The Strike shrugged the falling Hellbringer off with ease and tossed it aside, and Kira continued around the block to a new firing position.

"CIC to forces, Archangel is two and a half out, Militia, what is your status, over?"

"We're placing the charge now, CIC, ten seconds," After the Centurions dropped it, a Wolfhound kicked it under the engine nacelles of the Dropship and pulled the ripcord. "It's live, we're outta here," Colonel Hartman says. "Militia is withdrawing now, over,"

"Roger that, Militia, Thank you and good luck in the coming months, over," Natarle notes. "Brace yourselves, forces, that charge is gonna blow!"

"Get in the shadow of some buildings, now!" Nicol shouts as he suits actions to words, in the process dragging Windam into such a position where a building was between Fuu's Rune God and the Dropship.

**WRAAAAAM. FSSSSSSTTTTT-CRACK-FOOM**!

"Well, looks like I built that right, it cooked off that Dropship's engines, fusion reactor, and fuel tankage," Nicol guesstimates of what the charges had done. Said Dropship had toppled to the side, having lost three legs close together as well, and away from the _Kwaidan_ as had been planned. The lower four decks on the Dropship had been basically fragmented outward as the fuel tankage went, and said decks were where the Omnimechs were contained. All told, the Clan had lost a Dropship and eleven precious Omnimechs, not to mention the personnel associated with it.

"Marvelous fireworks, Nicol, that Dropship is DOWN!" Major Steiner cheers.

"Looks like them Clanners are walkin' home," Kylie notes as she lines up on the main road for another pass.

"Kira, stand by, I'm comin' in to assist ya," Tolle says as he arms up all his weapons. First, while still two kilometers out, he locks onto a pair of Summoners and fires a missile at each. Second, he lined up on a Warhawk with the beam cannon and machine guns, as the said Warhawk tried shooting him down with PPCs that wildly missed. He unleashed first the 75mm wing root machine cannons, then all four 30mm Machine Guns, then when he was assured he had the enemy zeroed he fired a volley from the 120mm cannons and 115mm railguns attached to the IWSP strike pack. The combination of multiple weapons was just simply too much for even a Warhawk, one of the heaviest of Clan Omnimechs, and it went face-first into the ground.

"Tolle, maneuver hard, you're being tracked!" Kira says as he levels Agni on one of the Radome 'mechs that was tracking Tolle in preference to an enemy dead in front of them. The enemy fired six shots before the beam struck it in the left torso; the pilot ejects from the machine as it spins roughly three-quarters clockwise and falls to the ground skidding, the left arm completely severed from the machine. "Tolle!"

"I'll live, they blew one of the wings off the IWSP pack," Tolle notes.

"Keep maneuvering, Tolle, or the next one may get you shot down," Natarle warns sternly. "Archangel is ninety seconds out, everyone stand by,"

"Ninety second warning, people, Gundams prepare to evac to the west," Athrun says on the radio channel. "Strikers, assistance needed clearing out the enemy near your Dropship!"

"We're coming in now, Athrun, fifteen seconds," Major Steiner says as he brings the ax of his machine down on the right shoulder of an Ice Ferret. Said machine went face first into the ground, where he proceeded to kick it twice and shoot it in the back with the Large Pulse Laser three times. The pilot ejected after the third shot, his pod jetting straight into a concrete reinforced wall and splintered all over the place. It went without saying that pilot was dead.

"Val's hit!" Captain Ryder shouts as another Hunchback IIC had drawn a bead on him, and hammered him with four solid hits of 200mm Autocannon. In the space of four seconds his machine lost both arms, one of the lasers in the torso, and the LRM-10 rack. "I'm ejecting!"

"Sixty seconds to firing position!" Natarle shouts on the radio. "Weps, precharge the Lohengrins!"

"Precharging now," Chandratta replies immediately.

"I'll pick up Ryder's pod," Ciro says as it deploys parachutes. "Oh, shit, I don't have a hand," he remembers after a few moments.

"Ramirez, get to the Dropship, I'll recover Captain Ryder," Athrun says.

"Last enemy down!" Hikaru shouts as she finished chopping the leg off a Mad Dog that was trying to fire on the Strikers before they boarded.

"Get in, now!" One of the Dropship crew orders over their radios.

It only took ten seconds; "We're on! _Kwaidan_, liftoff now!" Major Steiner orders immediately.

"Rune Gods, Gundams, break contact and move west, quickly!" Athrun and Natarle both order in the same fashion at the same time

"C'mon, Fuu, we're outta here," Nicol says as he jumps the Blitz clear over a building and toward the west. Windam spreads its wings and vaults high into the air, flying south first, then westward and back north.

"C'mon! We're outta here!" Rayearth vaults into the air a breath behind Selesce, headed due west over the wreckage of the Dropship that Colonel Hartman had downed. The fact that the Rune Gods could fly like that had stunned half the Clanners; the rest failed miserably at hitting them in air.

"Time to disappear," Athrun says as he Jumps his machine into air where Captain Ryder's pod was still drifting downward and catches it in hand, but instead of landing he transformed into Mobile Armor Cruising mode and hammered it, headed directly westward and catching up with the Rune Gods. The pod ended up clenched lightly between the four limbs of the Aegis as it screamed westward.

"Mu, we're out of time!" Kira shouts as the Timber Wolf painted in Mu's colors came running down the side-streets toward where he was.

"Get moving, kid, don't hang around!" Mu shouts as he keeps running, followed by Kira's Strike Gundam. They were the tail-end Charlie, and were subject to harassing fire from the remaining enemy machines, but that did not last long:

"Gottfried tubes, target Dropship at ten o'clock low," Natarle says over the radio.

_Phase 03: as the mobile forces give the impression of abandoning the battle to the West, the _Archangel_ comes in from the hills of the north and disables or destroys the remaining Dropships_, Kira recites of the battle plan in his mind. The_Archangel_ was on time and on schedule as Kira's sensors detected the laser designator from the _Archangel_'s systems on the first of the Dropships.

"Targeting now...lock, valid solution, Commander,"

"Captain?" Natarle asks.

"Fire," Murrue says calmly, devoid of any emotion.

The four beams lanced through the Overlord-C Dropship without hesitation, each beam double the power of a Heavy Naval PPC carried on the Jade Falcon's _Texas_-class Battleship in orbit around the planet. In transit the third beam passed through the toroid of the enemy fusion reactor, and immediately Murrue could see the panels around the entry wounds heat up to the point of glowing yellow, they were that hot. Without a doubt the temperature in that ship had become so high it had cooked the crew exposed to it. (10)

"Deploy assault cannons, Lohengrin one, target enemy Dropship dead ahead," Natarle orders just as coldly.

"Valid solution on Lohengrin one, Commander," Chandratta replies almost immediately.

"Captain?" Natarle asks.

"Lohengrin 1, fire," Captain Ramius orders.

The Positron Cannon, much as the Agni Hyper-Impulse cannon, was nothing ever encountered by the Clans, not even in their wildest theories of combat power. The Lohengrin cut through the starboard side of the Clan _Overlord_-class Dropship, chopped through the crew quarters and environmental control systems, chopped through some of the ammo and power feeds to the weapons grid, and out the far side of the ship with very little hesitation total. Without a doubt, that ship was not going anywhere with a ten-meter hole in it, and neutron scattering from the beam would likely kill off the remnant of the crew unless they got the hell out of the ship fast.

"Helm, bring it right to course 2-1-0, ahead five percent," Murrue orders, then continues: "CIC, commence solution for third enemy Dropship," she completes the battery of orders.

"Enabling targeting now, calculating angles and shot placement, ping for range...six kilometers. Valid solution for Lohengrin 2," Chandratta recites as the computer ran through its targeting phase.

"On course 2-1-0, Captain, enemy Dropship dead ahead,"

"Fire."

On the third Dropship, which was just beginning to sortie its compliment of 'mechs, the cannon sliced in low and dead center on the ship. The beam itself went through the lower 'Mechbay and obliterated a pair of Summoner chassis in transit, then chopped through the six engine nacelles with almost zero hesitation. On the far side the cannon blast hammered into an offload ramp and blew through to broad daylight, the beam itself terminating in the hills to the southwest of the starport and creating a rather large crater for the effort. Mercifully, for the rest of the crew in the ship at least, the beam did not hit a fuel feed as it massacred the engines of the ship, though the positron wave had destroyed the magnetic containment for their fusion reactor and immediately SCRAMed the said edifice. Without the fusion reactor, the ship could not be powered and without the engines it was going nowhere fast. Oops.

"Helm, set course 2-5-0 for intercept our Mobile Forces, ahead ten percent," Captain Ramius orders, which also carried over the radio. "CIC, deploy all missile tubes, Helldarts, Valiants, and Igelstellungs for enemy retaliation strikes."

"Weps, CIC, load all missile tubes with Sledgehammers, break out and precharge the Valiants, set Igelstellungs alternating to point-attack and auto-track mode, status of Gottfrieds?"

"Gottfried one and Gottfried 2, charging now, thirty seconds to fire status," Lieutenant Commander Chandratta replies immediately.

"Conn, Sensors, enemy ground forces are tracking us, should I jam their sensors?"

"No, we'll save that for a real tough battle, track enemy machines steady and pass that info to the weapons panel," Murrue orders. She still had some aces to play yet, and she was going to keep something in reserve.

"Enemy missile barrage incoming, Captain," A slight pause, as the Igelstellung guns started unloading on the incoming missiles. "Huh? What...the hell is that?"

"What the hell is what, Sai?" Natarle asks.

"Something big, definitely a Battlemech, lumbering out of one of those Dropships that we didn't completely kill," he says as he was observing it on the visual sensors.

"Man, that thing is monster-big," Natarle notes after she pirates his observer feed. "CPA?" CPA meant Closest Point of Approach.

"Two kilometers, Commander," Sai replies after running the calculations through the computer.

"Helm, maintain course." Captain Ramius did not think all that highly of it, despite its size.

"Maintain course, aye," Newman replies.

"Captain, Commander La Flaga reports all our forces have made it safe to the rally point. We've also picked up an extra, Captain Ryder had to punch out and Athrun recovered his pod."

"Excellent, so that much went right today," Murrue notes. "CIC, Weps, fire at will," Murrue orders as the enemy begins firing on the _Archangel_ with Large Lasers and PPCs.

"Helldarts, port-side Valiant, track enemy lead wave, Valiant single out the largest enemy machine."

"How about an enemy Warhawk?" Sai says as he passes the target specs to Chandratta's console.

"I think I like that thought," Chandratta says as he locks up said enemy machine. "Firing Helldarts now," Chandratta had spread the 16 Helldart silos into four groups of four missiles, targeting four separate heavy 'mechs that were bringing a lot of harassment to the battle. The impact of the missiles was a very rude shock to the enemy pilots, who were not expecting that kind of accurate missile barrage from the enemy. The four missiles each hit the enemy machines, in two cases causing a phenomenon called 'warhead fratricide', where the explosion of one missile killed the next missile in line to hit the target before it reached the enemy. Even with that ill targeting profile, the 14 hits managed to shred off five arms, two legs, and completely render one of the radome-mechs inoperable (engine hits). "Firing Valiant," Chandratta stabs the fire command out, with the Valiant's sights firmly locked onto the Warhawk that had just hit the port-side 'leg' with four PPCs, causing minor damage to the ship's outer armor. _Thank God we have energy-resistant armor_, Natarle notes in the confines of her mind after hearing the whip-crack sound of the PPCs hitting. What was left of the Warhawk after the Valiant slug tore through it from forward to back was not enough to talk about, really, just the two legs of the assault Omnimech sticking up from the ground, completely missing the torso of the machine. "I give you a monument to how much you guys**SUCK**," Chandratta half-shouts after seeing the legs remaining.

"Conn, Sensors, we got their attention, enemy is following us right toward the Mobile Forces," Sai says as he plots their movement and lines.

"Very well, CIC, issue the go-code," Murrue orders, specifically to Miriallia.

"CIC to Mobile Forces, Phase four is go, reengage at will, repeat, reengage at will," Miriallia orders over the radio channel.

_Phase four: as the enemy follows the _Archangel_ with visions of the grand kill and promotions in their eyes, the Mobile Forces jump back out and hammer the elements chasing the ship down, hopefully killing off or forcing a surrender of what remains of their forces_, Kira thinks aloud, remembering the last part of the briefing. This is where the bloodletting really finished off, since now there was no starporet to hide in, the Clanners were exposed on an open field and subject to just about everything the _Archangel_ could muster, including her mobile forces.

"Go! Go! Go!" Mu shouts as he suits action to words, driving his throttle forward and cresting the hill they were hiding behind.

"_Archangel_, Aegis, dropping off a leftover on the front deck, standby," Athrun says as he jets up to the Archangel, now less than 400 meters away from the hill the strike team was hiding behind. The leftover was the escape pod from Valten's Centurion, and when it touched solid ground and Athrun jumped clear over the Conning tower, the pod's hatch burst open for Valten to step out.

"Welcome aboard, Captain Ryder," Murrue puts out on the external speakers as Natarle pops open the crew access hatch and ladder remotely. The Captain throws a rather sloppy salute to the Conn before going below and securing the hatch.

"_Archangel_, Strike, I'm boarding the rear deck for firing platform," Kira says as he jumps up first onto the front deck, then second onto the Gottfried turret on the port side, then third to the rear deck, where he would have one hellish field of fire looking over the rear deck's edge to the ground below.

"Valiant one, fire!" Natarle shouts as it locked solid an enemy mech with one PPC in each arm and five Pulse Lasers in the torso. The shot went low, though, and clipped the leg, though the sheer impact behind it threw the 'mech forward and down after shearing a leg off, rendering it impossible for it to shoot at the Archangel from the ground. "Valiant two, fire!" This one was targeted on a Stormcrow, and just like the Stormcrow hit as a parting shot last night, this one blew apart as the engine explosively vented to the outside world. The fury of the engine hammered into the pair of Kit Foxes nearby and knocked them to the ground; one of the pilots ejected, the other bailed manually.

"Gotcha," Kira says as he squeezes off a shot of Agni into the last of the Radome-equipped 'mechs. This one struck the centerline of the 'mech and went straight through; after a step the pilot ejected and the machine went face-first into the ground, likely from the gyro of his machine being obliterated.

"You're mine, maggots," Nicol says through gritted teeth; to him, this was an exercise in pure vengeance as he took position and aimed Trikeros. The first of the Lancer Darts zoomed to the left torso of a Hunchback IIC and penetrated a full meter into the light armor of the venerable design before blowing. The explosion was hellishly large as it sundered what was left of the ammo bunker in that torso; the pilot ejected after a half-second, and though Nicol was tempted to put a beam through the ejection pod he figured he had more threatening targets to deal with.

Kira had made one greenhorn mistake when he took position on the _Archangel_'s rear deck; he had skylighted himself in tanker's lexicon, giving the enemy below one clear silhouette of his machine. The large 'mech that was proving to be fairly slow had the answer to such a foolish miscalculation, first with a pair of Large Pulse Lasers from 1800 meters. One went wide, left, missing by four meters and gouging into the back of the conning tower. The other gouged into the left upper arm of the Strike and blew clean through, in the process severing the hydraulic system for that arm and the main structural member; after a half-second, his left arm went completely limp, unusable. That was not the end, though, as the main guns of the Stone Rhino spoke, the Gauss Rifles to which the Large Pulse Lasers were paired in each arm. One of the slugs hit home on the dead center of his chest, though failed to penetrate due to the Phase Shift armor. The other slug blew through the charge housing of Agni, immediately causing the Agni to cook off in a hellish explosion that literally blew the Strike into the starboard-side vertical wing on the _Archangel_.

"I'm hit, Kira's hit!" Kira reports. "Agni is destroyed, my left arm took a laser and isn't responding," He notes after he thought hew was through moving. In reality, however, he was about to start slipping again, down between the tail binder on the starboard side and the rear deck, and the ship itself was over 100 meters off the ground. "Huh? Oh, no, I'm about to go down," Kira notes after he realizes where his machine was going.

"What, mechanical failure?" Miriallia asks in reply

"No, gravity," Kira notes with a hint of worry. After a long two seconds, his machine takes the fall. "Oh CRAAAAAAAAAAAPPPPPPPPP!" **WHAM**.

"KIRA!" Athrun shouts. "Kira, say something!"

"Ow," Kira replies.

"CIC, Blitz, Strike appears down and is not moving, repeat Strike is down," Nicol puts out on radio, as if the sound of the impact did not make it to the _Archangel_ by way of Kira's radio.

"Mobile Forces, CIC, move forward and hold the line, do not allow them to take shots at the Strike, over," Miriallia orders.

"Aft missile tubes, fire," Natarle orders; "All guns, missiles fire at will, cover the Mobile forces; Captain, request we take up a position where we can hit them with grazing fire,"

"Newman, swing her around hard so we can put both Gottfrieds and Valiants on targets and set her down," Murrue orders, then picks up an internal phone; "Hangar, Bridge, we have a machine down and crippled, immediate recovery needed. Medical personnel on standby."

"Roger that, Captain," Newman immediately yanks the aerodynamic surfaces so the Archangel banks a full 180 degrees in a matter of seconds. All across the ship, stuff that was in place was dislodged and shoved starboard, but that was immemorial to the necessity of getting the guns forward to support the troops.

"Fire forward missile tubes, reload immediately," Natarle orders. The first barrage had settled four of the last twelve machines; this barrage hammered in on a pair of Hellbringers, a Warhammer IIC, and caused assorted minor to moderate damage to the remainder of the enemy force.

Athrun had taken position by which he could use his shield to block any fire coming in on the Strike, as well as fire on the enemy from behind it. He had taken the most interest in the Stone Rhino that had knocked Kira down, hammering it with repeated blasts of the Beam Rifle, though it was proving to be an exceptionally tough machine and was not stopping. "Nicol, give me a hand with big, dumb and ugly here! Kira, hang on, help is on the way!"

"Ow," Kira moans by way of reply.

"I got 'em," Nicol says as he takes aim with the second of his Lancer Darts, firing it into the massive center torso of the enemy machine. It did not penetrate into the internal cavity of the machine, but it did blow a massive rent in the armor on the right side of the torso. That much had the pilot's attention, and instead of focusing on the Strike he shifted aimpoint to the Blitz and hammered it with two Gauss Rifle slugs. The weapon itself caused no damage to a Phase Shift unit, though the sheer impact of being hammered at 800 meters with such powerful cannons knocked the Blitz down flat. Nicol had propped his Gundam's torso up with the right hand, preparing to hammer the last of the Lancer Darts into that armor hole he had just punched, but the enemy was now 200 meters closer and sighting him up with precharged lasers. By Nicol's guess, they were aimed at

"_**Winds of Protection**_!" Fuu shouts as Windam centers the protective shell on the Blitz. The two lasers were turned aside by the protective spell, as were another pair of Gauss Rifle slugs, just before Windam landed about twenty meters in front of the Stone Rhino. The two-handed sword came around from Fuu's right and up, into the torso of the giant machine, first partway, then grated in farther with force, then finally into something important as the pilot ejects from the defeated monster.

"Thanks, Fuu," Nicol says in a bit of an embarrassed tone.

"Valiant one, fire," Natarle says; the slug passed close enough to the Blitz that the shockwave rocked it as it was standing up; an enemy Stormcrow took the hit off-center in the chest, immediately forcing the pilot to eject as it blew through some kind of ammo store.

Umi had closed in on one of the remaining Hunchback IIC machines, on the assumption that it had fired off all its ammo when it took Ryder down (she had seen the same markings on the one that had done so). She had closed in from the air and basically landed on it, her sword immediately detaching the left arm of the enemy 'mech as she landed and stabilized. Unlike other Clan Pilots, this one had a drive to win something, lest he fall into complete dishonor (the Hunchback IIC was considered a 'last chance' machine, in that the pilot either won a normal place back or died trying). Before Umi could get her guard up, he had punched in with his remaining arm against the head of the Rune God, and the hand of a Hunchback is not something to be ignored. Selesce reeled from the hit, almost completely unexpected, then Umi got the shock of her life as she saw the two cannons discharge once, both shells hitting Selesce in the chest and knocking him to the ground.

"Selesce, are you all right?" Umi asks immediately as she shakes her head to clear the stars she had seen when they landed.

_Thine foe's arms are not something to be ignored, I daresay_, Selesce replies telepathically with a rather neutral intonation. Umi could only guess that he actually took some form of damage from the hits, though not severe enough to compromise him.

"Umi!" Hikaru shouts as Rayearth drops down between Selesce and the Hunchback IIC. The enemy had two lasers mounted in the chest to work with still, and did so; the emerald beams did not miss at less than 20 meters, but neither did they cause any notable damage to Rayearth. The pilot was fast enough of reaction to dodge her first swing at his chest, as he fired the lasers again, but his 'mech was not fast enough to avoid the thrust of her sword that entered the center torso below the lasers. After a second, the pilot manually ejects from the 'mech, leaving only two more on the field, both smaller chassis (A Nova and a Kit Fox).

The Nova takes Nicol's third Lancer Dart in the left thigh, the missile itself penetrating through the leg completely and out the back, where it detonates a quarter-second later and shears the leg completely off. Before his machine hits the ground the pilot ejects, his pod headed back toward the spaceport. The Kit Fox took one good look around at the four remaining enemy machines, shrugged, and the torso hunched down as the arms went limp. After a few seconds the cockpit is kicked open and the pilot throws out a rope ladder, climbing down to the ground amid aimpoints from four machines.

"CIC, Aegis, final enemy pilot has surrendered," Athrun notes. "All enemy ejected pilots are approaching, appearing to have surrendered."

"Roger that. Militia forces, this is _Archangel_, Starport requires securing and mop-up operations. All enemy mobile forces are downed."

"Attention unidentified warship, this is Star Commander Pytor of Clan Jade Falcon."

"Oh shit, here we go again," Natarle says wearily. She figured this was yet another enemy commander come to take a chunk out of the Archangel.

"You have defeated my forces in combat. Those of us who survive would like to offer ourselves to your unit as bondsmen."

"Uh, stand by," Natarle kills the external transmit on the _Archangel_'s systems. "Miriallia, can you quickly divine what that means?"

"Natarle! I thought I ordered you not to ask!"

"It's all right, Captain, I don't mind working on the living," Miriallia replies before an officer's argument ensues. She checks first for Star Commander Pytor's mind, and finds it easily enough. He was the pilot of the last Hunchback to be knocked down. Finding out what a Bondsman was took moments, as it was a surface thought at present. "It means that since we defeated him in combat, he is honor-bound to serve us in any capacity we see fit, until such a time as we deem him worthy for integration into our forces, if I am interpreting this correctly. Something to do with the tradition of the Clan Warriors."

"I don't trust that any farther than I can throw one of their Omnimechs," Natarle notes sourly.

"Miriallia, can you detect any hint of treachery in them?" Murrue asks immediately.

"No, they consider that to be something that warrants their death. Clanners hate deception, if I am understanding their thinking right," Miriallia was starting to get confused by what she was reading from their minds. "They ain't happy so few of us smoked so many of them, but they definitely respect our power for it. I don't think they are going to play games or try sabotaging the ship."

"Very well, we'll try it out. We can use the extra help in the ship, for now," Murrue says, trusting in Miriallia's judgment. "Please ask them to cluster for easy supervision."

_Defeated Clan forces, you are ordered to cluster around the severed arm of Pytor's Hunchback. Your disposition will be determined soon enough_, Miriallia orders to them telepathically, a small task given their range was less than 1 kilometer in just about every case.

"Understood." Pytor replies over the radio; the persons begin converging on the said detached limb.

"Recall the Rune Gods, Miriallia. Have the Aegis assist in recovering Strike, have the Blitz stand sentry over the prisoners."

_Selesce, Rayearth, Windam, return to the ship. Aegis, assist in recovering the Strike. Blitz, stand sentry over the prisoners_.

-x-x-x-

Not much had been said by Mu or Murrue since they had sat down in the stateroom, two hours after the battle had passed. The Romulus Militia had swept the Starport and recovered another twenty prisoners that had been turned over to the _Archangel_. All in all, the total amount of prisoners and salvage to be had from this assault would be enormous, more than ample to finance the ship's operation for several years to come.

In the end, it did not get anyone closer to getting home. And that was what was grating on their minds and souls.

Natarle, strangely enough, was the last to enter the room. Murrue had figured she had taken a shower; the necessity of the battle had disgusted her as much as anyone else, maybe more, and Murrue did not hold it against her at all. Who really wanted to kill off hundreds of enemy personnel in one fell swoop?

It was the thing she was holding that had their attention. "This is not strictly speaking the most celebratory time we could have, but I think we could all use a shot."

"Jack Daniels Whiskey," Murrue recites off the bottle as Natarle sets it down on the desk. After a few moments, she pours each a shot.

"Thank you," Mu notes as he receives his shot-glass.

"Thanks, Natarle," Murrue says as she receives hers. "So, what's the verdict?"

"The Bondsmen are out with the starport mechanics and Militia personnel, helping us recover anything we can get our hands on from the battle. The four Dropships are toast, they're going to have to be broken down and recycled, but we still have salvage ownership on them. We're going to get a serious chunk to turn over to FedCom, and we're basically instant heroes for screwing up several Clusters of Clan forces and four of their Dropships. Two Dropships got away, though, and returned to their ship. Word is it will be gone here as soon as they recharge their jump core; they don't have any real reason to hang around since they don't have a coherent force to use on us right now." Natarle sighs; they could sense it was time for the bad news.

"Yzak is going to be out of commission for two weeks, that Elemental tore a chunk out of his left arm. Kira is going to be out for at least that long, and we lost one of the three Agni packs we have. Those are a finite resource, unfortunately. And worse, we're looking at some serious material deficiencies on the ship, namely ammo and uniforms for our personnel, plsu critical components for the Gundams."

"Well, we're going to be flush with cash for a while, so at our next stop we can correct any material shortages. Also, wherever we go that is in friendly hands, I want us to stock up to the gills on supplies. There's no telling when our next interdimensional trip will happen, and I don't want to get caught short on beans and bullets wherever we go."

"Clear, Captain. Major Steiner thinks our next destination is going to be Twycross, should I get online with ComStar and see what options we have for munitions factories there?"

"Please do, and forward them the info for whatever munitions we need if there are options available. You have discretionary release on funds to that effect, if they require a percentage up front."

"Right," Natarle notes.

"And about the uniforms, I think it's time we come to a realization, Natarle. The fact that we're wearing Earth Alliance digs, we have ZAFT in their uniforms, we have three school-girls in their school uniforms, and now we have Clan Bondsmen means we have four different groups working together. While it is a bit of a matter of pride on each party's part, I'd say its time we outfitted and started acting like a team here."

Natarle's response was a bit of a shocker to them both: "I agree, Captain. This may go partway to defusing some of the animosity between the groups, though probably not all the way."

"No, that would take something more, like more exposure to each other," Murrue notes, and sighs. "I'd like you to come up with something group-neutral that references the ship. Break it down by assignment: ship crew, techs, pilots, officers. Gender neutral or not depends on who we can contract this for."

"Will do."

"Thanks for the drink, Commander," Murrue notes after a few seconds of silence.

"I'm not throwing the bottle away. We may need a stiff one in the coming nights. Maybe the pilots as well."

"And the Pilots? How are they doing?"

"Bad shakes, lot of stress to bleed off. I cleared out the Hot Springs so they could have it to relax, clear themselves up. They've never done anything like this before, and it was very hard on them."

"They wanted it just as bad as we did, and we needed to secure the _Kwaidan_ and rid Romulus of the presence of the enemy. Looks like we won all our objectives, but at what cost?" Mu asks.

"Frayed nerves, combat shock, and serious damage to most of our Gundams." Athrun had not been forthcoming with a battle damage report in the battle, but on inspection his machine had taken over a half-dozen hits from Medium Lasers in non-critical locations, as well as part of a PPC blast to the left forearm.

"Well, we've proved to the Inner Sphere that the Clans can be hammered flat if done right. Maybe their winning streak will be reversed?" Mu asks.

"Only time will tell," Natarle notes. "By your leave, Captain?" She asks as she stands up, though she gave no indication of having just slammed a shot of Jack.

"Thank you, Natarle." She salutes and leaves the room without removing the bottle of Jack Daniels.

**Whud**; Murrue's head hit the desk audibly, though her arms were up to soften the blow, which told Mu that it was not whiskey-induced. "What the hell did I do so wrong in a prior life to earn this happening everyone else?" She mutters with her forehead still against the desk, which meant that rather than being silenced it echoed. Mu, figuring that such a gesture would be reassuring to her, paths her on her left shoulder, then realizes that he had done that once before and been told it was harassment. "Careful, Mu, I may ask you to do that again sometime."

Mu looks at his right hand through one eye (the other was closed), and wonders what that was about. "Huh?" he finally asks after about ten seconds.

"Just sit back down and pour me another shot, please." She notes without raising her head. Like hell Mu was going to disobey such an order, so he complied (as well as poured himself another shot).

* * *

Author's Chapter Afterword: 

A lot happened in this chapter, and I think I actually got out everything that I wanted to cover. That is fairly rare in and of itself, actually, sometimes I forget something (like the footnotes to Chapter 5, which I just put in place last week).

First off, you actually got to see Murrue and Miriallia in action, even if part of it was rather static infantry combat. And there has been many questions over the chapters as to what weapon Murrue has and what it does; I hope this sort-of clears it up. Actually, I based her weapon on the Armlet weapon from Dark Cloud 2 for the Playstation 2, the armbands used by Monica. It basically allows her to throw a magic bolt at a target for some serious damage, and in this case enough damage to blow through an Elemental. As to Miriallia's weapon, it follows in proportion to the numbers and effects for the magic weapons of the rest of the group, and more detail will come along in chapters way ahead. When they start encountering people who use magic weapons of their own, and the people who make them.

Second, the Elementals got the shaft. Oops. I love the Battle Armor troops in Battletech, but sorry, they were playing the game wrong against foes that had some unusual capabilities, and they didn't win this one. Maybe next time. Unless you consider taking down Yzak part of a victory. Expect him to see a bit of the light of reason for getting his ass handed to him and losing his best friend in coming chapters. Don't expect him to become a civil, respectable person, though. Yzak will likely be a hard-ass until well after hell freezes over.

Third, the assault on the Starport was basically a combination blitz and ambush, played against Clan second-line troops. These are not the regulars, Nikolai's crack troops that beat the hell out of just about anything, these are the garrison forces that get the lesser tasks. They also drive 'lesser' machines for the most part, and that combination cost them dearly. The combination of three-axis attack with diversions was not something they were expecting, and when they got caught up fighting the Strikers, Gundams, and Rune Gods in the starport alleys, they got corncobbed from the side and rear. Oops. Typical Clanners, actually, run toward where they think the fighting is and don't protect their rear. All glory and little common military sense.

Lastly, I know you some of the Character stances on the battle to be OOC, but keep in mind that grief is a very powerful motivator to kick someone's ass. Or worse. And because I do not pull punches on a normal day, this is as is. Expect repercussions, though, as the stress from the battle and their own collection of demons from the battle takes its toll. Miriallia's fit during the Elemental battle is just a sample.

That's that. Now for the review replies:

Well, holy sj1t, Bienviendo, that's a lot of drop-ins on just one chapter.

(1): I'm still working on my descriptions of battles, actually, this story is as much a literary testbed for my other works as it is its own flag and story. I hope I'm improving both here and in the Jokers Wild series.

(1.1): And any ease in battles is not so much skill on the SEED chars part as it is lack of knowledge on the Clans part. The Falcons are still trying to figure out how to deal with this nightmare they have come to face, and with Galaxy Commander Chistu having most of his Galaxy ripped out from under him the matter is just about to become a bit more dicey for the Clans.

(2): Now, as to the disparity between the three shows, ideological and political differences, remember that so far most of the focus has been battle in the Battletech world. What is going to happen in the next chapter and subsequent chapters is going to change that drastically. The 'wolves' (and I do not mean the Clan Wolf) have thus far not known about the Archangel, but now the scent is across the HPG networks. Think about it, two Clusters of Clan forces shot to hell in two days by a no-name force not even from this Galaxy...someone is going to take notice.

(3): Honestly, the reviews make good fuel for the nightmare, but for the 9 reviews that Chapter 11 got, it took on 110 hits. My Jokers Wild series is lucky to get 1 review per chapter, and I have some chapters that have received 200+ hits. Honestly, I think my stories play to a very small demographic of the Gundam community, ergo those that actually believe Gundam is about Gundams. You can probably guess what the other camp believes. Honestly, though, I consider every suggested locale to go to seriously, and I consider every point made in review legitimate. I also consider that wherever the Archangel goes, the challenge is different from Mobile Forces combat. In Cephiro the challenge was an unstated timer to keep the planet alive. You have to look at not so much what appears to be, but what conflict shall be when you throw a chaotic variable into the mix. And, it is against policy to repost a fic under multiple sections, but if you want to you can pass the story number onto your friends for inclusion in their C2s and for their reading pleasure. The story number is: 3729961

(4): Both battles are a definite possible; I am unsure what time scale will pass before they move on. Only the dice know.

(5): With the changing of events here, they may not discover that base. Remember that as things happen that did not match the prior history (the original Battletech cartoon storyline), the future changes accordingly.

(6): It is a significant possible that a Davion or Kurita may show up in the story.

(7): This is the Archangel we're talking about. Murdoch and his crew can jury-rig a Gundam with duct tape and bailing wire, for damn sure they could retrofit IS and Clan hardware onto a Gundam, or Gundam hardware onto an Omnimech. Be afraid, comrade.

(8): This is going to come to light soon enough.

(9): Oh, yes, I have heard of these games. Due to the size of your array, I can safely say there is a minimum of one of those games listed as a candidate for the story line. I'll leave which up to your imagination.

(10): Only the dice know the answer to that question.

The Baka Brigade: Damn, Dearka was one of my personal favorites as well, too bad he had to leave the stage so early. The dice roll wicked, though, and when I started writing I swore that I would stay the course. And that is not metaphor, just as in the game Battletech I am using dice to decide certain outcomes, when I find myself at a literary impasse. That is more than half the fun of writing this story, I don't always know what I intend on doing, or what events will alter that course. Like this chapter, and how it will screw the Jade Falcons up in the long run.

Gonging Apple: Well, if they can survive one of Stravag's Special Recipe Mudslides, they're doing good. And keep away from people with big swords, it may be hazardous to your health (and my sanity).

FraserMage: Thx for dropping in on this one as well, comrade. And the fact that the Gundams work in space is going to be a rude shock to everyone, not just the Strikers.

Bien, round two: I do this writing because I know people find entertainment value from it, and I use the reviews as a gauge of what I am doing right or wrong in a literary and storytelling sense. For the reviews I am grateful to all, and shall be always. As to the suggestions for places to go, I have already stated my position on that above. The soundtrack idea is an interesting thought, though I am partial to the works of Journey, Dio, Queen, and Led Zepplin from the time period your list is centered on, or for more recent works the bands Nightwish, Stratovarious, Dragon Force, and Sonata Arctica are good stuff.

Bien, Round Three: I saw about four episodes of Exosquad back when it was on television, before they pulled it in my area. I have also seen the first four eps of Nadesico, and while I did want to see more, I could not get my hands on it at that time. Grr. Captain Harlock is a new one to me, I may have to look into that.

Etienne, always a pleasure. Miriallia's course is just beginning, and things are going to get real strange for her soon enough, not to mention by the numbers under which I operate, more persons are likely to gain such or similar skills over the course of the story, and those that gain skills of that nature will be able to advance them or branch off with use and or training. As to the ship evolving, this is just minor stuff, much more is going to be in store as time goes by, because the end chapters are going to be real brutal for the Archangel. The gravity situation is not resolved, yet, as there is more to come on that issue. And though I am not afraid to ax a main character, be advised I am not going to pull a Zeta Gundam stunt here and kill people wholesale in a short period of time. That would not be right in my opinion.

Knives91: Thanks, comrade, though he didn't get any real digs in this chapter, the battle against the Clans is just beginning. Yzak will have his vengeance.

Mega1987: In most circumstances, death is rather permanent, and especially when your cockpit takes the brunt of two Clan ERPPCs. This is not to say that there are no ways to circumvent death or undo it, but such ways are unavailable to the Archangel. There are some real badass dudes out there in Existence that can undo death, but none of them are on the Archangel. Sorry, man, Dearka's dead.

Bien, round four: Of this novel I am not familiar. If it is cheap, I may throw it into my next Amazon purchase, though.

Alkard, much thanx0r for the reply. I know, you just don't find all that many nihilists in reality, so Dearka's character is a rather unique one. The inheritance path of the Buster is fuzzy right now, but it will see battle once again. Dealing with the energy weapons is going to be a major problem in this section and in coming sections, there may not even be a practical solution to it. The total salvage haul from Romulus is massive, like 1 billion C-bills or more, when everything is added up. That is going to make things interesting when the crew goes shopping. And as for the Rune Gods, their armor type and value is presently indeterminate, but it is significantly better (due to magical power) than either Gundam PS armor or Clan Ferro Fibrous armor. It has limits, though, just as the Rune Gods are severely limited in combat scope. And a pair of Clan AC/20s did get Selesce's attention, as you read above, so those limits may be lower than expected.

Gonging, avoid flights without the use of frequent-flier mileage. You never know when a Rifleman IIC will be along the flight path, and they are designed to shoot down airborne objects, so...

CHM01, thanks for the review again. Humility, circumspection, and judgment usually comes to someone as cause of getting their ass kicked in. This is no different. And you are right, the Buster is going to be a helluva duty op, as well as having a bit of a 'curse' mystique about it since Dearka was KIA in it. As to who gets magic and when, that is to come but more will get magic or psionic abilities (or both), and keep in mind that there are many forms of magic and psionic talents throughout Existence, which means the crew of the Archangel could very likely become one hellish mishmash of differing styles of wizardry. And as to Gundam upgrades, that is going to be a function of storyline, and big plot twists if they even show up at all. I cannot in good conscience comment on that, sorry for acting like a junior suspense writer on that part.

All right, Gonging, you win. You get a new chapter, stop banging your head, I'm getting tired of the squishy sound. Keep in mind, though, 2 weeks a chapter is probably going to be average from now on, I have a lot of test preparation for certification exams to get done.

Once again, thank you all for the reviews, serious, goofy, helpful or else. Keep 'em coming, comrades, your thoughts are fuel for the ongoing odyssey of the Archangel.

Next Up: On Twycross, the Archangel crew goes shopping, and many things can happen in a city that you've never been in before, some good, some bad, and many screwed up.

* * *

Footnotes: 

(1): Beyond Economical Repair

(2): This is the best description I can put to what a rocket does when it detonates. Note the complete lack of movie-style fireball-explosion bullshit. Rockets are not designed to do that normally, though some larger rockets and missiles will do that (minor—nothing like the movies) as a side effect of the shape charge, they are designed to punch a small hole into a given quantity of armor, and oh by the way turn that armor into shrapnel _inside_ the target. That is how a rocket kills, really.

(3): I don't even think the standard Clan LSSU is going to help in this case. Normally, when wounded the LSSU would inject a drug to keep the pilot going and dull the pain, but an arrow head stuck in your chest is something wholly different from a gunshot wound, which is what the LSSU was designed for. Suffice it to say that Elemental is not doing much of anything right now.

(4): High Explosive – Dual Purpose. Useful against both light armor targets and infantry targets. Not all that effective against heavy armor (tanks, 'mechs) unless used on known weak spots.

(5): Given how little damage the Igelstellung typically causes in SEED, this is my best guess as to why it is so weak. Remember, the damage a bullet causes is a factor of size of the bullet, shape of the bullet, and powder charge behind it. Besides, smaller cases means less weight and size, and they can carry more ammo for it in a given space, but it also means typically less powder to get the bullet moving.

(6): Yzak's roll for this one came up with a MOF (Margin of Failure) of 2. Any lower and he'd be dead.

(7): Myomer Musculature is the musculature used in Battlemechs, Omnimechs, and Elementals, as well as the occasional crazy human who has part of his body's muscles replaced with Myomer. Myomer works by electrical charge, and has approximately ten times the strength of an equivalent biological muscle. Very powerful stuff, really.

(8): This is all stuff I derived from The Learning Channel and The History Channel, as well as assorted musings from books here and there. And you thought said channels were boring...

(9): Yep, the Magic Knights' weapons are considered that powerful. As to the engine critical explosion roll, the pilot only rolled a 6, so his engine had no big boom. Of course, that is one 'mech that will never move on its own again, but hey, details, details.

(10): It didn't cook the reactor off, but it did vent the plasma to the outside world. A more hellish way to die, rest assured.


	13. Gone Power Shopping

(Section 2, Chapter 5: Gone Power Shopping)

(**Author's Note: All persons be warned: this chapter is well over three times longer than my usual. I got some seriously super-evil ideas for things to do on Twycross, and I ain't even through yet on this planet. Har har har!**)

The sickening feeling had not taken all that long to hit Nicol; in fact, at about the same time he could sense that Commander La Flaga and Captain Ramius were having their fourth shots of whiskey each, he was feeling real bad about his actions that day.

_What the hell have I become_?

For over an hour, Nicol had been staring at the palms of his hands, wondering what had possessed him to believe that vengeance would be a good thing, especially when he knew beforehand that this would happen, that he would be so disgusted and depressed with himself that he definitely wouldn't like what he believed he had become.

_What's the point? What the hell am I fighting for any more? A paycheck? Is all I have become nothing more than a mercenary?_

Nicol had signed up because he wanted to help protect the PLANTs from further attacks. That seemed to have fallen astray of late, even when one could consider their actions up to and following Heliopolis to be necessary to preventing the Earth Alliance from gaining an upper hand against ZAFT. He wasn't really defending anything except himself now, and his few remaining friends.

_What did Dearka die for? It sure as hell was not for the PLANTs, we aren't anywhere near them_.

His right-hand spatha came into existence completely unbidden; it had shocked him initially, though after a while he began inspecting it, for the first time since he had received it. It looked plain initially, but it was indeed very ornate with the green pommel gem, gilded hilt, and the line of runic lettering running down the inside of the sword's fuller (blood groove) (1). The lettering itself was written out in emerald that was inset into the sword, though he could not read it due to the fact it was written in a very foreign language to him.

_What am I trying to accomplish? Is there anything I'm trying to do that is worth it? Is getting home worth it, or is this all a damn fantasy_?

The sickening feeling hit him again, this time in remembrance of placing the Gundam-sized satchel charge on the command center. He had seen in some of the windows as he approached, there were dozens of people in there, killed for the sake of military expediency. A diversion, a distraction to draw their forces in two directions to make it easier for the assault teams to kill them off. Nicol had done it, believing that the lives he had taken were somehow justified because he was paying them back for killing Dearka. After the fact, that seemed like such an arrogant, hollow, damn near evil justification for killing as many as he could put sights (and explosives) on.

_I know what I have become...this day's battle, and Princess Emeraude, and High Priest Zagato. I have become a murderer_.

Nicol had only one small, weak light on in his quarters right now. Athrun was who-knows-where, probably feeling just as rotten as Nicol was. Thus, there was nobody in the room to see him simply staring at his sword. Nobody could see the pain on his face as his conscience fought with the cold, hard reality of the life he had lived, of the actions he had taken. Part of him thought he was doing the right thing by fighting onward, in the hopes that someday he would get home. The rest of him was unsure what it was worth.

_A murderer...is that all I am now_?

Nicol was engrossed in thought and did miss his room ringer.

_Do I_—

"Nicol?" Fuu asked over the intercom outside his room. That had not failed to get his attention; his head whipped around and centered on the door, staring at it almost accusingly, until she rang the bell a second time.

"Oh, one moment," Nicol says. He figured he would have plenty of time to sort out how he felt about these things in the coming weeks as they ventured to the jumpship and then to Twycross, their supposed next destination. Nicol stows his sword after standing up and approaches the door, then hits the unlock button which immediately causes it to open, as Fuu was standing real close to the door when she hit the call button. This also put them real close to each other when the door opened. "Is, uh, something wrong?"

"I was wondering if I could speak to you...alone."

"Huh? Sure, I guess," Nicol replies, wondering what was going on. He takes a step back; before she steps in, she takes a look around the corridor, then steps in herself. After a moment, the door hisses closed. "Is...what's wrong, Fuu?" Even in his mental state, Nicol could recognize that Fuu had been crying quite recently.

"I...feel terrible...about what we did today."

_I think we all do_, Nicol thinks but did not say offhand. His silence was interpreted by Fuu as at least part of an answer, leading to her reason for being in this room, talking to the Gundam pilot:

"How...do you cope with this feeling? I feel as if I've done something monstrous, and I can't escape my own heart for it," it hurt Nicol just as bad to hear Fuu talking about it, since he could feel that her soul was being tormented by it.

"I'm not, Fuu, I don't think any of us are." Nicol sits down on the side of his bed, and was joined shortly by Fuu. "I was just asking myself the same questions you have been. And I don't have an answer."

"Then...did we do something wrong?" There was a hint of desperation to her voice.

"I...don't know, Fuu. I just don't know."

_Thine foes seek the destruction and enslavement of all the worlds held by man_, Windam's mental voice echoes in both their minds. _The Clans believe themselves the true ward of the old Star League. To defend the rights and lives of those around you is nary but the right path to take. Do not fear nor regret your actions of this day; rest assured that you have nothing to regret of what has transpired_.

"Wait a second, I thought the Rune Gods were mostly concerned with Cephiro," Nicol thinks aloud.

_Though our ultimate purpose is to defend Cephiro from threats within and without, just as thine morality transcends your homeworld, so does ours. Hold in thine heart that where you walk, so should what you believe follow. Quell thine hearts with the knowledge that though the path long and winding and convoluted, it shall lead you home_. The last part was more or less aimed at Nicol, who had less than average faith on that subject of late. Fuu had never really given up hope on that subject, which immediately told her that though he was a soldier, he had some doubts about what he was dong and where they were going.

"Is it...really that bad for you?" Fuu asks after a few moments of silence.

Nicol knew what she was referring to, the last part of Windam's statement was directed at him.

"Yes, it is. Going from day to day, knowing one of your best friends from the academy died on some unheard-of planet in an unheard-of parallel dimension, wondering if you will ever get home or how many will make it home alive, it is hard to explain. I keep getting this feeling that if I ever get home, I don't know what I'll do, and that above the feeling that I might not make it home."

"Why not just do what you normally do when you get home?" Fuu asks quite reasonably. "I thought you were more optimistic than how you're acting right now."

Nicol flops down backwards onto the bed. "It's hard being optimistic when all you really have to look forward to is the off-chance of getting home alive and uninjured."

"Well, Nicol, I hope you believe you're not alone in wanting to go home. We're all trying to make it home, and I'm not going to give up on the journey or you until we make it home."

"Y'know, Fuu, that is why I like you. You're always nice to someone. So few people are like that any more."

Nicol could not see it, since he was technically looking at the back of her head, but Fuu had blushed bright red at his comment.

-x-x-x-

"Kira, you blockhead!" Flay says as she finally works up the courage to enter the medical ward and walks immediately to his bed. "How could you let this happen to yourself?"

"Now, Flay, be gentle, he's got a long way to go before he recovers completely," the Doctor cautions.

"Well, still, you should not have taken the hits, Kira," Flay says as she grabs a seat next to his bed.

"I'm still alive, aren't I?" Kira asks.

"Well, you get a pass for that, but you can do better than that, and no lame excuses," Flay notes.

_How the hell does he put up with that kind of abuse_? Yzak asks within the confines of his mind.

"Flay, calm down, I'll be all right. I just broke four ribs and my left arm, I'll heal...eventually."

"How long?" She asks earnestly.

"Three weeks," Kira replies; "give or take a few days. I'm really all right, Flay, I'm more concerned about the Strike right now." It went without saying that without the Strike, the ship loses quite a bit of its firepower and flexibility.

"Oh, that, it'll be all right. I overheard Murdoch talking about he had to refit something on it, we're out of a certain spare part and your fall busted that part we're out of," Flay notes with all the grace of a typical non-engineering non-technical person; the way she commented about it offended Kira quite a bit, figuring that she could have been more tactful about it.

"Lovely," Kira moans.

The doctor could sense he was not pleased about it, either. "All right, missie, out of here. Go on, git," the Doc shooes Flay toward the door.

Before she starts walking, she stands up and gives him a good kiss on the lips. "Get well soon, Kira, you and I have a lot to talk about in the next few weeks." She promptly leaves thereafter.

Yzak had the comment de rigeur about her conduct: "How the hell do you put up with that, Kira?"

Kira motions to the door with his eyes while looking at the Doc still; he moves to the door and checks, seeing Flay round the corner down the hall, then gives Kira a thumbs-up gesture. "Well, Yzak, I know why she's the way she is. She's afraid right now, really afraid that the last person in the world she cares about would die."

"You?" Yzak asks with quite a bit of shock in tone. Unconsciously he flinched his left arm, which sent a wave of pain up and down his arm and throughout his chest. "Ow, shit! Oh, I hate Elementals," Yzak notes for not the second-dozen time in the past four hours.

"Yeah, me. Her mom died when she was real young, her dad was killed onboard a ship shot down by the _Vesalius_, Heliopolis was shot out from under her, then she gets sent on this magical whirlwind tour with even more unusual ways to die, she's had a rough couple of months. Personally, I have to wonder what's keeping her from completely flipping out."

"You, probably, she thinks she may be getting somewhere with you."

"And you?" Kira asks.

"What the hell is that supposed to mean?"

"What do you think of her?" Kira replies calmly.

That took Yzak a few moments: "She kinda creeps me out, but I think I can track with where she's coming from," Yzak declares, then appends: "Sort of. Athrun would probably understand her best, his mother was killed in Bloody Valentine and his dad might as well not even be there, he's that distant and cold about things."

"Thanks, Yzak," Athrun says as he enters the door to the med lab. "How're you two doing?"

"He's definitely doing better than I," Yzak notes.

"I don't think so, he'll be up and moving in a week, I have two weeks before I'm even allowed to stand," Kira notes sourly. Staying still and doing nothing was about as foreign to Kira as porno magazines were.

"God, Doom and Gloom in the same room, swearing the other one will get better first. There may be something wrong with this," Athrun notes sourly.

"Yeah, we got beat up to begin with," Yzak replies acidly.

"Hey, in your defense, both of you, you lost to the enemy's best from both sides, infantry and armor. The lady that took you down, Yzak, is a Star Commander of Elementals, and she didn't get there by luck. She can pick up 300 kilos and walk with it."

"Holy shit," Yzak notes.

"And that big thing that got the Strike?" Yzak asks before Kira could do the same.

"A Stone Rhino, big sucker with a design concept that predates the Star League. The Clanners redid it right, and it got Kira's charge chamber on the Agni cannon. Basically converted the hyper-impulse-beam-spitter into a hyper-impulse-based bomb. Paired Gauss Rifles, paired Large Pulse Lasers, small pulse laser for shits and grins up close. The only person that got that close, though, was Nicol and Fuu."

"So, basically a walking long-range sniper," Yzak notes. "Did we get intact?"

"Yeah, we did, we hangared it for Murdoch to play around with, as well as a pair of Warhawks and some smaller units. The rest we sold back to the Federated Commonwealth; they'll be along to pick everything up and sign off on it in about a week, so we're waiting that long until they're satisfied we got everything."

"Oh, nice," Yzak notes. "I'm beginning to think we're not cut out for this ground-pounding shit, can we hire us a crew of Elementals to do the leg work?" He floats as something approaching a complaint.

"That's going to be dicey," Athrun notes. "So far, only the Clans have these battle armor units. The FedCom Intelligence Secretariat were practically drooling over the sets we recovered."

"Oh," Yzak notes.

"So, what're they modifying on the Strike?"

"Murdoch is replacing all the hydraulics on the Strike with Myomer systems."

"Oh, I must have blown out the hydraulics when I landed," Kira notes with a hint of dejection.

"Relax, the myomer systems should be just as fast as the hydraulics, though they take up a little more room inside it's impossible to cripple all the myomer in a machine unless you're Hikaru," Athrun notes with a bit of an amused snort.

"Huh?" Kira asks in reply.

"You didn't hear? Hikaru used her Ruby Lightning spell on one of those Elementals, fried out the Myomer after having every muscle in the frame contract at once. That elemental ended up doing a good impression of a board for a few hours. I think it was the same one that got you, Yzak,"

"More's the pity that said elemental didn't take more abuse than that," Yzak notes sourly.

"Oh, she did, Captain Ramius used her relic weapon on it," Athrun notes neutrally.

"Huh? Someone finally figured out what it does?"

"Yeah, it builds a pure magical energy charge ball in the hands, which she can throw at a target. Hellishly effective, she put it through that Elemental, just like a gunshot but energized. I think it will even go through Phase Shift armor."

"Holy shit," Yzak replies. "That's a powerful weapon."

"I know, thankfully she's on our side."

"Uh, Athrun, forget you're ZAFT again?" Yzak had had to remind Athrun more than once over the past two months about that.

"No, I think you keep forgetting that the great ZAFT versus Earth Alliance war doesn't mean shit in the middle of the Inner Sphere," Athrun replies testily.

"Don't make me kick you out too, Athrun," the Doc warns him rather sternly.

"Huh? You kicked someone out of here already?" That had to be a record, since Kira had been in the ward for only a few hours.

"Yeah, Flay came in and riled Kira up, so the Doc kicked her out. She got her digs in, though, and one good smooch for the parting." Kira rolled his eyes famously at the last, figuring that Yzak could have spared that last detail.

"Kira, I thought you were trying to avoid her," Athrun notes accusingly.

"Does it look like I can avoid a third grader with a Popsicle stick right now?" Kira asks in sharp retort.

"My question is, what does said third grader intend to do to Kira with the Popsicle stick?" Yzak asks; his question got sniggers from Athruun, Kira, Tolle, and Miriallia, the latter two who had just entered.

"Tolle, how're you doing?" Kira asks.

"Usual, man," Tolle had passed by Kira's bed over toward Yzak. "Yzak, want to borrow my old music player?"

"Serious?" Yzak asks._Man, I could use something to listen to other than Kira's heart monitor_, Yzak thinks aloud.

"Sure, Mir's gonna choke me out if she catches me playing it loud any more, and you guys can probably use it more than I since it's kinda drab in here," He notes.

"Thanks," Yzak notes as Tolle hands it off to Yzak's good arm. The player was possible to set up and use with one hand, which Yzak figured out fast enough.

"All of you, out of here, now," The Doc orders. _Damnit, now I have to listen to that stuff_, the Doc thinks aloud, which was picked up by Miriallia. Of course, she had to comment about that to Athrun and Tolle after they were out of earshot of the medical ward.

"Man, do you have any friends stranger than that?" Yzak asks bluntly after about a minute of diddling with Tolle's music player.

"Are we counting you as well?" Kira asks after a few moments.

Silence, from the ZAFT Gundam pilot, was the only response.

-x-x-x- (dateline: 30 April 3050) -x-x-x-

The whole principle of what the _Archangel_ was doing in the Inner Sphere had rather disgusted the Clansmen that had been taken as bondsmen. Clansmen, intrinsically, do not like mercenaries, tagging them as vultures and soldiers of fortune, with no real convictions.

That attitude changed quite a bit when they learned of the true origin of the _Archangel_ and the mobile forces. It changed even more when they were told of Cephiro, and the nature of the three Rune Gods. The greatest change, though, was when explained that the crew of the _Archangel_ was simply trying to return to their own world and dimension to rejoin the war effort there, and that included the four (now three) ZAFT pilots in the unit. Surviving the Inner Sphere and the Clan invasion was completely ancillary to that task, but had to be done even so.

And the fact that Dearka had been killed in a rather pointless nighttime ambush battle did not please the _Archangel_ crew, much less the ZAFT pilots. That much was obvious to the Clansmen, who did not press on the issue (wisely).

The memorial service had been held in one of the starport hangars. The whole crew attended; the ship was left under guard of the militia forces, who believed they owed the _Archangel_ a large debt of gratitude for their actions in ridding the planet of the Clanners and taking out most of their forces. All three of the ZAFT pilots spoke of his exploits and wishes, as well as Captain Ramius speaking of his willingness to look past the conflicts of home to the here-and-now that challenged them and his willingness to stand in the way of forces unknown in defense of innocent lives. A ComStar reporter and cameraman had wheedled his way in on the ceremony, and had recorded the whole ceremony, for broadcast to to the worlds of the Inner Sphere. (It went without saying: this force would definitely get some props, they took down a whole Cluster of Clan 'mechs with relatively little in the way of damage to the ship or the units.)

His remains (what little of him was left from the cockpit of the Buster) were interred at a memorial site that was being built to the east of the starport, and of all that the militia and starport administration had planned and fronted for the memorial, already a marble pedestal had been erected with the engraving: "Dearka Elsman, Gundam pilot of Zodiac Alliance of Freedom Treaty. Born 29 March, Cosmic Era 54, killed in action 26 April 3050 during the Clan invasion of Romulus. Age 17." On a second paragraph: "Though not born of this dimension or knowing of the people therein, he sacrificed himself to defend the people threatened by Clan aggression."

A weaver in the city had made a set of ZAFT flags, one for the _Archangel_, one for the memorial, and one for the ceremony. Even after a thousand years past the dawning of modern military tradition, the folding of the flag was still done the same. In this case, the folding was done by Athrun, Nicol, Natarle, and Mu. The 21-gun salute was handled by Murrue and the marine contingent of the _Archangel_. Then the casket was lowered into the vault and sealed in; a couple of the starport technicians finished up with the spadework. The flag that had been folded was sealed in a flag case, with his magic glove in the right corner of the long box for the flag and the medal he had been awarded by the Federated Commonwealth for his actions, being the Federated Commonwealth Medal of Honor. Athrun figured that ZAFT might (slim possibility) add the Order of the Nebula to that when they return home, since his actions were against a very nasty aggressor party and brought honor to ZAFT and the PLANTs by standing in the way of what would otherwise have been a slaughter.

The honest part of Athrun knew there would be no such accolade. After all, to the ZAFT command structure, Existence comprised two types of people: Coordinators and everyone else. And 'everyone else' was inferior to ZAFT, therefore whether they lived, died, or sat down and rotated meant nothing at all to the command structure. Just bugs, really, to be stepped on in the inevitable march toward progress.

And what he saw here, in the past month and more recently, contradicted that belief to a fare-thee-well. _The Captain and Commanders of the Archangel are not people to be sneezed at, for starters_, he mentally mused._Kira is a Coordinator, true, but still on the 'Earth Alliance' side_. _His friends, Tolle, Kuzzey, Sai are not weaklings in the least bit; they do their jobs professionally as would any ZAFT midshipman. Miriallia is actually a bit theoretically scary, not only was she competent behind the control panels, she can literally read minds_; Miriallia waved at him, apparently in thanks for the compliment that was unstated but heard even so. _Major Steiner and the Strikers are not slouches, despite being overwhelmed categorically they still fight. Colonel Hartman's Militia were nothing more than occasional fighters, nothing major, yet they still fought courageously against the Clans and would do so again if they came back. The Magic Knights, Hikaru, Umi, Fuu, wrenched from being schoolgirls and dropped into first a world they knew nothing about, then a whole galaxy of war, never gave up heart even when faced with the impossible task of fighting mechanized range-combat units with swords and magic_.

His conclusion was inevitable, inescapable: he, Athrun Zala of ZAFT, Coordinator though he may be, was the least flexible and most conceded person in the unit. Well, probably not the most, that title would definitely go to Yzak if a vote came up about it; a moment after the polling was done, he'd fly off the handle and get pissed off, thereby proving the poll correct. Quietly Athrun had to admit he was a close second, still believing that being an elite Coordinator Gundam Pilot was something real special, as if he was entitled to a free beer somewhere for being so. The realization that Dearka had the same sentiments up until the end, and he died at the hands of a non-coordinator driving a machine smaller and technically inferior to his, was not a fact to be overlooked.

_My...arrogance...is going to cost me my life sooner or later, probably sooner if we're going to keep going head-to-head against these Clanners_, Athrun thinks as he stares at the pedestal that would soon have a bronze statuette of the Buster on it. There was something to be said about luck in combat, but Athrun knew that luck (or fate or chance, however you want to look at it) would not continue to smile kindly on him if he kept taking the view that he was somehow superior to those around him. Something about bad Karma, he figured he could get a good explanation of it from Yzak, who was into all that mystical study and process. _For that matter, it might not be all that bad an option to consider studying with the Knights, maybe I could come to understand more of this Magic that seems to follow us around_... That would be an interesting thing to explain to the ZAFT review board when they got home and were summarily court-martialed for their conduct: _oh, yes, while I was working with the Archangel to save more than a few words from destruction, I picked up the ability to kill people with just my mind. Care to see a demonstration_? He thinks irreverently.

Athrun finally wandered toward the pedestal, though he only went partway the thirty meters or so before he stopped at a small knot where Yzak, Nicol, Major Steiner, Lieutenant Ramirez, and Captain Ramius were discussing the plan for the next several days. Thinking was leaning toward remaining here for the obvious course of dealing with what remains of the salvage, though apparently they also wanted to hold long enough to pick up an order for supplies that she had put into a local company and would not be ready until the 5th of next month. The ships had been restocked with fuel, food, water, and what parts could be gleaned from local stores to continue the journey, which would be four days to the transient jump point (2) the _Katana _was in, a jump, then twelve days from the Zenith point in the Twycross system to the planet itself. _Fifteen, maybe sixteen days...I think I can get the Buster running that fast if we have the parts_, Athrun thinks._Only problem is, who pilots it_?

"Who pilots the Buster if I can get it fixed?" Athrun asks out loud, though it was more of a mental musing than a directed question.

"Well, there's the problem, we're kinda running short on available personnel, even after getting a flock of bondsmen attached to the ship," Murrue notes. "Still and all, having the Buster out of action is a serious loss to the unit. You have any ideas?"

"What about Sai, Tolle or Kuzzey?" Athrun asks. "As much as I don't want to see Dearka's Gundam...well..."

"Yeah, I understand that," Murrue notes. "Still, someone needs to pilot it for now, at the least." She stops to consider it: Val Ryder was presently without a mount, so he was a possible...but he was a Striker, and likely would not want to stay with the ship. Tolle would probably the best candidate right now, but that would take the Skygrasper out of the equation. The Magic Knights were already linked to the Rune Gods, and in the right circumstances were better than even the Gundams, not to mention the Buster was as alien to their fighting style as group sex was to the Knights in question (3).

"Um, Captain, can I volunteer?" Flay asks. Yzak looks at her weird for a moment, then shrugs, then winces from the pain that bled through the Naproxen he had dosed on so he could stand up with his torn-up shoulder and chest. "And what is that supposed to mean? What makes you think I can't do it?"

Yzak opens his mouth to reply, then snaps it shut audibly. It was a few seconds before he opens it again: "I fucking give up," he says in exasperation and walks away, fuming and quite dejected.

"What...did I...huh?" Flay stutters, staring after the Duel pilot.

"Don't worry about it, Flay," Athrun notes. "That's just typical Yzak. Captain?" _At the least, keeping it in the family will help us out of this mess in the long run_, Athrun thinks about having Flay as a pilot.

"All right. Athrun, you think you can get her up to standard?"

"Yeah, in a month or two, probably. Did Kira keep the copies of the Natural-compatible OS for the Buster?"

"I don't know, you'll have to ask him," Murrue says.

"I think I'll have to chase him down and discuss this and a few other matters with him..."

"He shouldn't be hard to catch. I hear he's been haunting the medbay lately," Yzak notes sourly; he had gone no farther than the table with the cold cuts and other assorted snack foods, then back to the conversation at hand. "I have only one thing to say," and he was staring directly at Flay; "shoot me, accidentally or otherwise, and it's your ass." That was the last Athrun saw of Yzak that day, as he dodged through the crowd, headed who-knows-where.

"Oh, is he ever going to grow up?" Flay asks in a frustrated tone. "He's like some kind of pissed-off schoolyard bully."

_Coming from her? Cold day in hell, film at Eleven_, Athrun thinks derisively. The way she pushed Kira around, even in the presence of others, definitely qualified her for her for what she was accusing Yzak of, if only a little less direct and crass in execution. He would have been shocked how many people around the circle agreed. "Well, as soon as I get the Buster fixed, we'll begin drilling," Athrun says. _I am so not going to enjoy this. Maybe I can get Nicol to help_?

"Done," Nicol says. "You want me to help, right?"

"How did you—don't tell me you're starting to become—"

"No, it's written all over your face, Athrun. You're going to need the help. Say, six hours from each of us a day? I'll do maneuver and tactics, you do weapons and sensors."

"Right, sounds good," Athrun notes. Twelve hours a day for a month might get her up to speed soon enough, but she'd probably take years to get to the point of 'good'. "If you'll excuse me?"

"Good luck, Athrun," Murrue notes. He salutes the group and leaves, headed toward his original destination, the pedestal.

This time, he got there without interruption. When he arrived, he reread the inscription again, reminding himself that though the two times listed for his birth and death were incongruent, reflecting the two different calendars under which he operated, it was no less true than if both had been done in the CE calendar or the IS calendar. Years from now, people that visited this memorial would ask the inevitable question: 'what does Cosmic Era mean' to which there probably would not be much in the way of an answer. Differing histories, differing events, and though alien to the other, no less real than the other.

After he read it again, Athrun stepped up to the memorial. He was still looking at the inscription, but not in the reading fashion, his was a blank stare through it, toward space or Hell or wherever one would look in such cases; anywhere but the inscription. _Memorials are made so we never forget. I would not forget anyways. I'll take the flag and medal home for you, Dearka. I swear it. I'll make sure nobody forgets what is right and wrong in life_.

"You have to wonder 'what are we doing wrong' when you bury a friend."

"I don't think we're doing anything wrong, Commander," Athrun replies to Commander La Flaga. "But for damn sure our enemies are doing more than something wrong, and I intend on using that against them. Several times over."

-x-x-x- (Dateline: 9 May 3050) -x-x-x-

Natarle had pulled off one sweet coup in logistical planning: since they had to remain on Romulus for a week before the salvage could be sorted through, tallied, and credited to their account (or dispensed with, which is what Murrue did a bit of; the Militia on Romulus now had a compliment of Novas to go with their assorted old-time machines), she had done some creative supply purchase and reallocation. As such, the hangar on the _Archangel_ now had dozens of palettes of steel sheet and steel ring assemblies used in the manufacture of heavy equipment, as well as assorted other construction and shipbuilding sundries. As well as the Gundams, a few Omnimechs, the Stone Rhino, and the chicken coop.

The purpose was simple: the _Archangel _had a total of 16 turrets for the Igelstellung guns. They now had access to some even more powerful weapons from the salvaged Clan units, including lasers, PPCs, multi-launch missile racks, autocannons, and gauss rifles. In short, they could turn the ship into a veritable mobile fortress since the ship had been designed with a lot of 'dead space' for eventual arsenal upgrades. Most of those upgrades that had been initially planned had centered around more Igelstellung weapons, but in the face of present competition the best bet would definitely be using local weapons, since the Clan ER Particle Cannons were almost as powerful as the Beam Rifles.

Since the ship was running steady toward the planet, and there was no need for a combat watch (the enemy Warship was long gone), the Bondsmen were down in the hangar, half of the 52 were working on reassembling and repairing the held Omnimechs and Battlemechs, the rest were turning the assorted materials into a series of turret collars, turret rings, and turret housings to be attached to the ship in locations that the main Engineers were working on at that time. They had a large arsenal to play with, picked off the dead enemy machines, and a lot of surface space on the_Archangel_ to work with. The plan was to spread an even ring of extra firepower around the ship, as well as provide some excellent secondary firepower to the forward batteries since the Gottfried cannons had a slow fire rate and the Lohengrins had a horrendous fire rate of five minutes between consecutive shots. A helluva lot could happen in five minutes.

They were a day into the journey toward Twycross, and already Murrue had this sickening feeling that she was going to have a helluva welcoming party waiting for her. Sure, she creamed four enemy Dropships and something on the order of 150 enemy 'mechs (including the ones inside the Dropships), but most of that was lucky break, a fat and complacent enemy looking the other way when she came rolling over the north hills and onto the starport proper, charged Lohengrin and Gottfried cannons and all. Such could hardly be called a martial prowess victory except in the fact that Athrun had taken an operational concept and molded it into one hellish four-step battle plan that turned their whole force into swiss cheese, sans the two ships that got away.

"Here's the write-up from the Engineers. Basically, they are thinking about adding this much to the ship's arsenal." The paper had turret listings with the weapons to be mounted in each cluster. It had such small-duty arrays as Medium Pulse Lasers all the way up to a pair of Gauss Rifles mounted in a turret assembly just under and to the outside of the Gottfried turrets. And the notorious weak section of the ship, being the port and starboard quarter, would each side have two assemblies with three LRM-20 launchers and copious reloads below, as well as turret assemblies with the fast-firing and incredibly accurate Large Pulse Lasers. Henceforth, hanging off the arse of the ship would not be a wise idea for enemy mobile forces.

"All this...oh, my," Natarle says as she looks at the documents. The total arsenal upgrade would have little utility against Warships, but against such foes as Dropships (which did not use Warship-type armor, they used fighter-type armor as the _Archangel_ had found out weeks prior), fighters, Battlemechs, and theoretically against Mobile Suits and ground vehicles it would be seriously deadly.

Mu settled back into his seat in the _Archangel_ stateroom, across from Captain Verstadt and Major Steiner, who were also in on this meeting session, having flown over from the _Kwaidan_ for some skull session and hospitality. After all, Captain Verstadt said he owed the _Archangel_ a massive debt of honor for rescuing their Dropship from Clan hands, and almost completely intact at that (only some minor damage to the side of the ship). "It's true, but where we've been, and where we might go, we'll need that firepower and then some."

"True enough. Major, how's your unit coming along?" Murrue asks as the next item on the business.

"Well, we're down the Centurion, the Wolfhound's damaged but should be repairable once we get to Twycross, Hawk's Mauler took a beating in the atarport but it can be repaired, and my Axman is going to need a complete armor rebuild. All in all, the Strikers are out of business for now. You guys?"

"The Strike's undergoing an overhaul right now, replacing all the hydraulics with myomer, and the pilot's still out from injuries. Duel is down, pilot injuries again. Buster is down, no pilot, no cockpit—yet. Blitz is up, Aegis is up as of yesterday. Skygraspers are up, but they are atmosphere only. The Timber Wolf is still undergoing final repairs. The Rune Gods are all feeling a bit sore from the last battle, but otherwise unharmed, and the ship has seen worse days over its lifespan."

"What has happened to your ship...and it has been worse?" Captain Verstadt asks.

"Yes, just before we entered Aube on our homeworld, ZAFT's four aces—the Gundams—managed to blow a few chunks out of the ship," Natarle notes rather coldly. "If you ever doubted how good they were, all you needed to do was take one good look at our ship after the shooting stopped to learn otherwise. Half our ship's guns destroyed, 40 damage to armor, engines knocked offline, sensors malfunctioning, it was not a good day."

"Oh." Rightfully, Captain Verstadt was quite shocked. Being primarily a Jumpship captain, he was not all that well versed in combat damage since Jumpships were protected under the Aries Convention rules of war.

"This ship can take a helluva beating and dish it out," Murrue notes. "Though, they had us on the edge at the spaceport. If they had pushed back hard enough, our forces would have folded, and without the mobile contingent this ship loses a lot of its effectiveness."

"We got lucky there, all right. By the way, I've submitted your pilot, Athrun Zala, for an award for his actions and plan for the spaceport. Without his actions, we would have lost Romulus and the battle to get off the planet," Major Steiner notes. "I think he's earned it."

"Athrun is a good guy. The only thing between us is he was on the other side of our shooting war back home," Mu notes. "Him and Kira get along famously, despite all that. I guess some things never change."

"And you guys?" Captain Verstadt asks.

"If, when we get home, he decides he wants to continue hunting the ship, I'll respect that." Murrue's tone about it was dead even and not shaky in the least.

"There is a lot of bad blood between our two sides; maybe too much to heal the knives in the back," Natarle notes. "Still, some of us are not going to give up. There is a solution to every problem. And that solution may be on this ship, somewhere."

It was then that the general quarters klaxon sounded. "Captain to the bridge, Captain to the bridge, incoming unidentified fighters," Chandratta says tersely over the the intercom.

"Lovely, whose?" Murrue notes as everyone files out of the stateroom and toward the bridge. Transit at running speed only took a minute.

"Report, sensors," Natarle immediately asks as she hops down into her chair.

"Six contacts below 100 tons, confirmed enemy fighters, one contact below 2000 tons, Dropship is hailing us, ordering us to surrender and prepare to be boarded."

"Pirates? Here?" Captain Verstadt asks.

"The scum of space strikes anywhere," Major Steiner spat his contempt at their kind and ways. Nobody in the military of any of the Successor States (and presumably in the Clans as well) liked pirates. "You want me to have the Banshee take them on?"

"No, I think a rude shock is in order, right, Commander?" Murrue did not like the concept of pirates, either, and certainly was not going to surrender the _Archangel_ to them.

"CIC, who is on deck?" Natarle's question was directed to Miriallia.

"Aegis and Blitz are both active right now," Miriallia replies.

"Launch Blitz, Aegis. What's the status on the Moebius Zero?"

"Mu is preflighting it right now as the deck crew pulls it out of storage. Two minutes," Miriallia replies. The mechanics of how they could do both at once was bewildering to Natarle, but if they were doing it, then it must be hair-brained and otherwise impossible for Murdoch to sign off on it.

The ship shudders rather violently as the two Gundams are shot out of the launch rails, though Athrun had his Gundam in Mobile Armor Cruising mode to hide its real nature, and after launching Nicol had gone low to avoid immediate detection.

"Weps, break out the Valiants, load all tubes with Korinthos missiles for anti-ship assault. Igelstellungs on auto-track mode. Charge but do not deploy the Gottfried cannons. Helldarts to special auto, prioritize enemy Aero assets."

"Set and ready, Commander," Chandratta replies almost immediately.

"Miriallia, order the Aegis and Blitz to engage at will," Murrue notes as the fighters began getting solid locks on the ship.

"Aegis, Blitz, full release, fire at will, repeat fire at will," she orders on the radio channel.

Blitz had the first, firing with the 76mm Beam Rifle attached to his weapon shield (Trikeros). The two beams streaked to and struck a smaller fighter in the enemy group, one on the main fuselage, the other in the left wing. This resulted in a damaged fighter, not a kill as he expected. "Damn, that thing's still alive?" Nicol asks in amazement, though he was still aware enough to dodge part of an enemy attack run and block the rest.

"Some fighters have as much or more armor than a Battlemech," Captain Verstadt notes.

"Wonderful." Natarle switches modes on her headset. "Blitz, Aegis, be advised enemy fighters may be as well armored as some Battlemechs, over,"

"Roger that, Command. Nicol, go live on these maggots. Don't hold back."

"Right, will do," Nicol notes as he changes targeting modes on his HUD to his most powerful weapon.

Athrun had decided on going for the heavyweight of the bunch, a fighter that had just unloaded a rather large wad of SRM missiles, a pack of LRM missiles, and even a large-bore autocannon at the _Archangel_. Most of the missiles befell the Igelstellung array and did not reach the ship, though the four autocannon slugs did get to the ship and tore into the panels above the port-side forward just above one of the Anti-beam depth charge launchers and just below the port-side Gottfried turret. Athrun's response was simple: line up on target, switch over to Mobile Armor attack mode, fire Scylla, repeat if necessary. In this case, it was necessary for a second shot, as though his first burned through almost all the forward armor and into the main body of the enemy craft (it had the appearance of a flying wing with two rudders attached as an engineering afterthought), since the armor on it was apparently heavy enough to withstand most of the first shot with only minimal internal damage.

Athrun never had the chance to take the second on the enemy heavy, however. The first volley of Helldarts fired as the fighter drastically changed course and zoomed behind the conning tower of the Archangel, fleeing desperately away from that monster that just shredded all of his fuselage armor and caused almost half internal damage to his heavy fighter in one shot. The Helldarts outpaced his aging Riever Aerofighter, hammering into the rear of the ship with a fury the rear and wing armor could not withstand. Parts of the fighter continued heading port and away from the _Archangel_ forevermore, too damaged to be worth salvaging.

Nicol lined up on a particularly obnoxious one that while not as slow as the one Athrun had just shared with the Archangel, it was still one for concern as it had a big gun and four Medium Lasers, and had taken two passes at him already. As it looped around predictably for a third pass, Nicol gave it a five MOA lead and fired two Lancer Darts into its side from a range of twenty space hexes, a distance expected to be well out of his engagement range. One Dart struck the body dead and blew a large chunk out of its armor, nothing major. The other dart got into the wing root, in a particularly vulnerable area at one of the fuel caps for fueling the plane. The Dart penetrated the fuel cap and by followed the fuel line with a slight curve downward into the petrol bunker in the fighter and blew. Instantly the ship itself was turned into a spectacular fireball as all the fuel in the craft suddenly decided it wanted to react, not just the small amount in the engine nacelles.

"Commander, Mu is ready to launch," Miriallia reports to Natarle.

"Fire away," Natarle replies. "No, not you, Chandratta, I was talking about the catapult," she corrects when Chandratta begins entering commands.

"Captain, can you zoom in on that Dropship?" Captain Verstadt asks. Murrue does so without hesitation. "A Leopard carrier variant. Captain, if you take that ship down, the fighters may break off their attack or surrender," The captain adds after getting a good look at the slab-sided combat Dropship.

"Natarle?"

"At the least, Captains, we can give it something to think about," Natarle notes coldly. "Aft missile tubes, fire," she orders to the apparently trigger-happy Chandratta. All twelve missile tubes unload in a matter of four seconds, the missiles bending left of center and boring straight in on the enemy ship. They would have a flight time that was lengthy but inevitable since there was really no fighter escort between the enemy Dropship and the _Archangel_.

Mu joined the battle, his Mobile Armor grossly smaller than the fighters he was challenging yet still capable to the task. Right off the bat he targeted a ship that looked like a fat needle with stubby wings and broke out his gunbarrels. The pilot was prepared for the shot from the Linear Gun, but was grossly unprepared for the hammering he took from four directions by Mu's remote weapons pods. The hits from four directions were enough that he temporarily lost control of his craft and lost his shot at Mu, who reeled his pods in and turned around on the enemy to continue the battle. When realigned on the enemy, he sighted it up and fired twice with the Linear Gun, each slug chunking the rear armor on the enemy craft without reserve.

An enemy small fighter took a personal interest in Mu's Mobile Armor, figuring it the one craft they could assuredly take down (the other two units were proving too hard to kill and had even wiped out their heavy hitters). The pilot reefed his Sparrowhawk in hard and fired both medium lasers into the Mobile Armor as it was breaking off the four barrels it had used on the larger Corsair. The lasers had missed the body of the fighter, though they did blow clear through the top barrel-weapon and caused it to blow. The pilot hammered the engines as the Mobile Armor did the same, though when he reefed his fighter hard right and around for another pass, he came face-to-face with the most hellish sight: the ship had some heavy guns mounted on its sides, in turrets with impossible arcs that allowed it to shoot dead forward to dead rear; his fighter just barely missed the naval-grade gauss rifle slug as it tore apart the rudder fins on his craft, though the much smaller point-defense guns also tore strips out of his armor. He had never seen guns put up that kind of hail of lead, even as he flew through it and his fighter began breaking apart from the multitude of hits. His last conscious act was to pull the ripcord to eject, but even that failed him.

The Korinthos missiles made it to the enemy Dropship without incident and did as they were designed: punch massive holes in enemy ship. The Leopard CV was poorly designed to fight a stand-up engagement of any kind, it was designed to carry a small amount of fighters in relative stealth and speed, whereas the Korinthos missiles were supremely designed to punch massive holes in ZAFT warships, which had a whole helluva lot more armor than a dinky Inner Sphere Dropship. The ship itself could easily have fit inside the Hangar deck of the _Archangel_ if it could have fit into the catapult doors, it was that small. The Captain had thought the two ships were some kind of light-defended transport group headed to Twycross to pick up supplies for the burgeoning war against the Clans; he had realized ten seconds too late that the large white ship was not a transport, it was some kind of small Warship with no shortage of bite to go along with the bark. The ship itself took ten of the twelve missiles, as two of the missiles trailed too close to others and were destroyed without hitting it (warhead fratricide was the technical term, when the explosion of one missile kills another). The ten that hit struck six to the right side of the ship and four on the nose; by the time missile four hit in either location, the ship had no notable armor left in that area and the missile literally flew into the innards of the ship before exploding. Missiles five and six on the right side literally flew so far into the ship that number six blew a gaping hole on the exterior far side of the ship from the _Archangel_; missile five bored in and physically punched out the ass-end of the ship and in the process blitzed through the fighter decks of the ship. It never detonated; eventually it did run out of fuel, severely deformed from its passage through an enemy ship (the hard way). Natarle could only guess that the missile in question had a faulty detonator and backup, which given Earth Alliance quality control standards was a very real possibility.

The Helldarts fired in response to the enemy Corsair approaching their firing arc, the pilot grossly stunned by the damage that had been wrought on his Dropship. Said missiles turned the enemy into little more than a metallic cloud in space, caught unawares until after the second missile hit his craft. Again the missiles were spaced too close, and despite their stunning success only two thirds of them made it to the fighter, the remainder cooked off at range by their predecessors. Athrun, as he was planning to engage the Corsair and finish it off, noticed the flaw in the missiles and immediately recognized it for what it was, though he was in little position to do anything about it while in the middle of a fighter-and-MS scrap.

Nicol was caught quite unawares by a rather unusual looking light fighter that had lined up on his back for an attack; while Nicol was tracking the enemy Sholagar (something that looked like a typical UFO cross-bred with a boxy fighter, armed with a trio of Medium Lasers), he received a hellish shock as his right arm was completely detached from the frame of his Gundam; the pilot of the enemy Zero had hit the shoulder joint from the rear with both the Large and Medium lasers. The LRM-10 rack was pro forma and rather pointless against a Phase Shift armored machine, but only added to the shock value. "I'm hit, my right arm is gone!" Nicol notes. He growls as he lines up and fires his last Lancer Dart at the Solagar, but he missed narrowly and the missile did nothing useful.

"Nicol, return to ship, Mu and I can handle the remainder," Athrun notes as he transforms his Gundam from Crusing Mobile Armor to Gundam form. This was in clear sight to the enemy Zero pilot, who promptly crapped a seriously stinky one when he realized he was looking at some ungodly-unusual strange machine of war that he would never live to talk about. Athrun had next, as he flew dead on at the Zero that was flying dead on at him, and at the last moment he powered the right leg beam saber and slash-kicked the fighter right down the central axis.

"I gotcha, punk," Mu says as he spins out the Gunbarrels for one good salvo on the Sholagar that was trying to weave through the _Archangel_'s auto-track barrage and succeeding for the most part. As it got outside Gun range to the ship, Mu struck it hard with his three remaining Gunbarrels and the Linear Gun. The speed of a Sholagar was supreme in the design, not survivability in terms of Mobile Suit warfare. The second Linear Gun hit penetrated the nose of the craft, followed by two bursts of the Gunbarrel cannons, and that fighter was as good as dead; the pilot was the only one that survived to eject

"Moebius Zero to CIC, all enemy machines are downed. One casualty on our side, Blitz lost an arm."

"Aegis, CIC, please recover the missing appendage if possible and all forces return to base." Natarle even felt strange for having to say that; it was not often that one ordered a Gundam to recover something as strange as a detached arm.

-x-x-x- (20 May 3050) -x-x-x-

"Twycross primary Space Traffic Control, this is Lima-Charlie-Alpha-Mike-zero-one-Xray-Alpha, Warship _Archangel_, requesting permission to de-orbit fifty kilometers west of the spaceport and cruise in overland, over," Kuzzey asks on the STC main channel.

"Roger that, _Archangel_, wait one," the Traffic Controller replies. "_Archangel_, STC, request explanation why you are not de-orbiting over the spaceport, over,"

Kuzzey had already been briefed on that logic. "STC, _Archangel_ is still a very experimental ship. If one of our primaries fails during a de-orbit, you don't want to be anywhere near us when we hit the ground, over," Kuzzey notes with quite a bit of irony. Truth to tell, he didn't want to be anywhere near the ship when it de-orbited, but he did not have a choice in the matter.

"Roger that, wait one," 'one' did not last long; "_Archangel_, you are cleared for requested de-orbit vector, no traffic expected in the area. Ingress to spaceport direct across TSPA VOR, you are authorized to land at gate Delta-one-seven. Welcome to Twycross, _Archangel_."

"Sensors, Conn, tracking radars at half-strength only, all targeting systems locked down. Weps, confirm all weapons locked in safe," Murrue orders. This was all by the book, though normally one did not enter the atmosphere with running sensors since parts of the atmosphere made it impossible to send or receive signals during descent.

"Conn, Weps, all weapons locked safe."

"Conn, Sensors, set at requested output."

"Helm, activate Ablative Gel Dischargers."

"Helm, aye," Newman notes as he reaches forward of the control yoke and issues several console commands. "Conn, Helm, Ablative Gel Dischargers are functioning, ten seconds to minimum safe ingress coverage."

"All right, Newman, take it in nice and easy," Captain Ramius says.

It was a second before anything was said: "Well at least I wasn't the subject of today's ambiguously perverted joke," Tolle notes.

"How do you think that makes me feel?" Newman asks plainly. Only then did Murrue realize how her phrasing could be grossly misconstrued...

_Whoops, need to avoid that phrasing from now on_, Murrue thinks aloud.

"I dunno, Captain, the only two that seem to mind are Tolle and Newman," Miriallia notes from down in the CIC pit.

"Beginning atmospheric insertion now...ten minutes to level fight," Newman notes as the ship begins its entry into the atmosphere.

"Confirmed," Murrue replies.

The ride got a lot bumpier before it got softer; once the roller-coaster ride finished up, Murrue noted that part of her body felt quite numb from the vibration, the rest of her wasn't sure how it felt. All things considered, though, it beat the hell out of the four-boilermakers-in-a-row feeling of jumping between star systems. When all was said and done, she was quite happy to see the steepes and the lights of the starport in the distance, as the starport was segmented from the Twycross City urban area for just the same reason that Murrue had brought her ship down away from the starport.

"Captain, we're at hover altitude," Newman says. "Levitator shows 100 charge and all green. Artificial gravity systems are all powered and at zero influence. We're go for atmospheric flight."

"All right, Newman, take her to the starport and park it for the night." They had descended in pitch-darkness, which would last for another twelve hours (Twycross had a longer-than-nominal day of 32 hours) (4).

"Roger that, time to starport is about 20 minutes,"

"Conn, sensors, no contacts bearing zero-nine-zero, clear skies to the spaceport, only ground contact consistent with light vehicle traffic and what I'm guessing is some kind of Battlemech outfitted with a combine attachment." (5)

"Huh?" Both Murrue and Natarle ask at the same time.

"I'm not joking, Captain," Sai says. "On the main screen."

"Oh, that's interesting," Murrue notes. _I'm sure my father would love to have something like that_, she thinks after a few moments of watching it, since it appeared to have a larger blade width than the combine he had inherited from his father (Murrue's grandfather) and probably had internal storage for what it picked up, something her father's combine only had a couple tons of. She broke the reverie willingly after a few more moments; "Anything else out there?"

"Negative, Captain, just some traffic in the area of the starport, nothing large enough to constitute a threat."

The path to the requested VOR beacon was more or less parallel to a major road, and true to Sai's report there was traffic on it even this late at night. More than one of the drivers on said road had pulled to the side to observe the passage of the Archangel, as even at night it was mostly visible from fifty meters courtesy of the anti-collision lights and the engine nacelles at her stern (the flames of which cast an eerie blue glow behind the ship for a long distance).

"Passing over VOR beacon now, Captain," Newman notes. His navigational radar had just confirmed the VOR signal as being the one he was looking for. "Ten minutes out," Newman notes.

"Comms, pass it onto the starport that we just blew over the VOR beacon," Natarle orders.

"Twycross STC,_Archangel_, we have passed the TSPA VOR, we are ten minutes out at this time, over,"

"_Archangel_, STC, we confirm you are ten out at present advance rate, next landing at the port is in thirty minutes so don't be all night at this, over,"

"Roger that, will pass that thought along to the helm, over and out," Kuzzey replies as he keys off the radio. "God, what a crank, if he gets any more ripped I may have to choke him out," Kuzzey mutters in a fashion he hoped was not loud enough to be heard.

It failed: "That bad?" Murrue asks the normally passive and nonviolent Kuzzey. Sai knew that Kuzzey had to be really frustrated to even think loud about that.

"Yes, that bad, his whole attitude came across that we were screwing up his routine," Kuzzey replies while barely concealing what he wanted to say.

"Let it go, Kuzzey, they have not been half as bad as Earth Alliance space traffic control," Natarle says, remembering how crass and rude the controllers at the lunar bases had been when she was first taking out Nelson-class ships in service of the 8th Fleet.

"Yes, ma'am," Kuzzey replies after taking a proper and slightly deep breath.

The starport proper was coming into focus as they came closer, and after a few minutes they were moving over the outside landing fields for other spheroid Dropships like the _Kwaidan_ that was parked in the gate (6) directly east of D17, the _Archangel_'s ordered parking spot. Newman took the ship down one of the taxiways smartly and right to the ordered gate, decelerating smartly until the ship came to rest right over the gate, then depowered the Levitator slowly until the ship touched down easy. "Finished with engines," Newman notes.

"Engineering, Conn, finished with engines," Murrue reports into a growler phone. She receives the expected responses in reply and hangs up. The engines would be shut off and the ship needed to be refueled (she was down about 300 tons of bunkerage since leaving Romulus), a task better performed when not running hot.

"Natarle, you have the first watch. Nothing is supposed to happen until tomorrow, well after daybreak, so if something does happen it isn't going to be good. Just try to avoid frying out anyone's electronics if you have to go hot on the sensors," Murrue was referring to the fact that the _Archangel_'s sensor suites could put out 10 million watts of power that could be electronically steered down a very small bearing, thereby frying out another ship's sensors. Such could blind a ship and do weird things to the crew inside the target vessel.

"Marine guards?" Natarle asks, meaning inside the ship.

"Keep it reasonable, but that would be preferred to nothing. Do not deploy the Gundam unless you have to."

"Roger that, Captain."

"You have the conn, Natarle." Murrue was not the first or the last out of the bridge that night. After the remainder of the bridge staff filed out, all that remained was Sai and Natarle. Natarle was composing a report for her log, Sai was alternating between studying the starport around him and diddling with the modular console system, looking at the ship's systems other than the sensor suite.

-x-x-x- (21 May 3050) -x-x-x-

With daybreak the ship had come alive again, and this time the purpose of the crew was directed. Almost maniacal direction, really.

First off, the ship's numerous cargo storage bays had to be prepared for the incoming supplies that Natarle had ordered readied in advance. It bewildered some of the crew that they thought some of the storage room appeared to be a bit bigger than they were prior, but others in the group just said they were smoking 'it' and needed to share. Natarle figured any size variance could be attributed to the lack of supplies in said rooms.

The supplies themselves were mostly still in transit from various industrial conglomerates all over the planet and were coming in by truck, rail, and even Dropship support from the other side of the planet. They would arrive in staggered loads across the next five days, and would be the primary concern of the ship's crew since the total incoming supplies amounted to about 18000 tons, a far sight larger than most Dropships' total weight, much less what they carried. And all of it had to be crammed in somewhere on the ship, since it was not possible to rely on on-site repair facilities in enemy territory. Wholly 2000 tons of what was incoming would be spare parts for the ship itself, which carried about 17500 tons total of spare parts, enough to keep the ship functional underway for over a year. The remainder would be ammunition for the guns and missile launchers, parts for the Gundams (and now Omnimechs), and provisions for the crew, namely food and water.

The second major thing that needed to happen was the construction crews getting their crap in gear so as to minimize the down-time on the ship's arsenal while it was being upgraded. Certain functions had to be handled while parts of the weapons grid was offline, such as the forward missile racks and the new weapons turrets to go in between the Igelstellung turrets (they had to run new power feeds for the lasers, which ran at a different voltage and cycle than the Igelstellung motors). Nobody wanted the weapons offline for too long, despite the fact that there was little chance of the ship being assaulted on Twycross while the Falcons had their forces yanked out from under them by said ship. There was a second 'Galaxy' of forces coming down the invasion corridor, though by now they had been apprised of the nature of the_Archangel_ and likely were staying well away from it. A ship with weapons capable of blowing clear through a Dropship and mobile forces capable of chopping a medium Omnimech in half were not something the average Clanner wanted to deal with, as Star Colonel Redmond had made infinitely clear to the Captain, though she did admit that even damaging such forces would be considered a worthy challenge by some.

Third, and definitely not on the bottom of the list, because Twycross was not at major risk for being taken over there was a good opportunity for some much-needed crew rest. Granted the amenities of the ship were ever-improving (Nicol and Kira were programming video games to be used through the ship's monitors while Athrun was making a set of handheld controllers for the said purpose out of leftover battlemech parts), but when all was said and done they were still on a warship that wasn't all that massively entertaining when you got down to it. Even this short in time and people were starting to look fairly grim. So, after the necessary maintenance, restock, and modification projects were completed, Murrue had every intention of letting her crew loose on the city to get some real 'vacation' time. Of course, getting everything done, installed, modded, restocked, and maintained would take at least four days with three shifts going, and that was counting the longer day on Twycross to begin with.

"Well, that is a start, and just goes to show you that service is prompt around here, if nothing else," Natarle notes as the first delivery truck from Twycross City came through the gate markings to the ship cargo bay door, where it was stopped by the Marines to be inspected. That much Murrue wanted to be sure of, since the possibility of a hostile party (likely not the Clans, but there were more of them in the Inner Sphere than she would ever meet, Murrue knew) sneaking a special operations team or explosive device onboard was a distinct possibility. Thus, there were Marines posted in the main hangar, where the cargo would be offloaded, and there was always a Gundam hot and ready in the bay to really trash any infantry that might get inside. It went without saying that 75mm APEX shells would do that to even the heaviest-armored of infantry, short of Clan Elementals.

"Control, forward guard, we have one vehicle from Twycross Textiles with a shipment of 1000 pieces new uniforms for the ship, driver says the rest of the shipment is still being packaged at this time, over." It went without saying that at least one Marine had entered the truck load-bed to verify the contents.

"Roger that, forward, entry authorized," Miriallia replies after confirming on the shipment manifests that new uniforms were indeed on the things to receive listing. "New uniforms, commander?"

"I don't know about your size, Miriallia, but when I tried drawing a new set of pants the quartermaster said we didn't have any. And, when you get down to it, since we're a multinational group now we could use a standardized uniform."

"Oh, that makes sense." The only personnel that actually had uniforms, per se, were the ZAFT and Earth Alliance personnel. The captured Clan warriors had come as they were, more or less, and since the _Archangel_ had caught them off guard most of them were not even properly dressed. Then there was the Magic Knights, and though their garb could be considered a uniform, it definitely was not proper for military personnel. Miniskirts did not go along with normal military dress; Miriallia could attest to that firsthand, she was always having problems with hers when on duty. _Whatever pervert decided the Earth Alliance enlisted ladies need to wear a miniskirt needs to be choked to death, then shot a few times for good measure_, Miriallia thinks out loud, then realizes she may have just put it out telepathically.

"You and I agree on that wholeheartedly, Crewman Haw," Natarle replies diffidently, thereby confirming that she had thought that a bit too loud. Over by the windows she could hear Captain Ramius sniggering about it.

"ZAFT has the same problem," Nicol notes from the presently-unused communications station. Sai had all the commo functions transferred to his so Nicol could do some more work on the Modular API that Kira had written on Dustball. "Back in the academy, more than a few of the enlisted ladies complained long and hard about the miniskirts they were issued. Doesn't make sense, either, what's the point of a uniform miniskirt?" Nicol's question was rhetorical, and the answer was not among the bridge crew of the _Archangel_.

"Relax, the uniforms I requested are miniskirt-free. And these are just work uniforms, we'll have to figure something out for dress uniforms at a later time."

"Keep our old uniforms as 'dress' uniforms?" Miriallia suggests.

"That is one possibility," Natarle replies after a moment's consideration.

"Regardless of how you cut it, Yzak will insist on using his red-coat for ceremonial purposes."

"He just needs to get it repaired, though," Murrue replies. "And I would foot the bill for it by duty, he got it shredded in service to the ship."

"I'll pass that on to him," Nicol says.

The delivery truck thundered down the starboard catapult and down a makeshift ramp that led from the catapult entrance to the ground. That had been one of Murdoch's best ideas of late, instead of trying to put all traffic through the central bay doors (which he wanted for moving personnel and turret components) the trucks and cargo exoskeletons would go in the port-side launch catapult and out the starboard-side catapult, thereby creating a traffic loop.

Right now, Mu La Flaga was down on the ground with a radio and a crew chief vest, directing traffic and aiding in vehicle searches. Athrun was asleep, Nicol was in the CIC messing with programming, and Yzak was in his Gundam, silently watching the happenings inside the cargo bay. Tolle and Flay were both on the simulators, as Nicol was directing their training. Kira was the only pilot outstanding, and he was still getting used to not being injured, so he was taking it rather easy per the doctor's orders. The Magic Knights, still not 'pilots' as per Murrue's thinking, had no duty section and as such were probably resting somewhere, maybe even in the hot springs.

"Control, forward guard, we have the starport administrator and chief flight controller requesting to speak to the Captain."

Murrue knew it was past inevitable, it was a given that someone from the starport would want to speak to her. She had paperwork to file, of course, not to mention it would be inevitable (after her exploits on Romulus) that she would have to face the press of the Inner Sphere for her troubles. What she had seen, read of what the Press was putting out covered all the basics of how the _Archangel_ got there, though the details were a bit thin in places where Murrue had deliberately been thin on information.

"All right, board them and escort to the stateroom. I will be there momentarily."

"Roger that." Murrue left the bridge, leaving Miriallia, Sai, Nicol, and Natarle as the only persons on the bridge at the time.

"Control, forward, I have a truck here with 40000 kilos of foodstuffs for the ship, driver says they are still packaging the rest at this time for delivery."

"Roger that, forward, what company are they with?"

"Con-Agra," the Marine replies immediately.

"Roger that, we should be receiving another 30,000 from Con-Agra and another 70,000 from Petes and Twycross Water. Entry authorized."

"Hangar, Conn, I have a truck with foodstuffs incoming at this time, offload and storage of this material is priority," Natarle puts out on the hangar speakers. After the phone hangs up, she looks back outside to the most unusual vehicle she had seen ever. "What the hell kinda vehicle is that?"

"Are those things on the cab missile reloads?" Sai asks, watching the activity on his monitors.

"Yeah, a lot of them," Natarle notes. They were the elongated, thin type of missiles for a LRM launcher. And there were a dozen more of the vehicles coming right behind it. "Our first munitions shipment, looks like." There would be dozens more, as though the multipurpose missile tubes at the stern of the ship fired very small missiles by local standards, each missile still weighed five tons. Not to mention each Igelstellung gun sat on a hopper with ten tons of ammo below it and the ship would carry another 400 tons of ammo for the guns, plus reloads for all the new weapons installed, plus reloads for the Helldarts, plus the slugs for the Valiant guns were each a half-ton in mass and the Valiants were a favored problem-solver on this ship (it had been the Valiant that had first drawn blood in Cephiro, lo those months ago). All in all, though the main weapons of the ship were energy weapons, she would still end up carrying a good 1500 tons of ammo in stores for her weapons.

"At least we're not going out again without food and water like we did in Heliopolis," Sai notes sardonically.

"Yeah, our situation is improving, I guess," Miriallia replies.

-x-x-x- (23 May 3050) -x-x-x-

In the days after capturing them, the Bondsmen had told a long and intricate tale of how the Clans were formed of General Kerensky's exodus fleet, who had fled the first succession war and Inner Sphere corruption. That much was entirely plausible to the crew of the _Archangel_, though the net outcome of that—the formation of the Clans—was still grating on some. Why would someone build a society more or less for the purpose of invading another was beyond most common logic. Even the Earth Alliance at its worst days still was mostly balanced by the civilian population and the 'political' control mechanism still outranked the military. Except, for the Clans the equation was reversed: the military outranked everything and had political control of the rest of the Clan. That was incredibly worrisome to Captain Ramius, as such a society would certainly throw it all down in pursuit of their militaristic goals, whatever they be; never mind the blaring example of that when you looked at the invasion of the Inner Sphere. However, the flip side is that defeating them in combat gained you a bondsman—if they survived—which was not an entirely bad proposition when faired out against their personnel shortage.

"All right, bring it down slow," Pytor notes into a radio. After a few moments the turret housing comes down into place; Kira stops lowering the Strike's arms as the chains slacken. "All right, Strike, we will finish up with this turret. Turret Echo-2 should be ready for emplacement in three hours."

"Roger, thanks," Kira steps back from the turret and walks his way back over to the front deck, where he was ostensibly on guard detail though for the most part he was doing more assisting with repairs and construction than he was actually doing guarding. On the other hand, the Lightning Strike EM rifle, combined with the Aile Strike pack (and beam rifle) gave him both excellent long-range sniper fire and good maneuverability with the option of using a higher-power beam weapon when necessary. So far, the only combat units that had even neared the _Archangel_ were a pair of aerofighters attached to the Twycross militia running down the taxiway directly behind the_Archangel_ to the runways, and a lance of medium 'mechs from a little-known mercenary outfit headed to a Dropship bound for Clan Wolf territory. Security personnel had been posted around the gates that the Archangel was occupying, seen going back and forth in their small crew vehicles (the heaviest weapon any of them had was a support machine gun in fifty-caliber, certainly not a threat to a Warship). Mu had been out for six hours earlier in the day, in his maroon Timber Wolf with the feathers, though they had repainted the OMNI symbol with the unit's new symbol, a top-down representation of the _Archangel_ that was further distinguished with a blue circle around it since Mu was an Earth Alliance officer.

The Archangel Team had been born yesterday, what was a scratch-up crew from four different groups was now one unit (though, in the attitude of Yzak, that was a begrudging admission but a whole helluva lot better than anything else in his opinion, like trying to induct them into the Earth Alliance). All the uniforms had a large (8 centimeter) armpatch on the outside of either arm with the unit's symbol, the ship, superimposed over a dark blue field. Kira's uniform had no unit patch, which would have been under the Archangel patch, which was a statement in and of itself that he was only nominally part of the Earth Alliance. For the EA personnel in the crew, the unit patch was typically the OMNI globe, the three from ZAFT had their own armpatches, and the Magic Knights had nothing, though they had each ordered a set of patches for their uniforms with their individual swords on them. They would have to pick those up when the crew was released into the town, though that was still a few days off since the ship still had a lot of work to do.

As for the Clanners, patches with the Jade Falcon symbol of the Falcon carrying a katana (sword) had been ordered, though policy was they would not be issued until the personnel had served their term of Bond and were indicted into the crew. All of them accepted this at face value, in much the same fashion as someone taken prisoner by the Clans would wear a bondcord, a symbol of their status. Truth to tell, especially by Natarle's standards the Clanners were going out of their way to serve the ship, and as Miriallia pointed out, she could sense they considered their status and duty to the ship a matter of honor. An explanation brought out the fact that their honor-bound duty was all the more so since they learned that the ship that defeated them was not even from the reality they knew and had initially wanted no part of their war, until the Falcons had inadvertently drawn them into the battle by threatening civilians.

"Strike to CIC, resuming primary guard position," Kira replies as she adjusts his shoulders unconsciously. The uniform itched in a couple places because it was so new.

"Roger that, Strike," Natarle notes. Miriallia was off-duty at this time, probably in the hot springs on the ship, or maybe she was at the Spaceport Terminal, which the Captain had authorized the personnel to go to now when off-duty. There was plenty of things to do in the starport itself, though just about everyone short of the bondsmen were looking forward eagerly to raiding the city itself. Twycross City was rumored to have some excellent shopping for tourists, which is what the crew of the_Archangel_ amounted to right now.

Wholly a third of the ship's new weapons mods had been installed—the easy third. The other two thirds were going to be the difficult ones, given that the new arrays had to be sandwiched in between the existing armament groups or added wherever space was possible—and that at a premium. The _Archangel_ was not initially designed with modification room any way you cut it, but since the ship was slowly evolving a little room to play with had become available of late. That fact alone made the present status even remotely possible, and a few other things (like the hot springs). All in all, Kira once again had to remind himself that at least a third of what he was doing or experiencing had to be impossible from an engineering standpoint, but just as the existence of the Rune Gods was manifest, so was the possibility that the ship itself was evolving to cope with the rapidly changing environments. How it was achieving that was a mystery, and anything that was a mystery to Kira rather annoyed him, especially when there was no ready answer at hand.

Contrary to what Natarle had believed and said, the ship's cargo holds had also grown in space slightly, to the tune of about 15. That much was a good thing, in everyone's estimate, since the _Archangel_ was designed to be an autonomous attack vessel and needed to carry a lot of supplies along with it. That being said, Kira had little doubt that the extra spare parts would be needed wherever they may go, since not only did they have to do battle against the Clans, they now had the unenviable chance of slipping into yet another alternate dimension, and the next one may not have the ability to manufacture parts for their machines. And without the machines, the _Archangel_ becomes increasingly less effective in battle, to the point of comical ineffectiveness in the face of larger numbers of smaller targets. The new point defense arrays were designed to alleviate some of that, but stopping them all would be impossible for just the Warship alone. _Hence the Mobile Forces, a vicious cycle indeed_, Kira thought grimly, now completely reminded of why he was in a Gundam instead of an engineering classroom.

Night was dropping at this time, and Kira switched over to his low-light gear so as to have a better view of the area that he was supposed to be watching. _Athrun should be coming on duty soon_... The metallic impact sound as the Aegis stepped up onto the front deck caught Kira's attention a moment thereafter.

"I'm here to relieve you, Kira," Athrun notes over their radio channel.

"Nothing happening out there, except that Dropship over there has been taking on fuel for a few hours."

"Big sucker," Athrun notes as he looks over the Dropship in question. It had been surreptitiously scanned earlier in the day by Sai, and came back massing over 50,000 tons. It was a cargo hauler like few others, that much was for sure. In fact, it had hauled the missile reloads for the Gundams and the capital-grade missile launchers from the other side of the planet to this starport, as well as some specialty engine and structural repair component spares, though offloading was done by use of cargo exoskeletons instead of the J-27 Ordinance Transport vehicles.

"I pass unto you the makeshift sniper rifle," Kira hands off the Lightning Strike EM rifle, which really did have an excellent range when used right. The Aegis grabbed the rifle and slung it properly after a moment, since it used the same hand plugs as the Aegis Beam Rifle it could be used by the Aegis.

"I hereby receive the rifle, and raise you a bet: I have ten c-bills says you won't be able to dodge a certain person tonight. I'm not going to say who, of course, that would make it too easy on you."

"I think I already know who you're talking about, and I will take that bet," Kira replies defiantly. He already knew what was going to happen tonight, and he already had his plans made in that case. "Ten bucks says nothing like what you think will happen actually happens tonight."

"Only someone as messed up as you could see the logic in that," Athrun replies to his long-time friend. "Deal. I expect a full report tomorrow, same time and place," Athrun replies stoically, already sensing that he was going to be ten c-bills in the hole by this time tomorrow.

The Strike dropped down to the ground, where the launch bay doors were still open for the changing of the guards. With a minor thrust he was back inside the ship, and with some creative dodging of personnel was back inside his gantry and the Strike was locked down. Within moments he was outside the Strike and inside the ship proper, headed for the hot springs for some relief. As per the doctor's orders he had to spend two hours an operational day in the springs to help with recuperation from his multiple injuries on Romulus. Right now, Kira felt like someone had taken a lead pipe to his back, so the Springs would be welcome for dealing with the strains of the day; officially, he would be back to normal (or what passed for it) in two more weeks.

"Kira, you're off duty?" Flay asks as she was apparently passing by his quarters. The catch was, Kira knew she was 'patrolling' around his quarters during her off-hours waiting for him, since her quarters were closer to the port side than where Kira was, since she was now the official pilot of the Buster.

"Good, I need to talk to you, but after I've done two hours in the springs," Kira replies. "Will you be available in two hours?"

"Of course I will," Flay replies. "Don't be all night at it, either," She replies directly and was off, headed toward her quarters for who-knows-what purposes.

At this time of night, the springs were more or less dead, so Kira had little trouble finding space in them for his nightly soak. Outside the springs, like every time prior he had stopped to look at the flag box that memorialized Dearka and his contribution to the ship, the planet Romulus, and to those he had served with. That much weighed on Kira's conscience more than anything else, since he was not able to do anything to save him, just avenge his loss. And it weighed even more when compared to what Flay so badly wanted him to do, which was fight until he was consumed in the battles or he killed off every other Coordinator in Existence, an impossible goal any way you served it. His two hours were filled with indecision, torn between what he felt for Flay and what he knew he had to do to end his involvement with an otherwise genocidal party.

Flay was waiting silently for him, so when he keyed his access code in, he waved her inside before he stepped into his room and turned the lights on medium brightness. "C'mon, Kira, it's been weeks since we've done anything fun, so...huh, is something wrong, Kira?" she says as he sits down in the chair in his quarters.

"Flay, it's time to make a decision," Kira replies simply.

"If this is about whether or not you and I should get married, can't that wait until we get home?" Flay offers as her first dodge, which Kira was expecting just about as much as an average sunrise.

"No, Flay, that has only part to do with this. No, it's time for you to decide what you really feel, because these past weeks have given me a lot of time to think, and I've decided that when we get home, it's over for me."

"What's...over?" Flay asks, almost trembling with fear.

"When we get back to our home, I'm handing in my commission, uniforms, weapons, the whole nine yards. I am not fighting in the war at home when we get home."

"What...why? Why this all of a sudden?" Flay asks, both shocked and rather hurt by his change of attitude. She also had set down on his bed, more shocked of his determination than anything else.

"And I will inform Captain Ramius of my decision tomorrow as well. I'm tired of it, the pointless conflict because of someone else's hatred, it's been eating at my soul since we first came to Cephiro, and now, watching the Inner Sphere burn because of the Clans, I see now that there are some battles worth fighting, and others that have no purpose whatsoever. The Earth Alliance against ZAFT is a war without purpose and I will not fight in it. It's over, Flay," Kira concludes his main argument, though he knew he'd have to get rough with her before she saw the light.

"Kira—I—I thought you were going to protect us? Weren't you?" she shoots back accusingly; another parry that Kira was ready for.

"That hasn't changed, Flay, and never will. But, if you go on with the war when we get home, you go on alone." He looks down to the floor. "And every night I will end up crying for the lady I lost in the pointless war."

"I can't stand this!" Flay shouts as she bolts to her feet. "The Coordinators killed my family! I thought you knew that! I can't forgive them!"

"I know that!" Kira barks back at her, which Flay was not expecting in the least, to the point that it shocked her to silence. "I know that, Flay. You can't forgive them, so what does that leave? Kill them all?" Kira asks plainly.

"Well..." Flay hedges.

"Well what?" Kira asks forcefully.

"Well, yes, kill them all," Flay says, then a moment thereafter gasps when she remembers that who she was speaking to was a Coordinator. "Oh, I'm—"

"No, you are not sorry, Flay. Don't bother saying it. You want all Coordinators dead, and that includes me. That has to include me, or I'd possibly go about playing George Glen and jump-start the Coordinators again, thereby creating this whole mess all over again. What you want is an impossible genocide. And I will not be a part of that."

Flay had started sobbing, though Kira was hardened to her ploys and wasn't buying it. Three weeks of enforced inactivity can give a person plenty of time to sort out his feelings and understand what he was doing...and doing wrong. "I'll...never get revenge for daddy," Flay gasps out between sobs.

"If you really believe revenge is worth billions of lives, then I have nothing else to say." Kira stands up and opens the door by the control panel. "I'm sorry you feel like this, Flay, but this game is over. Out."

"I'm not leaving," Flay says testily. "Not until you apologize for this!" Flay shouts angrily, staring at Kira with wide, rage-shot eyes.

"Then stay here, I'll go bunk with Nicol tonight." Kira had requested that of Nicol earlier in the day, since he knew this might happen. Nicol definitely did not object, and had a bedroll and pillows readied for just such a happenstance. Without another word, Kira exited the room and headed left toward the quarters that Athrun and Nicol were sharing.

Kira had walked six meters before Yzak had come out of his room, dressed in his new uniform and flexing his shoulders to settle the fabric. "Yzak," Kira says by way of greeting.

"Strike, hey, what was that yelling about?" Yzak asks in a level fashion, which made it sound more curious than accusatory.

"Flay...got a little emotional when I had to explain something to—huh?" The door to Kira's room had opened, though the first thing both pilots saw was the blade of her Kodachi. She was not far behind.

"You..."

"Uh, Flay, I don't think—" Kira begins, but chokes when she looks back up at him, with a purely feral and enraged expression.

"DIE!" Flay shouts as she charges toward both pilots, though the set of her blade was toward Kira's heart.

This was the one eventuality that Kira had not considered: that Flay would try to kill him for the emotional duress. Thus, even with the incoming blade he choked badly, without even reaching for his own weapon that would have easily stopped her blade cold.

She never got to Kira, though. Yzak had not been caught unawares, and as soon as Kira was saying 'don't think' he had reached for his glove and the two-handed blade within. As she charged, Yzak had set it with the tip of the blade pointed down to the deck and the hilt above eye level; as she charged past, he jammed the blade of his weapon into the blade of hers, effectively checking it and shoving it outside of her intended path, where it would harm only the wall. He had set his body to receive hers, and when they collided he drove her back with his shoulder. Before she could even begin to react, he had dropped aside his sword and slapped the blade of hers across her body, away from him, then grabbed it on the back edge of the blade and twisted it free of her grip. With him holding the kodachi, he reached back and drove it through the wall of Kira's room to render it inoperable for the time.

"Man, Strike, what the fuck did you explain to her?" Yzak asks as he brings his hands up in a martial-arts guard against Flay's feral stare at him for stopping her attack. Flay did not waste time going back on the offensive, this time unarmed, against Yzak. "Damnit!" Yzak shouts as he has to block several wild swings she took at him that were surprisingly painful for such a person. He ends up shouldering her again, this time followed up with a gut-kick that caused her to screech in pain and collapse to both knees.

"What the hell's going on here? Miriallia said there's someone trying to kill Kira here—huh?" Mu stutters as he comes across the scene, sword in the wall, sword on the ground, Flay on the ground and vomiting, Yzak out of breath, Kira shocked shitless, total chaos.

"Yeah, that's about right, Commander, Strike's girlfriend decided she wasn't going to take 'no' for an answer and tried skewering him."

"Oh, wonderful," Mu says. "Kira, you all right?"

"I—uh—I—"

"No, he's not," Murrue says as she comes up behind Kira. "Mu, pull her glove and take her down to the doctor. We'll decide how to handle this in the morning. Brig her for now, after the doc clears her." Murrue looks to Yzak. "Yzak, your involvement here?"

Yzak figured it a fair question, since she did not seem to be accusing him of anything. "I stepped out as Kira was headed down the hall, and asked him what the yelling was about, then Flay comes out with her sword drawn and charges us down. I stopped her thrust, disarmed her, and just before Commander Flaga showed up I put her down, only after she tried tearing my head off barehanded." By this time the hall in the area was becoming quite crowded with all three Magic Knights in pajamas, Nicol in his fatigues, Murrue, Kira, Yzak, Tolle, and Sai. "What I'd like to know is what the hell happened that she got white-eyed pissed off at Strike," Yzak pins Kira with a very accusatory stare, and for good measure.

"Hey, uh, can we not talk about this? I mean, she's a bit unbalanced right now with what we discussed, and with being away from home like this, and she doesn't deal well with rejection..."

"No shit, Sensei," Yzak replies testily to Kira's comment about her not dealing well with rejection. "I must be on the most insane Warship in all of Creation," Yzak mutters as he dodges past Natarle and Sai to pick up his sword, which he rescinded into his glove without a further word.

"All right, everyone, as you were," Natarle orders, then shoulders her way to Kira as the people begin moving back to their beds or other activities. "Kira, what the hell happened? Really?"

"I...told her to decide between me and her hatred." What that hatred was need not be asked by the officers, for they all knew what that was about. "When she slipped up and said she wanted to kill all Coordinators, I called our relationship off. I was walking down to Nicol's room to bunk in with him tonight when she came out and attacked. What Yzak said is right, that is what happened."

"Thank you, Kira. Get some rest, try not to dwell on it. You're on duty tomorrow."

-x-x-x- (27 May 3050) -x-x-x-

(Shopping Vignette: Someone can't aim)

"...We don't really know where our home is. We don't know how to get there. All the same, we cannot and would not ignore as invaders trash world after world while we try to get home. That is why we are working with the 1st Somerset Strikers." Murrue concludes her first speech as the Captain of the Archangel Team, to a full crowd of press from the planet as well as ringers for ComStar and the major networks of some of the other great houses. "Questions?" she asks, feeling severely out of her depth at this time. _Admirals do this kind of shit, not Captains_, she thought behind what she hoped was a passive face.

"Your team's first major victory was on Dustball, as well as several victories in heavy fighting on Romulus. Do you think you can keep this winning streak up?" a ComStar reporter asks.

"I don't know, and I am not going to take guesses at it. All we can do is do what we can, and hope between now and when we get home that we make a difference. Next question?"

_Doin' good, kid_, Major Steiner thinks aloud, watching from a certain store in part of the commercial district.

"So much the better the press seems to like her already," Lieutenant Specter says.

"Your forces have captured a lot of Clan hardware and units, and we've seen at least one 'mech fielded by your unit from their forces, what has become of the rest?"

"As per our arrangement with the AFFC, most of that has been turned over to the FedCom research divisions for analysis, at least that which we are not maintaining possession of for use in the unit. For more details, I'll have to refer you to the AFFC research division. Next question?"

"What's the 'mech compliment of your ship?" A local reporter asks.

"That's classified. Next question?" Murrue could tell he grimaced at that response, but she wasn't going to hand everything to them on a silver platter.

"There are rumors that you have in your team a trio known as Rune Gods. Can you extrapolate?"

"We have Rune Gods in the unit, though their nature is not quite completely known to us they have agreed to aid us in this endeavor. Next question?"

"Follow-up question, ma'am, what is the strength of the Rune Gods?" The person in question sounded as if she disbelieved anything with the word 'God' in it.

"That's classified, and quite frankly the strength of the Rune Gods is a concern between the Rune Gods and whoever they decide is their enemy. Next question?" Murrue definitely was not going to subject Umi, Hikaru, and Fuu to press scrutiny. Thankfully, the press got the hint that time and decided they would not play on that subject for now.

"Ma'am, you lost a pilot in heavy fighting on Romulus, a soldier of the ZAFT faction of your homeworld. Do you believe he will be recognized as having died in combat when the unit gets home?"

_Probably not_, Murrue thinks aloud, but says: "I do not have an answer for that, I am not ZAFT, though I would hope that the sacrifice he made in defense of civilians would be recognized by their government at that time. Next question?" Natarle gives her the signal from the back of the room for her to cut it off.

"The downed unit, the Buster Gundam, who will pilot it?"

"That information is definitely classified, you know I can't tell who pilots what, people. One more question, please."

"What is you hope, Captain Ramius?"

That one caught Murrue slightly unawares, though not entirely unprepared. "Well, my one hope is to get my crew home, alive and intact, some time between now and mandatory retirement age." The way she had said it caused a few chuckles among the press crowd. "Thank you, ladies and gentlemen." Murrue picked up her hat (she was still using her Earth Alliance hat) and stepped down from the dais, headed down the port side of the room for the two officers at the back of the room, Commander Badgiruel and Commander La Flaga.

"Ready to go, Captain. Major Steiner is waiting for us at the location," Natarle notes.

"Lead on," Murrue says, and at that the press began to break down to add their final notes to their broadcasts before going their separate ways.

There was a staff car waiting for them to head to the location from the general assembly hall in the Twycross Civic building. So far, Murrue's day had been nothing more than a whirlwind of talks, meetings, and paperwork, culminating in the press conference she had just bounced her way through in what she hoped was a dignified fashion. On that account she was not taking bets right now.

"Flay?" Murrue asks.

"Last I checked she was still sobbing in her cell," Natarle notes.

"Six months brig, no involvement with Kira again," Mu notes. "At least you did not have her shot as the regs require," he notes sardonically. Really, though, even the thought of it turned his stomach. Murrue had once used the execution charge as a chock tactic against Kira before he had volunteered, and Mu knew that was what she was going to say, but the possibility was actually here that that would have happened.

"I can understand her feelings partially, but not her method," Murrue replies. "And in the end I don't think being that emotionally distraught and reacting like that warrants the firing squad. Poor judgment, yes, deplorable, yes, but in the end all the evidence does point to temporary insanity. Even Miriallia had testified that she was not in her right senses when that happened. Only problem is now we need someone to fill the Buster pilot position, since she is definitely out of the running." It went without saying that Murrue was definitely **not** going to issue the Buster Gundam to someone who could become temporarily fratricidal when pushed hard enough.

"Could we have Kuzzey take over the controller station as well as communications and have Miriallia handle the Buster?" Mu asks; the looks he got from Murrue and Natarle was answer enough. "Disregard I said that," he backtracks quite quickly.

"No, Miriallia is best in place right now. Kuzzey probably would not do it. Chandratta is needed where he is, same with Newman, leaving Sai or you, Natarle, as possibles."

"Okay, we neglected Tolle on that one, and as much as I like having a friend in the air, when you get down to it which has more deployable firepower, the Buster or the Skygrasper?" Mu adds to the debate.

Silence in the car for a minute: "Well, put that way, the choice becomes a no-brainer. Then, as Major Steiner has proved, cross-training is a useful skill in the long run," Natarle notes, referring to the possible dual role that Tolle would serve in both the Buster and the Skygrasper.

"We're here," the Marine driver notes.

"All right, let's do this." Murrue, then Natarle and Mu, stepped out of the car and headed into the building in question.

Murrue was Special Operations, and heavily trained on the use of small arms up to and including heavy anti-tank missiles (which did have utility against GINN suits, but not a whole lot). In this case, she felt she had found her equal or better, as she looked down the racks of rifles, pistols, machine guns of every flavor, support weapons that she could only begin to guess how useful they would be. About the only thing the place was missing, at Murrue's first guess, was an Elemental suit (which Murrue had retained possession of two points of them for the Elementals she had taken bondsmen).

"When Mercenaries and small FedCom units operate out in this part of the Inner Sphere, this is one of the better places to shop for weps and ammo," Major steiner says as he approaches. "With the coming of the Clans, depots have been emptying out, so we have had to drop back to going through retailers or straight from the manufacturer."

"Oh, makes sense," Murrue says as one of the shop's proprietors approaches—then stops dead at five meters shocked of demeanor and expression.

"Holy shit, you're that badass team that trashed the Clans on Romulus, ain't ya?" He says as he approaches a little more cautiously. Their uniforms were the same Matte gray as the rest of the team, but the arm patches had a white background and they had transferred their rank insignia to their new uniforms. "I saw a tactical recap of what you guys did to them, that was some slick tactics you hosed them with."

"That was one of our pilots that came up with the plan. We just shot up their Dropships and supported the ground units," Natarle replies, staring distantly at a heavy machine gun.

"That's how the good teams work, how we did it back in the 12th Donegal Guards. So, my question is, what do you guys need?"

_An honest-to-God vacation_, Murrue thinks sardonically but says nothing immediately. "Between Romulus and Cephiro, we managed to expend most of our small arms munitions and almost all of our infantry-portable anti-tank capabilities. So, we're thinking about replacing them with equivalent or improved arsenal, and I am also thinking about setting up a full reserve infantry platoon for the_Archangel_, to compliment the squad of Marines I have."

"Ah. So, that leaves the question how do you want your Infantry unit equipped? I can do a Laser platoon, SRM launchers, heavy MG, flamers, or a standard Rifle platoon."

"A Laser platoon, what do they normally carry?" Murrue asks, immediately intrigued.

"Crew-served support laser. It's about the rough equivalent to what an Elemental carries for its primary laser, or so I hear off and on. Standard platoon of 28, it would be eight lasers and twenty rifles, two lasers per squad with three crew each and the squad sergeant."

_That's some serious shit_, Natarle thinks.

"SRM team?" Murrue asks.

"Usually carries 12 of these," the proprietor hefts a large missile tube. "Fires the exact same SRM as a battlemech.. In a laser team, the crew would carry bunches of these Satchel batteries to power the laser, in a SRM team, the crew would carry spare SRMs for the guy with the launcher. Typically, one squad will carry three launchers, a shooter and a reloader team plus a squad sergeant to direct fire."

"SRMs, Captain, a whole helluva lot more powerful than the LAWS we used on those Elementals," Mu notes. "Not to mention, they're good out to what, 900 meters? More?"

"if you're pushing it, you can get 1200 meters out of one missile, though the engine is burned out by the time it gets to 700 or so and you're going on dead reckoning beyond that."

"I know, that's some serious firepower. Well, we face some serious foes, so how do we want to do this?"

"I'd say get a set of both, the laser gear and the SRM tubes, we'll convert the storage room next to our small arms locker into extra storage."

"Well, that's settled, now we need something for common use," by which she meant rifle and pistol. Already visions of serious c-bills were dancing in the confines of the staff's head, and this was just the official weapons sets. Without question, some of the individual troopers would be along to acquire their own arsenal in time, though he did not know that yet. "Is this still in common use?" Murrue asks as she presents a cartridge from the Earth Alliance assault rifle to the proprietor.

"No, this cartridge went out before the Star League. This is what is in common use around here," the cartridge was similar, but about ten millimeters longer than the .30-caliber from the Earth Alliance rifle.

"Oh. That thing'll have some power behind it," Mu notes as he inspects the difference between the cartridges. "You have a shooting range where we can test these?"

"Definitely, follow me." In the basement of the facility he had a four-lane shooting range with a heavy backstop on it. Inside, there was one shooter on the line, using a sub-machine gun in short, rapid bursts to put small groups on target; Murrue, after inspecting the lady's handiwork, figured she could do better. "So, where do you want to start? Similar to yours, or higher or lower power?"

"We'll start with similar and go from there," Murrue requests between bursts from the active shooter.

"Start here," He offers a demo model rifle of the type used by the AFFC. "This is the Federated AR-32, in use across the Inner Sphere. Fires the cartridge I showed you."

"All right, I'll start off," Murrue accepts the rifle and a magazine. She pulled the safety tag out of the breech, inserted and locked in the magazine, and slammed the bolt shut. Before she continued she put on safety goggles to go along with her hearing protection, as an attendant had motored a silhouette target out to a respectable range (Murrue guessed it was about 100 yards, maybe a little more). She set the sights to 100 yards and centered them over the target in the distance, then dropped the selector switch into (strangely enough) 4-round burst mode. The first burst was a bit of a surprise to her, though the bolt and stock were completely inline and the muzzle climb was very minimal, though the recoil went almost straight to her shoulder. Four rounds had the same translation of recoil, in her estimate, as firing both a twelve gauge and a sixteen gauge shotgun, one right after the next.

"Shooter three, low and right, disable shots," the intercom reports for her efforts. Murrue lines up better, and fires again, this time with a better idea of what the weapon was going to do to her. "Shooter three, on target, four in the chest." This time, Murrue lowers the weapon, then raises it quickly, centers, and fires a burst. "Shooter three, on target, three in the chest and one in the head," the range master reports for her troubles.

"Your turn, Natarle," Murrue offers to the physically smaller Commander after setting the fire selector into 'safe' position. She would be the harder to sell on a new weapon, as she was used to the lighter Earth Alliance automatics. Natarle had once tried her hand at the ZAFT assault rifle and found it less to her liking since it was a full-stock and slightly heavier rifle. Natarle received the rifle gingerly, and immediately came to the conclusion that it was bigger but not entirely unwieldy. She stepped up to the booth, set the rifle in two-round burst mode (as opposed to Murrue's four-round burst that had made her chest shake severely, probably to serious amusement of the proprietor and Mu), which also disabled the safety. She shouldered it and fired a burst, which hammered into her shoulder like a heavy, recoil-padded shotgun.

"Damn, this thing does have a kick," Natarle notes after the announcer rattles off her score (pair of headshots).

"Shooter three, one torso, one ball-buster," there was a display on the side of the booth that showed where she had hit, and indeed one of the slugs would have removed the target's nugs, as well as his lower urinary tract, crank, and shattered his pelvis. Mu cringed at the thought of that being a real person (or worse, him if he pissed her off for some reason).

"That was not deliberate," Natarle notes as she sights up again and fires again. This time, she put both in the optimal kill zone, centered on the tango's sternum. Like Murrue, she also did a burst after raising the weapon from a lowered position, and liked the result. The sights were great, just fell into place and aligned properly without any adjustment for Natarle. "Your turn, Commander," she safed the weapon and handed it off to Mu, who donned his safety glasses without hesitation and took up the rifle.

"All right, let's see how well I do," Mu says as he steps up to the booth. The attendant had cleared the hit record from Natarle's shooting, so he was on his own card at this time. He started with two round bursts. "Shooter three, pair of misses," followed by: "shooter three, left chest, left arm," then followed by: "Shooter three, neck, upper chest."

"Well, I think I'll step it up now," Mu says as he switches to four-round burst.

"Shooter three, two misses, one left leg, one left hip," the announcer was starting to sound a bit amused, which was starting to piss Mu off.

"This thing is going to take some getting used to," Mu says as he pulls the magazine and checks it; the tag showed he had eight rounds left. These went into two more four-round bursts that were better than his first four, but not by much. The announcer had reported that Mu had earned a ball-buster himself, and in unconscious reaction he had crossed his legs. Murrue noticed this, and pointed it out to Natarle, who had a bit of a laugh for it. "You have another mag?" Mu asks, politely ignoring the hushed sniggering behind him.

"Sure, here," he hands off another pre-loaded magazine. "You going to try full auto?"

"Yeah, see how well it can be used for suppressing fire," _we'll see how that bastard Le Creuset likes these apples_, Mu thinks aloud.

"I'll give you a few extra targets as well," four more holotargets pop up down the way for him to try spraying down. "Go for full-auto," he says after the last one spawns.

"Fire in the hole!" Mu shouts as he levels his weapons and pulls the trigger. Nothing happened.

"Uh, Mu,. you're still on safe," Natarle notes after he wonders what the hell went wrong.

"Damn, that explains that," Mu says as he sets the rifle into full auto and hunkers down again.

The rifle had a very high rate of fire, and since the bolt was inline with the stock the muzzle climb was actually quite negligible for a 7.62mm weapon with a large cartridge behind it. That meant that he actually put most of the rounds in the same area as where he was aiming

"Shooter three, five targets, twelve hits, all targets KIA," the announcer sounded like he was about to bust out laughing.

"I've seen better days," Mu mutters as he clears and safes the weapon.

"Well, shall we move on to the next possible in the automatic rifle category?" the proprietor asks.

-x-x-x-

(Shopping Vignette: Bar and Grill)

Tolle was spared the rigors of having to carry everything they purchased by simple expedient of most of the companies having delivery service to the hotels and spaceport. Thus, for a nominal feel of an extra few c-bills, the stuff that Miriallia mostly picked out was delivered to the ship for them, leaving them free to parade on and purchase more.

The day was dragging on and Tolle was thinking longingly about lunch. "So, Mir, where do we stop for lunch?"

"Oh, I dunno, how about there?" she had indicated a sports bar and grill down the street.

Tolle opened his mouth to say something, but snapped it shut to avoid getting a mouthful of dust. Another hover-car had blown by, and their pants had flared when it passed close enough to blow some wind up their legs. Not to mention they had to be the noisiest vehicles he had ever heard, possibly even worse than the Gundams banging around inside the hangar. They were a luxury vehicle, of course; _rich snobs and their toys_, he thought crassly. On the other hand, he had enough budget to buy his own ride right now, though it would be on the 'economy' list when you got down to it. He only had a personal allotment of 20,000 C-bills less what he had spent so far.

"What did you say?"

"I was going to say 'sure' before that car passed us," Tolle notes.

"Okay, let's do it, then," Miriallia stepped up to one of the ubiquitous ATM machines and inserted her card, typed in the PIN attached to it, and withdrew thirty C-bills in hard cash to cover their meal. Likely, there would be a machine inside the restaurant as well, though Miriallia was one who believed in being prepared first. The bar in question appeared to be a family-oriented establishment as well as very popular, so she figured it would be safe for two Mercenaries.

They were almost inside when a glint of emerald caught Tolle's eye; as he checked it again, he saw Fuu and Nicol moving down the street toward the bar and grill they were standing outside. "Hey, Nicol, over here!"

"Tolle?" Miriallia asks as she comes back out of the bar. "Oh, Fuu, Nicol!" Miriallia says as she moves to join Tolle, who was headed for Nicol and Fuu, who had heard him and were headed his way.

"Hey, guys, what's going on?" Nicol asks.

"Gettin' ready to raid some lunch," Tolle replies. "You?"

"Thinking the same thing. Do you have any ideas?" Fuu asks.

"Actually, this place," Miriallia points at the building next to them, which happened to be the grill that they were about to enter before Tolle sighted Nicol's glove.

"Okay, is this place safe?" Nicol asks.

"I watched a family with three kids enter about five minutes ago."

"C'mon, daylight's wasting and I still have a few places I'd like to hit," Tolle says.

"All right, hold your horses, Tolle, it's not like the city is going anywhere, nor is our ship," Mir replies tiredly and pushes him in the direction of the bar with an apologetic glance back to Nicol and Fuu, both of which were smiling. It did not take telepathy for her to understand why they were smiling.

There was a very small wait for a booth in the far corner, where they paired off and sat opposite each other. The waitress introduced herself in English (all four of them had English as a second language, so they understood her) and said she would give them a few minutes to decide.

"Now, Tolle, no drinks," Miriallia chides in Japanese.

"Right, Mir," Tolle replies as he pages through the menu. "Hey, this looks pretty good, 'angus beef burger'."

"Oh, this I think I will try, 'ranch chicken garden salad'," Fuu notes.

Nicol figured on the chicken, despite having chicken quite frequently on the ship. Miriallia decided she would try a steak wrap, figuring the array of vegetables on it sounded pretty good when grilled.

"Man, look at that," Tolle says as he nods toward the main viewscreen in the bar area, showing a tournament battle between four battlemechs.

"Some kind of arena match?" Nicol asks. "Not very good when you get down to it," he notes. The pilots in question were missing a little less than half of their shots, and Nicol knew the kind of ammo they were expending was not cheap. "The Clanners do better than that—routinely."

"Yeah, you got that right, they do better than that just shooting at fighters," Tolle replies.

"On the other hand, they kinda stink at real long ranges, so we have them beat there," Nicol notes, then adds: "Only problem is, the Buster and Lightning Strike are the only really long range weapons we have, except for the ship's guns,"

"And the Buster has no pilot," Mir concludes the thought. Their whole conversation was in Japanese, which excluded 95 percent of the bar from understanding them, and their speech was low enough that the 5 percent that could have understood them could not hear them.

"Ready to order?" The waitress asks in English again. All four place their orders, and without trying their choices came out to less than 20 c-bills, actually less than Mir was planning on spending on just Tolle and herself. "It'll be about fifteen minutes. I'll bring your drinks out here in a moment," she notes.

Attention focused back on the screen, where a pilot by the name of 'Hi-Jack' had just won over the other three with creative use of an Autocannon. This was rather unsurprising to Nicol, though hardly praiseworthy in the ZAFT Pilot's mind.

"I got fifty c-bills says either of you two could take all four of them out at once," Nicol says, indicating first Nicol and Fuu, then pointing to the screen.

"I might be able to with Windam's assistance," Fuu notes, then adds: "but I am not as good as Miss Hikaru or Miss Umi."

_Bullshit, you're all better than you think you are_, Mir thinks but does not say.

The waitress returned with their drinks, just glasses of water with the exception of Tolle who had a cola. She hesitated, like she wanted to ask something, but thanked them and left.

"So, what are you two planning on doing for the rest of the day?"

"Just minor shopping for now," Fuu replies. "Nicol and I have already acquired what we were looking for," she notes hastily.

"Doing better than we are; Mir isn't even half-done yet." Fuu and Nicol could not have missed his suddenly clenched jaw; Nicol did note Miriallia's right upper arm twitch, which told him that she had poked or pinched him for his effort. "Not that I'm complaining, really, I just have a schedule to work by today."

"Oh, is something happening later tonight?" Nicol asks.

"Yeah, a metal concert at the downtown convention center. Admission is ten c-bills, so I'm gonna be all over that," Tolle replies with obvious cheer to voice.

"Oh, you wouldn't happen to be the person that gave Yzak some kind of hard rock music, would you? Athrun is pissed off about it, interferes with his work."

"Oh, crap," Tolle knew that somehow, letting Yzak borrow his player would cause problems. "Hey, I just let him borrow it, what he does with it is Yzak's problem, not mine," Tolle notes hastily.

"I don't see Athrun taking it that way," Nicol replies curtly.

_Oh, shit, just who I need as a semi-enemy_, Tolle thinks aloud. _Athrun Zala, Aegis pilot, general ass-whooper, and mechanical tinkerer. I am __**so**__ a walking dead man_, he thinks loud enough for Mir to pick up on it, who giggles more for his mental tone than the content. "It's only funny to you, Mir," Tolle adds verbally.

"No, I can think of at least two ways to keep the Zala-zilla from flattening you, Tolle, and neither would be hard to accomplish."

"Please, enlighten me," Tolle entreats to his girlfriend.

"No way, you're gonna have to work for it," she replies.

"There is something seriously wrong with you," Tolle notes. "That is just plain cruel." Nicol and Fuu found it quite amusing.

"Get used to it, it's a hard reality we live," Miriallia replies as the waitress was seen to be headed their way with the meal plates. What she had said was quickly becoming the ship's catchphrase.

"So true," Tolle replies as she begins setting the plates down for everyone. "Thank you, ma'am," Tolle notes as he begins preparing his beef burger with condiments. After the initial check, all four told her that it appeared fine for now.

"Um, I have a question of you, if you are willing?" She asks after a moment.

"Uh, sure, what?" Tolle asks.

"Are you four part of the Archangel Team?" she asks real quietly, so as to be just barely audible to the booth and not the nearby people.

"Uh, yeah, we are," Tolle replies after a moment of considering it.

"Thank you." Miriallia could sense nothing derisive of her attitude, just a combination of curiosity and respect for their position. She moved onward to her next table in the area.

"That was strange," Nicol notes.

"Not really," Miriallia replies immediately. "People see a rather stylized image of us courtesy of the news; finding us in real life must be a shock, I guess."

"Oh, man, this is killer beef," Tolle notes after his second bite. "I hope the crazy cook ordered some of this stuff."

"I think he did," Fuu replies. She would know, Tolle knew, since she also did some work in the kitchens as well as her duty in Windam.

"Excellent," Tolle replies before taking another bite of his burger.

The waitress came back after a few minutes and a round at all her tables. "And how is everything? Need more water?"

"Excellent, and I could use another cola if possible," Tolle notes without really looking at her; Mir didn't even need to use her telepathy to tell something was up, like she was deciding what to do about something she had not even explained yet.

"Okay, back in a moment," she says as she grabs up Tolle's glass and heads to the drink dispenser. Miriallia and Fuu both had eyes on her, since Fuu also sensed something was unusual at present.

"Something's not right," Tolle notes quietly and in Japanese.

"No fooling," Miriallia replies tersely as she begins headed back.

"Here you go, sir," she handed off the drink, but under it was a piece of folded paper that would have been hard to see if Tolle was not paying attention. He picked up his drink and took a sip while unfolding it. It had four words on it:

" 'Is your team hiring?' " Mir reads off the paper.

"Something is definitely not right here if she's asking to take a chance like that," Nicol adds.

Miriallia focuses her telepathy on the waitress in question, checking for her surface thoughts without doing any real digging. What she found there shocked her quite a bit. Some were the things that few ladies would ever say aloud, much less in front of the involved parties. "Tolle, pass me the radio."

"Uh, sure," Miriallia grabs it and switches to the frequency that Natarle had said she would be on. "Commander Badgiruel from Tango-two-seven, over," Miriallia puts out in Japanese.

"Go," She replies after four seconds.

"Are we accepting applications for employment?"

"Only if they are crazy enough to take the chance of going with us to where-the-hell-ever next we end up," Natarle replies. "Why, you have an offer?"

"Yes, I have a waitress at my present location that could use a change of pace. She should also be good at cooking as well as serving, apparently," Miriallia replies, immediately getting the attention of the other three. "I think this may need to be a stealth pickup as well, for reasons I don't want to mention at present, over," Miriallia adds.

"Roger that. We will convene at 1700 hours at a central location to discuss details, over."

"Understood, Commander, just call me on two-seven with the location and we'll wander that way ASAP."

"Roger that, over and out." Miriallia passes back the radio to Tolle and picks up the note, digging in her uniform pocket for a small pen she had bought earlier in the day to take notes. She writes back 'Yes, there are details' on the flip-side of the note and reverses the fold.

"Was everything to your approval?" to Tolle, she even sounded quite a bit worried.

"Yes, it was lovely," Miriallia replies as she hands the plate off to her. The note was compressed below a fork and was impossible to see unless you knew what you were looking for (which she did).

"Thank you." She only needed one glance to see what it said, and that surreptitiously while stacking the other finished plates. "Can we talk?" she asks quietly.

"Definitely," Miriallia replies. _Restroom, three minutes_, Miriallia adds telepathically in what she hoped was passable English. She nods just barely enough to be noticed, then takes the plates to the kitchen to be washed and reused in the never-ending restaurant cycle of flatware going in, going out.

Miriallia counts the minutes down on the LCD on her radio. "Tolle, let me out, gotta hit the restroom before we pay and go," she notes rather innocently.

"Right," he sighs as he stands up and lets her out.

"I believe I had best do so as well before we continue, Nicol," Fuu notes, and Nicol lets her out as well.

"I'm going on break, Tandra, spot my tables for fifteen?"

"Yeah, sure, no prob," one of the other waitresses replies to the waitress in question. She ducked into the bathroom after Fuu had, ostensibly and truthfully for the same reason that the two Archangel Team members had.

"I know," Miriallia says simply as she turns the faucet on. It was a noisy one that would drown some sounds out. "If you go with us, you're taking the chance that you'll never come back to this world, or worse, be killed in combat."

"Better than here. My ex-boyfriend's been threatening me and my daughter for months. When can I leave?"

"Oh, man, this is worse than I thought." Miriallia knew the decision was way the hell over her rank, but she didn't have the radio (she was making Tolle carry it, as Nicol was carrying the radio between Fuu and Nicol). Still, there were two things here that had to be exorcised: one, protect a life (she wanted to do that anyway), and two: protect a possible new recruit for the ship that was still slightly understaffed even with the influx of Clanners. "Can you cook?"

"I can try, I think," she replies.

"Well, even if you end up being another Flay, it'd be better than here. C'mon—huh?" the door opened, and the person that had walked in was a guy. "Ugh, a pervert! Get the hell outta here!" Miriallia orders in her best command voice, which did little to even faze the guy.

"Shut up, bitch," he looks to the waitress. "Don't even think about asking them to leave this rock, or I'll kill you, the kid, and them," he indicates Fuu and Miriallia.

"Big mistake, asshole," Miriallia says as she reaches down to her right-hand glove and draws out the bow. Since the upgrade in the volcano on Cephiro her bow was a bit bigger now and quite a bit more ornate, looking something like gold with emeralds up and down the frame. As soon as he recognized what he was looking at his hand shot inside his overcoat for some kind of concealed weapon, but Miriallia had him beat courtesy of long hours of hard practice. The arrow was in place, drawn, and loosed in less time than it took for him to pull a compact pistol; she had centered the shot so it went straight through his sternum, though his heart, through his spine and out his back, then through the partial wall behind it that obscured the door from the rest of the restroom, through the heavy wood door, and apparently out into the customer area where it sailed across the room and lodged itself in a brick wall. The pistol finally clattered to the ground just in front of the waitress, armed but unfired.

"FUCK ME!" Tolle shouts in Japanese loud enough to be heard inside the bathroom. "MIR!" He shouts after a moment.

The waitress was gasping for air from pure shock at seeing him dead so easily. Mir had siezed up, since she was in such confines with another person she had just killed, and in that moment she had seen it all, mostly his perversion and hatred of the woman standing next to her.

"Miriallia, Fuu, are you all right in there?" Nicol asks from a slightly-opened door.

"Yes, we are alive, please call the police Nicol," Fuu replies. "Miriallia, are you well?"

Mir had braced the lower arm of her bow on the tile floor and was holding the top arm against her forehead, rocking back and forth slowly. "I—I had to do it, I didn't have a choice, I had to do it..."

"Mir, I'm coming in, please don't shoot at me again," Tolle says as he comes in. He was not armed, as that was part of the paperwork that Captain Ramius was to work on this afternoon, after going shopping for new small arms for the ship. "Man, that is one fucking dead dude," Tolle says. "And I thought she had shot at me for being a loud-ass pervert again," Tolle says by way of a wan joke.

"No...he confronted us, said he'd kill all three of us, I had no choice when he went for a pistol," Miriallia said.

"Good God," the restaurant's manager said as he came upon the scene and saw the dead body (it went without saying he saw the arrow in the far wall of the restaurant). "Remind me not to piss you Archangel Team members off." The Manager walks to the guy's chest area, squats down, and checks for a pulse. "He's dead. Hey, Mina, isn't this your stalker?"

-x-x-x-

(Shopping vignette: Kira's crazy plan)

"Athrun, if I may ask, what are you trying to find?" Kira asks after a few moments of staring at the fifth 'junk shop' of the day.

"Anything we can use for the machines, Kira. If we run out of parts, that's it, stick a fork in your Gundam, and mine. C'mon," Athrun says as he heads into shop number five.

When inside, Kira immediately heads to the left, as Athrun heads to the right. On the left was the small appliance section, where Kira was looking for spare holoprojector equipment for his own pet project. Athrun had delved into the heavy equipment area, in search of parts that would be compatible with the Gundams and the ship itself, or general junk that would be useful around the ship for tasks other than combat, since he knew that the user modifications to the ship were just beginning, and probably by the time they hung it up or got home, the_Archangel_ would be a veritable cruise liner as well as a warship. In his estimate, though, the _Archangel_ that got home would also be significantly larger than the one that left, as well as better armed and hellishly seasoned from all the weird foes to kill out there, but...

"How goes it, Kira?"

"Dunno yet, still on my first aisle," Kira replies back after a few moments.

"Well, shit, that might come in handy," Athrun notes as he walks by a huge electric motor. It was ostensibly a winch motor used in zero-G settings to reel in large objects by winch, though he figured it would do just as good on his crane project. The price tag was reasonable as well, 1000 c-bills, and he could charge it back to the ship instead of personal funds because of the nature of that project. He had already discussed that with Murrue and Mu, and they had signed off on most of his ideas. Farther down the heavy equipment rack was a large cargo exoskeleton with zero-G maneuver jets, though the price tag on it was a bit higher than his last find he figured he could easily justify that after what Kira had done with one similar (but smaller) on Romulus.

"How's it going, Athrun?"

"Excellent, got a couple things in mind already," Athrun replies offhand, spying a series of military-grade touch-screen control panels that were reasonably priced at 30 c-bills apiece. These he added to the flatbed he had with him for carrying around his load of goodies.

"Okay, I think I finally have enough of the right equipment to do what I want to," Kira says after he wheels a flatbed up to the front counter, just ahead of the flatbed that Athrun had his hands on.

"Oh, Kira, what is all that stuff?" Athrun asks.

"Oh, this is all the components I need to make several full-room holoprojectors and tri-vid recorders."

"Okay, what are you going to do with all that?" Athrun asks.

"I'm going to set up a room in the ship that we can use as a holo-projector theater and entertainment room. Full 3-D models and all that stuff."

"Uh, Kira, have you stopped to consider that, I mean, really consider that?" Athrun asks, hoping his long-time friend had a shred of common sense to see what he was about to initiate.

"Well, yeah, I have, and seeing all the latest movies in three dimensions would be very cool, wouldn't it?" He pauses. "I mean, I'll have to write programs to translate the movie from a flat-screen production to a full 3-D view, but that won't be all that big a deal."

"No, I don't mean that." Athrun sighs; Kira had not thought this one through, which did not surprise Athrun in the slightest. "Kira, you do know that said room would likely not be used for the purpose you intend, right?"

"Uh, no, why?"

"Kira, think about it. Full three-dimensional imagery. You do know that is the greatest dream of every porno pervert in the world, right?" The attendant gave Athrun a strange look. "You wouldn't be able to watch a movie in there because all the perverts on the ship would be in there watching porn when not on duty."

"Oh, wow," apparently, it finally sunk into Kira's thick skull, though his logic on why he didn't think of it was rather disturbing to Athrun: "Well, I never thought about it that way, I'm not a porn reader."

"What the hell do you do in your off-time?" Athrun asks.

"Read a book, and I was sleeping with Flay until just recently."

"For the record, I now officially regret I asked." Athrun covers his face with one hand. "Do what you will, but I swear to it that the Captain will have your hide for a decoration in the stateroom for it," He notes tiredly through his hand.

"Good, I'm gonna need some help setting it up and implementing it," Kira notes as he finishes checking his stuff through the RFID checkout system. "Sir, can you guys deliver this to the starport, gate D-17?"

"Yes sir, we can," the clerk notes. "That'll be five thousand, two hundred c-bills even, sir," Kira hands over his chip, the card that he was assigned for personal funds, and his account was debited to the tune of the equipment prices. "You do realize, kid, you bought enough gear to do what you were saying about four times over, right?"

"Oh, I did?" Kira asks. "Well, I'll set what Athrun was talking about up in one room and one in my room, and maybe two others somewhere,"

"How about in the hot springs? Take steam, a hot tub experience with a movie?" Athrun suggests, immediately coming up with a possible use for the other equipment sets. "We'll need dehumidifiers for the equipment enclosures, though," he thinks after a moment.

"Aisle two, left side, halfway back," the clerk notes. "Here, I'll take this back to our packaging crew, mister Yamato, and you guys can continue gathering your supplies, if that is all right with you," the clerk adds after a moment.

"Sure, please," Kira grabs another flatbed cart for what Athrun was now planning.

"Okay, we'll need dehumidifiers, we can build the enclosures ourselves but we have to keep them clinically dry," Athrun notes. "Here." he piles the requested objects on Kira's new flatbed. "We'll need wire harness to contain the wiring," a coil of the said object hit his flatbed. "We'll need a touch-screen, mil-grade and waterproof, for controlling the players," Athrun found two more just like the dozen he had picked up and dropped them (lightly) onto the flatbed. "I think we can run the data circuits through the mainframe on the ship, through that API you built actually, so we won't need any extra computer hardware. I think that should be it, right?"

"I don't think we'd need anything else, offhand—no, wait, what about—no, forget it, the holoprojector system bypasses that anyways."

"Oh, you were thinking some kind of whiteboard, right? Yeah, no need with the third dimension."

"Yeah."

"Speakers, we definitely need a good sound system for the setup."

"Oh, I completely forgot about that," Kira says. "Here, a pair of mid-range speakers, four tweeters, and two bass kickers, think that would do?"

"Get more mid-range and bass speakers." Athrun pauses, mulling something over, then drops a set of amplifiers onto the flatbed. "I can't believe I'm helping you with this stuff. The Captain is going to have both our asses grilled and served for dinner when she finds out what this is going to be used for."

"Hey, it's gonna be a long and rough road, might as well enjoy it."

"I can't argue with that logic," Athrun admits after a moment.

"C'mon, I think we got everything. We'll have to get a selection of videos somewhere else," Kira says.

"You two ready?" The shop owner asks, covering the register where Kira had initially checked out.

"Yessir," Kira replies, then begins offloading his stuff.

-x-x-x-

(Shopping Vignette: Still Can't aim)

The tally was in: well over 3,120,000 C-bills in small arms and other infantry equipment purchased for the _Archangel_, including ammo and support weapons for use against armored targets. They had settled on the first assault rifle, they kept the Earth Alliance pistols and added a Ceres Arms model to the inventory, a new series of sub-machine guns from Rorynex, the RM-3/XXI sub-machine gun that was a definite contender for most vicious weapon they had ever encountered. They had laser rifles, support laser weapons, a set of Browning Machine Guns in .50 BMG caliber, a pair of man-pack flamers, grenades of many shapes and sizes (and uses), a set of new grenade launchers, LAWS rockets of several sizes, heavier recoilless rifles (for heavier targets than LAWS is good against), blasting charges, and the best local infantry armor available. And that was just part of what they had purchased.

"All in all, one would think you guys are getting ready for one long-ass war," the shop proprietor says as he finishes drawing the transaction funds out of the ship's account.

"Well, we have to fight the Clans, and when we move on towards home we have to be ready for anything, large or small."

"It still blows my mind to know somewhere, all that fictional magical stuff I read when I was a kid is real."

"I know. I'd given up on all that long before I signed up for the Earth Alliance, then I was dropped right in the middle of it. 'Rude shock' is the polite way of saying it."

"No doubt." The proprietor hands her cards back. "You sure you don't want anything while you're here, Major?" he asks Major Steiner.

"No, we're good on the _Kwaidan_, they're the ones that came in empty magazines and all, and still kicked major portions of ass," he jerks his thumb at the Commanders.

"Damn you guys are good. I'll keep my eyes on the vid-com, see how well you do in the coming months," he says. "If you're headed toward Trelwan, Major, give my regards to the 12th. Tell 'em Old Willie said 'wazzap', they'll know who's talkin'."

"Roger that, Captain," Major Steiner salutes him, which he returns, followed by Captain Ramius and the two commanders saluting him.

**Beep beep beep**. "I wonder what's this about?" Natarle asks as she looks at the transmit display being Miriallia's group. "Badgiruel here, go."

"Commander, there's been a shooting incident. Unit two-seven is involved, one enemy casualty, no friendly casualties." Tolle was being clinically precise about the matter, which meant he was not in the best position to speak at the time.

"Present location?" Natarle asks.

"Metro main police station. Ours and one-seven unit have been detained pending investigation."

"Roger that. We are in route at this time." She puts the handset away. "Two seven is Miriallia and Tolle, one seven is Nicol and Fuu."

"Not good, how—what? I don't like this one bit," Murrue notes.

"Just head up to East Main, cut right and take it nine blocks, you can't miss the police station, it's on your right and very big."

"Thank you." All four (including the Major) were out and into the staff car in moments. The Marine had, under permission, wandered off and was doing some shopping, leaving Murrue to drive this time. Nothing big there, the traffic setup was the same as Earth Alliance roads and the traffic was fairly thin for a large city. Finding the destination was just as easy as he had said.

"Can I help...you?" the secretary asks in the main lobby of the station.

"Yes, four of my personnel were detained earlier today, involved in some kind of shooting incident; I am here to see them."

"Oh, you wouldn't happen to mean the school-girl that shot someone dead with a magical bow?"

"That would be the incident," Murrue notes, masterfully suppressing the desire to laugh outright at how she phrased it. Miriallia would likely have found that highly amusing. Or shot her for it.

"And you're their..."

"Commanding officers," Murrue notes coldly, which also set the tone for the secretary.

"Howie, take them up to the fifth," the secretary says to one of the cops hanging around the lobby.

"Follow me, please," the cop leads them to an elevator. The ride was fast, the music rather boring in the typical elevator fashion, and all three could tell the one cop in the elevator was about as nervous as a cat in the middle of a dog kennel. When they got off the elevator, it was onto the 'booking' floor where about three-dozen criminals of various offense and stature were being processed at the time. Even as they passed, some grew quite quiet, wondering why the hottest new merc unit had someone on the booking floor of the Twycross City Municipal PD.

"Commander La Flaga? That was fast," Natarle's head immediately centered on the speaker, Nicol, sitting in a chair outside an interrogation room.

"We weren't all that far away," Mu replies diffidently.

"Okay, what happened?" Murrue asks; "and this is?"

"This is Mina, the person that Miriallia called Natarle about," Nicol replies.

"Oh, good afternoon," Murrue greets her with a nod. "now, what happened—" she was stalled by the presence of a document, a police report that was handed her by Tolle. It only took forty seconds for her to read it straight through. "Here, read this,"

"Typical Miriallia," Natarle notes as she passes the report to Mu. That comment made Tolle blush slightly.

"She put 'paid' to that shithead. Now, are they going to give her an award, or firing squad her?" Mu passes the report to Major Steiner, who read it the fastest of all.

"If what they say of this guy's record is true, I am not going to lose any sleep over his death," Major Steiner says as his analysis.

"Well, Major Steiner, you've probably seen this kind of incident before. What's the likely outcome?"

"About 60/40 in your crewman's favor. Technically she is in the right, but some hard-ass detectives and prosecutors are willing to try...and sometimes even win. I don't see that happening here, but neither of our units can afford the delay."

"Try talking them out of it?" Mu asks as sort of a wan joke in the situation.

"It's worth a shot," Major Steiner replies.

"Okay, let's try it—" Murrue begins, then is stopped by a warning hand from Natarle.

"Captain, allow me. I think it would be most effective if one serious officer from the _Archangel_ did this instead of all three of us."

Murrue immediately knew what she was intending: "All right, just don't go overboard, Commander," Murrue says.

"After you, Major," Natarle says.

Miriallia was presently being held in a non-secured conference room, a measure calculated to make her feel easier about her undeclared status of being interrogated. Thus, eyes were on Major Steiner as he opened the door, followed by Natarle entering with her officer's hat under her left arm. As soon as Natarle was one foot in the door, Miriallia bolted to standing and saluted. "Commander Badgiruel, you're here?"

"Yes, I have been informed of the situation. I hear you gave crewman Koenig quite a scare in the process of shooting that pervert, as well. As you were, crewman Haw." Miriallia returns to her seat after a moment.

"Not by intention, Commander."

"Regardless, there was no blue-on-blue or blue-on-gray in the incident, so that will not end up on your record." Natarle had approached the conference table. "May I?" she indicates one of the unused chairs next to Miriallia, though her question referenced the detective and prosecutor.

"Please do," the detective says, figuring the presence of her commanding officer would reduce her defense against suggestion.

"So, this brings me to the pressing question, if after taking out a known sexual assault practitioner, and there was only minor property damage that the establishment owner has already indemnified and is not holding against us, then why is my ship's staff being interrogated?"

"The details surrounding the three seconds of the shooting incident are still a little fuzzy, we were clearing some things up about it," the prosecutor notes. He was no different than an Earth Alliance court of inquiry prosecution officer, she could sense, all bully at the pulpit and little spine to back it up.

"I do not understand what you define as 'fuzzy' in this case, the report has enough detail to be sufficient in a military tribunal, would you explain to me how that is lacking in your parlance?"

Despite the poker faces, or probably because of them, Natarle could sense they both knew the game was up, not to mention the FedCom officer behind them, the Major of the 1st Somerset, the one unit of the AFFC that was working with the Archangel Team. "We are normally inclined to make sure we have everything correct in the matter, both from a facts and feelings standpoint."

"Ah. The 'emotions' card, I guess from a civil standpoint that can be considered a factor. In either case, has Crewman Haw explained to you that in a close-quarters situation that emotion plays almost zero factor in the execution of operations?"

"Ah...no, she had not yet explained that to us."

"Have either of you ever been caught in a close-quarters battle?" Natarle asks as follow-up.

"No, we have not, but still—"

"Then you would not readily understand the dictum that there is no real time to 'feeling' a problem in a close-quarters battle, you react on a given threat, follow-up with a second attack as necessary on the first target, and check your area for any more threats. No emotion, just trained reaction. I do not see where there might be a fault in there." Natarle's voice was eerily calm, grossly professional, and significantly scary to the 'political' police officer and prosecutor across from her.

"That is...rather cold," the Prosecutor says after several seconds of silence.

"I can tell you are a desk officer," Natarle notes in the same eerily calm fashion. "Oh, if you doubt me on particulars, you have a reference in your own department you can ask, your Special Response Teams will tell you the same thing I have. Close quarters is not a time for hesitation, much less feelings. You do it right the first time or you don't survive to explain what went wrong. Now, that being said, what is the issue here?"

"Phrased that way, I guess there is no remaining issue," the prosecutor knew he was fighting a losing battle, especially against a mercenary unit that routinely mulched the new badasses on the block, the Clans. "You are free to go, Miss haw,"

"Thank you, sir," Miriallia stands to attention. "By your leave, Commander Badgiruel?" she asks in a professional fashion after picking up on the proper procedure from Natarle's almost-mentally-shouted surface thoughts.

"Dismissed, Crewman Haw." The prosecution's eyes were on her as she left, though nothing was said until after the door closed. "Now, about this tango, this Willy Barks, your fact sheets on him stated that beyond being a several-round convicted sexual predator, he was also a gang member in the '41' gang. I trust there will be no issues with their personnel, correct?"

"There should not be, after the way he was killed gets around they will steer well clear of you Archangel Team personnel."

"Excellent, I would hate to have to conduct ops to rescue downed or compromised personnel inside the city." It went unstated but was clearly understood from Natarle's demeanor: _you had best make sure they know the rules or I will have it done for you_.

"That would be tragic, yes," the detective said with what was a rapidly shifting demeanor to what was apparently quite afraid that his career was toast if that happened. "We will ensure they—and other gangs of similar disposition—give your forces no trouble."

"Excellent, detective, I am glad we see eye to eye on this issue. Now, if we have no further issues to resolve at present, I have duties on my warship to see to," Natarle stands, followed shortly by the detective and prosecutor standing up. Major Steiner had just stood there, impassive, observing the matter at hand. All four file out of the conference room. "Unit, stand to, we're out of here," Natare says in the same calm, professional tone. _Miriallia, is she still in_? Natarle's hopefully-heard thought was pertaining to Mina.

_Yes, she still desperately wants out of here_, Miriallia replies quickly. _She's on the level, not a spy, I checked with her permission_.

"Yes, ma'am!" Nicol says as they stand up and file toward the elevator at.

"Wait a second—is she—huh?" the detective asks hurriedly, indicating Mina.

"She was authorized and paperwork was initiated before the shooting incident. Before Miriallia dropped a shot on the tango, she was part of the unit. Any other questions, Detective?"

"No, ma'am," he replies hurriedly.

"Thank you. Have a good afternoon." They were down the elevator before anything else was said or done, and out the lobby with no fuss.

A second staff vehicle had been called in for them by Mu, to take the crew back to the ship. "This isn't as punishment, per se, but I think it best that you guys lay low for two days, then I'll cut you loose again," Captain Ramius tells the four. "Also, Mina, you need to return to your apartment and collect any personal belongings."

"I have a daughter, is that going to cause problems?"

"Oh boy, that didn't make it to me." Given the matter listed in the deceased's records, though, deciding was not difficult. "Just keep her out of mischief and this should not be a problem," Murrue orders. _Better with her mother on a warship than possible subject to a gang_, she thinks aloud, to which Miriallia nods affirmative.

"Mir, Ncol, you two escort Mina to her apartment and back in case word of that punk's demise got to the gang faster than how he was killed. Marine, you are authorized as well."

"Yes, ma'am," all three reply.

"When you have your belongings, return to the ship. Miriallia, have Chandratta process the paperwork for Mina's enlistment, my authority. You know the time factors here," which meant for her to have Kira doctor the submit time for the documents so that an inspection by the pain-in-the-ass police department would show what times Natarle had said.

"Will do, Commander."

"Move out, you don't have all day." Natarle steps back from the passenger-side door, and the vehicle rolls off and takes the first right.

"Where to?" Murrue asks as she sits down in the driver's seat.

"Back to the ship, might as well, I think we've accomplished all out official business for the day," Natarle says. "Unless the Captain is asking us to help her spend some of her money at a bar?"

"No, I think a good restaurant would be the best bet," Captain Ramius says. "Any suggestions, Major?"

"Actually, there's one about four blocks north of here, a sports bar and grill that is pretty good, continental cuisine and all that," Major Steiner notes.

"Sounds good, just tell me where to turn," Murrue says as she begins heading in that direction. It was two blocks northbound before anything else was said.

"Okay, I have to ask, I've heard some lines in my time but how did you do that, Natarle?" Mu asks, obviously referring to the spiel she had run past the prosecutor and detective.

"Yeah, I'd like to know that, as well, Commander," Murrue says.

"Well, you remember when I told you that I am not trying to be a superbitch in the course of this tour from hell, right?" Murrue nods as answer. "Well, I meant that I am trying not to act like one. I can be the queen of superbitches when I need to be, and that just happened to be a very opportune time to sharpen my skills." The main objective, of course, was to get Miriallia off the hook without so much as a blemish on her record (and, by extension, the ship's record). That Natarle had won on all particulars only made it more entertaining to the commander.

"Well, you did a good impression back there, I think the detective was as white as a ghost by the time you were through," Major Steiner replies.

"I walked right into that one," Mu declares, on the note that encouraging such an attitude in his coworker was not going to make his job any easier.

-x-x-x-

(Shopping Vignette: Kira's Crazy Plan: Some Assembly Required)

Getting one of the ship's electricians to sign off on the plan was not a difficult task, and the Engineer that had initially designed the springs was in on it immediately. A machinist for the Gundams was also looped in under, though his participation was sworn to secrecy on the manner for now, until the project was completed, though his participation would be a requirement since someone had to build the enclosures for the projectors.

The first task was getting the wiring from the mainframe to the hot springs. Simple enough; just run it down conduit C-42A and tie it into a switch, where the feeds for the men's side and the feed for the women's side would diverge and not feed onto the other. Out of decency the partition wall had been made a full wall, so though one could hear loud noises in the other side it was impossible to see the other side unless you knocked the wall down. That made things all the much easier for Kira and Athrun, who could set up a proper surround-sound system as well as three-dimensional video for everyone to enjoy.

"Okay, now that we have the cabling run, we terminate it and mount the projectors." (7) Four of the rather inexpensive projectos would be used in each spring, to provide both extended viewing definition and redundancy, since the system only needed two projectors to work right, bout would work better with four.

"All right, you get the terminations, sir, we'll get the projector mounts set up," Athrun tells the electrician as he breaks out the equipment and begins assembling the mounting brackets. "What about the enclosures?" Athrun asks the engineer.

"Almost ready, ten minutes and he'll have all eight done."

"Well, we need his mechanical ass here so he can help terminate the wire," the electrician notes while doing some otherwise-physically-impossible acrobatics with the wires he was working on. It never ceased to amaze Athrun what you could do with enough practice...

"I'm here," The mechanic notes. "All eight enclosures, nobody followed me."

"Set them down there and give us a hand terminating these," Kira waves to the wires that had been run through the lower wall section for the control touchscreen panel. "Connectors are taped to each wire needed," he notes. There was only three connectors, though, so getting it done would not be a big deal.

"All right, easy enough," the mechanic notes as he grabs up some tools to use on the cables.

"Done here," Kira says as he moves his ladder to the next projector.

"Done here," the electrician notes about a minute later..

"All right, this one is ready for the projector," Kira notes ten minutes later.

"This one is done," The electrician replies ten seconds later. "How's the panel coming along?"

"Almost there," the mechanic replies. "Done. Need some caulking to seal this hole up."

"Next to your left foot," the electrician notes. The wires were sealed in and ready for the mounting bracket to be installed, which he did next.

"Athrun, the projectors?" Kira asks.

"Set up and ready. Dehumidifiers are ready as well, 7you did put enough service power to these cables for both, right?" Athrun asks the electrician.

"Yeah, it's ready for everything, I think I have about fifty amps extra ready for the circuit as well, so we should have more than enough."

"Outstanding," Athrun says as he hands up the first of the projectors to Kira. The second went up to the electrician after a moment. With some creative drill work and threading of the holes, the mount brackets for the projectors attached to the ceiling with some schedule eight bolts, rated for 200,000 kilos of torque, so someone could swing off one of those mounting brackets and it would not budge. The small dehumidifiers were attached to the ceiling right next to the projectors, and then the enclosures were attached with a rubber gasket between the ceiling and copious amounts of silicone caulking. The enclosures had no window over them, instead they were set up to seal around the projection lens surface so the lenses would not be obstructed; part of the dehumidifier circuit also was above the lens enclosure to keep some of the moisture off it.

"All right, all we need is the other two and we are ready to test this setup out," Kira notes. Ladders were repositioned again and the same process for the first two was repeated while the mechanic set up the touch-screen panel. All the wiring had already been terminated at the mainframe side, so once everything was connected it was booted into active mode. Since Kira had not designed a UI API for the touch-screen, he had to connect an auxiliary keyboard to it and issue shell commands to the mainframe to get it to do any output to the monitors. After enough commands, a three-dimensional high-res high-polygon image of the Strike Gundam with the IWSP pack was projected onto the water's surface just above the center island, which the engineers were planning on modifying into an above-water table for drinks or refreshments.

"Hell yes, it works!" Kira half-shouts. "Now, we need to get over to the girl's side and get it set up, think we can do it in less than an hour?"

"Eighty minutes, minimum," the first one had taken ninety minutes from the time they entered the room with their tools to the time they finished cleaning up the metal filings and dropped caulking.

"Well, let's do it." They moved out into the hallway, to the podium that was set up for the attendant to track who was in where.

The engineer had stopped at a communication panel, picked up the growler phone, and keyed in a special code to activate the ship's intercom. "Attention all hands, this is engineering, the men's hot springs are now open again, thank you for your patience in this matter. The ladies' hot spring will be closed for the next ninety minutes to two hours for maintenance. That is all."

"What exactly are you putting in there?" Umi asks as she eyes the new equipment. None of it had the prototypical lines and extensions of a camera, so she was suspicious, not alarmed.

"These are special three-dimensional projectors, used for the three-D television and movies you saw out in town today, right?"

"You serious? We can watch movies and television in the springs after this is done?" Umi asks in an excited squeal. The only thing that would make it more relaxing than a dip in the _Archangel_ Springs would be doing so while watching a cool movie.

"Shhh, keep it down, the Captain hasn't signed off on this. We're trying to do this _fait accompli_ to avoid getting ripped too hard for it, especially since the equipment kinda looks like spying equipment," Athrun says hurriedly.

"Oh, right."

"Is the spring clear?"

Umi checks the board. "Yes, it's clear, and I'll put the 'out of order' rope up after you four go in," Umi says. "Just be fast about it, my shift ends in sixty minutes and I'd like to be the first to try out the movie viewer," she says.

"It'll take longer than that," the electrician says as he begins hefting the gear into the shower facilities.

The wires had already been pulled for the ladies' side, so that much did not have to be repeated. Just cut the holes as necessary and pull the wires through to open air so they could be assembled. Thus the process began in earnest as the five persons began assembling the movie projectors for the ladies' room.

Nicol had begun writing the software for the projectors that would convert a flat movie to something that the projectors could put out. The movie itself would continue to be flat (unless Kira could come up with some form of program to model a 2-D movie into 3-D, which Nicol figured was possible but unlikely), but they would be viewable inside the springs and in the mini-theater that Kira was planning on building. He had been at it for over two hours already, since he had returned from town, and wanted to be anywhere except somewhere where he was coding, but some things just had to be done, and he figured hew as good enough to the task. "Hey, guys, how is it going?" he asks on the radio frequency they were using for coordinating the projector project.

"Almost done on this side with the ladies' room, Nicol. How about you?"

"I'm about 10,000 lines short of done and ready to test. I trust this is not going to be used for pornographic purposes?"

There was a pause on the frequency for a moment. Both Nicol and Fuu had to wonder what that was about, until Kira answered: "I'd be lying if I said it could not be used for that. My intention for it is on the level, though, and I think I can write a program to keep any obvious porno flicks out of the main database, but all the control panels also have local media drives so stopping them all is impossible."

"At least Sir Yamato is honest about it," Fuu notes after a few seconds.

"Well, Kira, you get accolades from Fuu for being honest about it, but there has to be a better solution for this one."

"Maybe the best solution is no solution, Nicol, no sense writing up an unenforceable regulation, that would just undermine authority on the ship." Athrun sounded coldly analytical about the matter, as if it had been eating at his mind for some time.

"8000 lines of code to go," Nicol was writing the last of the interface controls that would allow a user to select from the ship's stored movie library. One of the electricians had already added extra storage to the server for just that purpose, though he did not know how Kira and crew were going to execute the movie-viewing.

"Just keep it steady and don't crash their server, Nicol. Springs team, out."

"Roger that," Nicol says in reply though it had not gone out on the radio. Right now, it was just Newman, Sai, Nicol, and Fuu on the bridge, though it would be inevitable that the officers would be back soon to resume post, so Nicol was taking advantage of this time to use the direct-feed consoles on the bridge to program in real-time and get it done as fast as possible. "5000 lines," Nicol notes as his hands simply flew over the keyboard, punching out seven lines of code every three seconds on average.

"Is this what you wanted to do before you became a soldier?" Fuu asks, looking over his shoulder at what he was coding.

"Actually not. I wanted to become a piano symphonist, but with the coming of the war I decided I should help out my homeland. That led me to Heliopolis, which led me to trying to chase down the _Archangel_, which led us all to Cephiro."

"Kira was studying to become a combination robotics programmer and robotics engineer, before the attack on Heliopolis," Sai notes.

"Springs to programmer, we are ready at this end, how are you coming along, Nicol?" Athrun asks over the radio.

"Programmer reporting, I have about 3000 lines to go, give or take. Seven minutes, nine tops."

"Make it fast, Nicol, Umi's down here about ready to chew my arm off and no Yzak to take the heat for the rest of us," Athrun reports to the programming support. His comment caused a wave of laughter between the four on the bridge; the constant cat-fighting between Yzak and Umi was a ship-wide legend and quite expected at least once a day, sometimes more if the whole ship was generally frustrated or angered. The thing was, who would win the inevitable fight between them (if they didn't end up going out on a date) would come down to how the battle was fought: if Rune God versus Duel, Yzak would likely win the battle, if sword to sword the winner would assuredly be Umi.

"Roger that, Athrun, just tell Umi to hold her horses, the movies will be ready soon." Seven minutes later: "Springs, Programmer, I am done. It should be online at this time."

"Roger that, I am checking now...bingo, looks like it's good to go. Interface is a bit strange, I think I'll sic Kira on that to clean it up," Athrun notes. "You don't object, right?"

"Better him than me, he's the programmer, I'm just a piano player with a second in coding," Nicol replies.

"All right, looks like we got everything right, this one is done. Now all we have to do is figure out where else to put these in."

"One of them is going in my room for sure," Kira says loud enough for the microphone to pick it up.

"What, so you can watch porn all alone?" Athrun had the button on the radio still pressed down but not near his mouth.

"Athrun, you're being a pest and a pervert. Go away. Shoo. Go away." All four on the bridge could just imagine Kira trying to shoo Athrun away by simple hand gesture as he said that. "I already told you, I don't watch porn, until recently I was sleeping with Flay, though I think that's through now."

"I don't know which is more frightening: the fact that you don't watch porn or the fact that you were sleeping with Flay," Athrun says deadpan; Sai and Nicol were trying and failing to suppress their laughing; Newman was outright laughing at the comment; Fuu was rather confused by the logic at hand.

"Yeah, right, later. Thanks for the help, Nicol, we're out here," Kira says.

-x-x-x-

(Shopping Vignette: Bar and Grill 1.5)

"This place looks pretty respectable," Mu says as he inches closer to the head of the short line for a seat. "Been here often?"

"At least once every time I've been to this planet," Major Steiner replies. "Ah, waitress, is Giselda on duty today?"

"_Ja_, she is."

"Does she have an open in her area?" Major Steiner asks next.

"_Ja_, she will here in a minute," the Waitress says as she checks the requested area. "Please follow me," she says as she leads the group to a booth in the corner. They were seated, presented menus, and drink orders were placed (two red wines, one draft beer, and a cola for Murrue, who volunteered to play dutiful designated driver).

"Ah, Major Steiner, it has been long since you have been here to Twycross, how goes it?" the area waitress says.

"With the invasion, it's been real rough. Not much chance to take leave and all that," the Major replies.

"And your guests?" Giselda asks.

"You might have heard of them, this is Captain Ramius, Commanders Badgiruel and La Flaga of the Archangel Team,"

"This team I know well," She points her pen to the wall behind Natarle's head. "The hole in the wall is where the arrow your crew-woman's arrow stopped. I was quite shocked to hear a stalker pervert chased them into the bathroom, and very glad they stopped him cold dead," she says with all the finality of some of Murrue's classmates from academy. "It is good to see your personnel can defend themselves in tight spots," she says. "Some local women I know would fold under that pressure," she spat her contempt of those kinds of persons. "And I hear Mina has joined you? So much the better, she's been trying to get away from her for months now."

"She signed up just before the shooting," Natarle notes.

"Very good," Giselda notes. "And that guy she shot dead, he is always causing trouble here at the bar, him and his comrades. Since he died, no trouble at all. Not a speck. The boss wants to give her an award for it," Mu masterfully suppressed a chuckle at that. "You Archangel Team get a discount, same as regular military. Ten percent off. I'll give you a few minutes to decide, and be back with your drinks," Giselda was off in a heartbeat.

"Maybe we should unleash her on the kitchen on the ship?" Mu asks; both Murrue and Natarle suppress chuckles at that.

"Are you joking? We do that, the only survivor in the galley would be the crazy cook," Natarle replies quickly.

"Still, having her clean house might not be a bad idea at all," Murrue thinks aloud. "What do you think, Major?"

"She probably would not leave here," he notes. "She's been here for over thirty years, and most people would not walk away from a job like hers: stable and steady."

"Point," Murrue acknowledges. "Anyways, what're you going to have?"

"Probably a steak and potato," Adam notes. "You?"

"I dunno, maybe a chicken salad?" Natarle replies.

"Definitely the sirloin kabobs," Mu says.

"This mutton wrap looks pretty good, maybe I will try it this time.

"Planning something?" Mu asks.

"We can always come back tomorrow, I guess, and try something else," Murrue replies.

"True, since we aren't heading anywhere for at least another week."

"Someone above us doesn't want us to leave Twycross, yet, though they have not explained why," Major Steiner replies. "Maybe they think this planet is at risk of being invaded?"

"It could be, or there is also the possibility that Colonel Malthus wants our arse in a sling and having us here, in a known location, may draw him out into the open?"

"And then what?" Major Steiner asks.

Murrue gives him a glance; "Do I really need to answer that, Major?"

"I guess not," Adam replies after considering it.

"So then what?" Commander Badgiruel asks. "I mean, as far as intel goes, Colonel Malthus and his CO are the pinnacle of Jade Falcon assault forces, and we've already busted their balls twice over. Their strategos are probably chewing nails right now trying to figure out some way to build momentum again, and oh by the way figure out a way to kill us off. I don't feel like allowing part B to happen again, but stopping A would be nice."

"Well, the Jade Falcons have a second attack vector under a different Galaxy Commander, if we want to completely stop their effort that would be how. Plus, remember that the Jade Falcons are one Clan in four, middle-of-the-road in both strength and viciousness, and if we want to stop them all we have to stop all four of the invading Clans...then take it to the home Clans."

"Man, you know how to paint a grim future in an operational concept," Mu notes to the Major.

"Welcome to the Inner Sphere."

"Your drinks are ready," Giselda notes as she presents them to the group. She presents them quickly and efficiently. "Have you made your choices for your meal?" All four declared their choice of meals and the waitress was gone again, to get their food cooking.

"Y'know what? For today, I say we just forget work," Mu says after his first sip. "I mean, there's no real chance of the Clanners dropping by today, so why don't we all just chill out?"

"He has my vote," Major Steiner says. "So, what do Earth Alliance officers normally do when not on tour?" (8)

"Normally, raid as many bars as possible," Natarle notes. "Some attend concerts or amusement parks in the area of their base, but not often. Shopping around the base is also one of the Earth Alliance passtimes, really."

"And which do you do?" Major Steiner asks in retort.

"Usually raid the bars," Natarle replies in an unconcerned fashion.

"OI!" Someone at the entrance to the bar and grill shouts. "Where's the manager? He's got a shitload of explaining to do!"

"Trouble," Murrue immediately says as the manager made his presence known.

"Hey! You ain't paid this month and one of my friends was killed by some slut in here! What the fuck's your problem?" The loudest among the trio says. Their intent was crystal clear, as two of them had baseball bats and one had a long-blade machete.

"Shall we?" Major Steiner asks before one of the waitresses receives a backhand from one of the thugs with the bat.

"No, not yet, if we assault them now they would have the advantage. Let the field clear before we do anything drastic." Nevertheless, Murrue had pulled her pistol and armed it under the table so as to not be heard or seen. The distance between them was about fifteen meters, a fairly easy shot for her given her years of training both on the farm and in the Earth Alliance Special Forces.

"Huh? What the hell is Natarle doing?" Adam asks as Natarle had walked toward them.

When she was about five meters off from them, the manager received a gut-check from one of the bats, hard enough to knock him to the ground in pain. "This is what you get for allowing that shit!"

"Hey, you three got a problem with my unit or something?" Natarle asks in an eerily calm fashion.

"Well, now, I think I have more than a few problems looking at someone like you," their 'lead' says.

"Step outside, shithead, and let's get this over with," Natarle flat orders of them.

"Hell no, I say we sort it out in the bathroom," the machete came up; "unless you have a hotel room?" He asks without any sense of shame as he advances one meter on Natarle. Murrue, Mu, and Major Steiner had closed up on her six, which meant in theory she was not fighting alone.

"Put the blade down before I get violent."

"Uh-uh, sweetie, you play by my rules on this turf," he says as he advances another meter on her.

Natarle wasted no time or words on the matter after that. As soon as he passed the three-meter distance to her, she immediately drew her sword, lunged forward a meter and a half, and began while his machete was still out of position to even begin a block. Her sword flashed upward through his knees at a severe angle, the longer and more ornate cavalry saber hesitated in midair as the blood from her first arc continued into the ceiling; her downswing was accidental in intent but perfect in execution as it came down perfectly to sever his neck as she stepped a meter to her right and brought the blade back down. His body hit the ground in four pieces almost all at once as she prepared a guard for the nearer of the tangos with the bat.

Murrue's pistol and Major Steiner's laser pistol immediately came up and centered on the two with the bats. "Drop the bats, assholes," Murrue orders roughly as her pistol audibly goes off safety.

"Oi!" Someone outside shouts.

"More outside!" Mu says as he reaches for and pulls his halberd. His set was just in time to stop one of the tangos with the bat from tearing his head off with it. As he trained, so did he do: one of his favorite tactics in sparring was to use the haft of his weapon to trip the challenger up, putting them on the ground usually solved the problem. In this case the enemy was not even partially expecting it, and his head bounced off the ground hard enough to stun him when he hit. He reversed the weapon and brought the axe-blade down onto the tango's forearm, and being a powerful-magicked weapon it immediately severed the lower half of his forward from the rest of his body, though not very painfully to the enemy at first, since he was mentally stunned at the time. Mu's blade came back up again, the tip of the pike-blade scratching the chest of the enemy as he set it to deny entry for the incoming punks. "Don't bother, kids," Mu orders of them simultaneous with the last one inside dropping his bat.

The one that Mu scratched vaulted to the side to clear a path for the one immediately behind him— "Mu!" Murrue shouts, seeing the small-caliber automatic just a moment before he started shooting.**Pop—Pop—Pop—Pop—Pop—Pop**, all six shots in less than two seconds before the slide came down on an empty chamber; the shots themselves did not sound all that impressive, likely from it being a small-caliber subsonic weapon. The first shot hit Mu in the left knee, the second missed, the third hit his surrendered friend in the nugs, the fourth hit Mu in the waist and slightly off-center, the fifth hit his surrendered friend in the chest, the sixth hit Mu in the left shoulder. After the shooting was done, Mu hit the ground with a loud yelp, the injuries quite painful though far from life threatening at present.

**Crack—Crack—Crack—Crack,**Murrue answered the shooter's weapon with her own while charging an flame bolt in her left hand from her magic armband. The first slug struck the shooter in his beer gut and kept going, out his back and into the midriff of his girlfriend right behind him. Murrue's second shot was higher up, the slug fragmented as it blew through his sternum and ended up lodged inside him. The third round passed through the sternum wound and between two ribs on its way out, where it entered the left breast of his girlfriend and punched clean through her as well (9), finally embedding in the door-frame to the bar. The fourth slug entered the tango's upper chest between the sternum and collarbone, then blitzed through the left shoulder-blade and out through the glass of the door itself, deflected badly from its transit, where it spidered the window around the impact point but did not penetrate the glass completely.

The last punk, the one that Mu had initially scratched before he cleared way for the shooter, had a knife pulled and was within five meters of Murrue, which made the matter quite clear. The magic bolt had been charged with the same energy as what she used on Natalya, but instead of being a dense-pack of high-concentrate this one was more along the lines of low-concentrate, loose-pack energy for a target that did not need a heavy penetration factor (like Elemental armor). When Murrue loosed the ball of energy into the tango, it only burned into him about two centimeters, one-third of which was his cotton sweater and very baggy t-shirt. Inside him the flame ball did little beyond cauterize the wound; to his sweater and shirt, however, the material within ten centimeters of the entry wound immediately caught fire, and being natural plant fiber it began burning rapidly. This being done, he immediately ran out of the establishment, screaming bloody murder as more and more of his clothes were lit on fire by the fanned flames, headed westbound down the road and soon out of sight from within the bar.

"Mu!" Murrue shouts as she drops down beside him.

"I'm all right, help me put pressure on my knee," he says.

Giselda drops a set of bar-towels next to her. "Use these, I've already called the police."

"I shoulda seen that shit coming when his buddy jumped aside," Mu chides himself. "You got him and his girlfriend, though, thanks," Mu adds. A second, far larger pistol was still in his dead girlfriend's hand, which meant that without even really trying Murrue had silenced the worst threat to them before she could take a shot.

"Damnit, same bar, twice in a row today," Murrue says. "Either this place is real hot or we don't have luck in this part of town," she tacks on a moment later.

"Y'know, I got it figured out." Mu takes a deep, pained breath. "We'll station Chandratta, Yzak, Athrun, Murdoch, Natalya, and Kristen Redmond here at happy hour tonight so they can scrap what's left of their gang," he adds with what appeared to be his usual cheer.

"You have big shotguns?" Giselda asks as she helps her manager to standing with Major Steiner's assistance. "We could use the help," she adds. "This Natalya you speak of, she good in battle?"

-x-x-x-

(Shopping Vignette: Closing Oddities! And Arguments! WHOOO!)

"This kicks serious portions of ass, Kira, where did you get the idea for this?" Yzak asks bluntly.

"It just sprang to mind in a burst of inspiration, like every other crazy idea he comes up with," Athrun notes drolly. "And I can't believe I went along with it. When the Captain finds out, we're both dead meat walking, along with one of the engineers, one of the electricians, and a mechanic."

"Bullshit, Captain Ramius would love this," Yzak counters. They were presently watching _Immortal Warrior_, a Commonwealth action-adventure syndicated show that was so over-the-top unrealistic that it was absurdly funny to the Gundam pilots and mechanics in the spring. It was a true Tri-vid show, so the whole ring could watch and enjoy it without having to interpret it backwards. The main character spent as much time on the screen as big explosions, carried more guns than a squad of infantry (and which probably cost a small fortune in Yzak's estimate), apparently never ran out of ammo (Nicol was counting that down, and should have reloaded his pistol four times already), and had damn near died four times with just barely half the show still to go. "I mean, you did put one over in the ladies' side, right?"

"Yes, we did," Kira says.

"Anybody in the springs while you were doing it?" Murdoch asks.

"Hell no, Umi would've skewered them if they tried that," Yzak replies testily to the chief mechanic.

"So, what's the word on you and Flay, Kira?" Murdoch asks.

"We're through, I'm lucky I'm still alive, and she's in the brig. And I owe being alive to Yzak, he actually stopped her when I just plain froze up," Kira admitted over the sound of explosions in the show.

"I wonder where do we buy one of those?" The show's her was holding some form of six-silo missile launcher that looked and acted pretty badass. _Probably also weighs a ton_, Tolle thought.

"Yeah, yeah, Strike, you just weren't expecting to get skewered by your ex, that's all. Totally understandable," his tone was somewhere between honest and facetious and definitely joking. "Though, with a girlfriend that crazy, I'd be afraid of being stabbed any time she approached a sharp object," He tacks on for the benefit of the others in the springs. Everyone in the pool had quite a laugh at that.

"That so sounds like Dearka," Nicol says.

"Oi, since he's not here with us, someone has to pick up the slack." Dearka's flag and medal box had been attached to the wall in a secure enclosure in the hall on the wall opposite the hot springs doors. Someone had also put a picture of him taken after they first started working with the _Archangel_, and he was looking fairly passive at the time. "You have to admit, though beautiful, she is flat frigging nuts. Did you just ignore that part of her for the rest, or what?"

"Well, I guess I got used to it, I'd say," Kira notes.

"Damn, that is talent," Tolle notes.

"Hey in there, I need a role call, please," the voice of Commander Badgiruel comes through the bead screen that someone had put up between the robing room and the springs.

"Kira," Kira says.

"Tolle," Tolle says.

"Pissed off," Yzak says

"Nicol reporting,"

"You're not on a radio, dork," Yzak says.

"Murdoch," Kojiro Murdoch says in something approaching a Spanish romantic's falsetto. It was a bit of a ways off for everyone's opinion, of course.

"Chandratta," said weapon officer adds.

"Athrun," the Aegis pilot adds.

"Harvey," one of the Mechanics adds.

"Crazy," another of the Mechanics says. That was it for who was in the hot springs, as the silence said.

"Okay, guys, I have a subcontract for Athrun, Yzak, and Murdoch, plus a few of the Elementals if you are up to something different," Natarle says.

"We're listening," Athrun says. He figured he could use the extra cash in town to purchase some personal small arms since he spent all day hardware shopping with Kira for his damnable yet enjoyable crazy pet projects.

"You know that grill that Miriallia almost got molested at, and where Mu got shot by a punk?"

"Yeah, I hear it's got killer food and bad customers," Yzak says.

"The owner's a nice guy but ass-deep in gang problems. He wants some professionals to help keep the establishment clean. It's pocket money, but you get to screw up the maggots that tried raping three of our own and shot up one of our officers, if they show up again." Miriallia had made that much of his intentions clear to Natarle and Murrue only after they were back on the ship.

"Fuck yes, sign me up Commander," Yzak says immediately. "When do we deploy?"

"Tomorrow at happy hour. You'll go under infantry arms and a Gundam will be on launch status at the ship in case the shit hits the fan."

"Roger that," Athrun says. "We'll be ready for it at...when is happy hour?" Athrun asks, suddenly realizing he did not know when the usual happy hour began.

"At that establishment, 1900 hours," Natarle notes. "Any questions?"

"No, Commander," Murdoch replies.

"Thank you. I'll leave you to your movie. By the by, to whom do I owe the pleasure of a projector set in the Ladies' springs?"

"Athrun and Kira. Kira's idea," Yzak adds.

"You may have just earned a court-martial if I find those have recording capabilities, but thank you for the television lash-up nonetheless," she says. "As you were, gentlemen," and they could clearly hear her steps as she exited the robing room.

-----

"Thanks for the help, Captain," the doctor notes to his CO.

"Someone has to help with this lug," Murrue notes, though her tone when glancing at Mu was teasing, not derisive.

"He'll be out of it for a few days, just to be on the safe side. I'm still not sure what level of effectiveness the kids' magic has in healing, and I still had to extract those .25-caliber slugs from his body. He'll make a full recover, though, even his left knee." That had all of them worried, since he had to use his knee to control various pedals in a cockpit.

"Give me a few minutes?" Murrue asks.

"Sure," the Doc takes a walk toward the cafeteria, since there was little risk with this patient.

"You need to learn how to dodge or duck, Hawk of Endymion," Murrue scolds him in a teasing tone. "Next time you may not get away with it, and I couldn't stand that," she warns quite a bit forcefully.

"I know, I know, I shoulda seen that coming when the first one jumped clear. At least he was using a pop gun, not a .45 like his girlfriend,"

"Yeah, how the hell does that work?" Murrue asks. "he was holding a six-shot 25-caliber and his girlfriend that was smaller than him had a compact .45."

"Do you really want me to answer that?" Mu asks in a teasing tone; after a moment, Murrue realized how she had slipped up on that one, given that she was the captain of the most powerful warship in the Earth Alliance fleet. "And you put paid to both of them with a nine, shooting through the guy and still managed to kill both. That's one that needs to go on the ship's record books." Nothing was said for almost a minute as Murrue leaned against his hospital bed in the ship's infirmary. "Thanks, by the way. Police said he had his hand on a second magazine when you hit him the first time. I probably wouldn't got lucky twice in a row."

"He'd probably shot me next if he had the chance to reload."

"That's what I meant," Mu notes. "Thank you."

Murrue snorts humorously, smiling happily. "You know, Hawk of Endymion, you really are capable of making the impossible possible." Murrue leans down and gives him a peck on the cheek. "Hurry up and get well, Commander." Murrue was out of the room before another thing was said.

For his part, Mu had to wonder what she meant, though he was already beginning to have suspicions.

-----

"Tolle, how're you feeling after your run through the springs?" Miriallia asks. Something about the way Miriallia asked him immediately made him leery, and check to see how fast he could get out of the cafeteria. "Don't bother running, Tolle, or you'll only die tired."

A table away, Pytor was having his usual ration and a couple glasses of water, when Miriallia had said that. At the time it was said he was taking a drink and gagged on it, to the point that water came out of his nose.

"Okay, okay, you win, what's up?" Tolle asks, now leery and and slightly woried.

"Oh, calm down, it's nothing harmful, Tolle. You might even like it."

That being said had his attention and had calmed him. "So, what's up?"

"I'd like to try an experiment."

"What about?"

"Well, every time I end up in combat I can...hear the thoughts of those that die around me. It hurts, hearing a person's last thoughts."

"Wait...you didn't hear—did you—"

"Dearka? Yes, his was the first, and the most painful. Some of what I heard I can't tell."

"Oh."

"Anyways, I'd like to see what it's like going in the exact opposite direction."

"Exact...opposite...let me think here." _The exact opposite of death is life, or the creation of life—holy shit_.

_Exactly right, Tolle. You don't object, right_? Miriallia asks telepathically.

That was actually a hard answer. If they were at home on Heliopolis, he would have had said 'no' in a heartbeat. Being on a Warship, even one of the most screwed-up Warships in Existence, changed the name of the game in more than just a few ways. Still, when it came down to it, this was the person that he was severely in love with and would do anything to help.

"Okay, I'm in, on the proviso that you're not going to do what you read in that email that Athrun intercepted."

"Hell no, not this time at least," Miriallia replies. "Oh, don't give me that look, Tolle Koenig, you know three-quarters of that email was bullcrap and would not work in practice."

"I know that, and I'm not worried about that, what I am worried about is you trying to begin with. Never mind working."

"For an aero pilot, you lack a sense of adventure," Miriallia teases. "But fine, we'll play it without that email, okay?"

"Okay, lead off," Tolle says as he stands up.

Miriallia did indeed lead off, straight to Tolle's quarters that he was not presently sharing with anyone. Tolle had something of an idea what kind of a night he was in for, and he knew that this would go either two ways: they would find it to detriment and call it off pretty quick, or they would find it a serious help to her mental experiences of late and probably wouldn't quit until time to get ready for their duty shifts. For Miriallia her next time on duty was well over twelve hours off, Tolle was on standby alert only and had no duty shift requirements.

For his part, Pytor could only think one thing: _stravags are a strange bunch_. (10)

* * *

Author's Chapter Afterword:

That was absurdly long, ne? And the action on Twycross is not even done yet, there is more to come as a VIP drops in and so does an old acquaintance from battles past. Not to mention what other chaos the Archangel crew can cause in Twycross city before they move onward to other battle fronts. I do apologize for taking this long to eke it out, though, the week after I posted chapter 12 I found myself slammered by three flavors of writer's block, and managed to write about 1000 words in six days. I know I can do better than that, and I did, averaging about 3500 words a day over the next two weeks to get this out. OI! And damn it was fun. Just don't expect this kind of chaos again, kiddies, this was a crapload of writing that I could easily have broke down into two separate chapters, but I felt that one would flow better here.

I think I've said everything I really want to say in terms of what is written here. I have nothing really to add to it in afterword, except that you can expect the new weapons that Murrue purchased for the ship to get a serious workout throughout the rest of the story. And what I listed in test is only part of what she bought. Plus there is always the possibility of acquiring other arsenal from other locations they might end up stuck in. Not to mention the Clans have their own infantry-scale arsenal and acquiring some of that might be to the benefit of the Archangel, above and beyond the Elementals.

And now, for the review replies, in order they came unto the review listing:

**Knives91**: Particle weapons: fun for the whole family. And neg, I don't think I've met a tech crew anywhere, with the exception of IRL computer technicians, that are stranger than Murdoch and crew. And mind you that I am a computer technician IRL, so I know that one very well.

**TheBakaBrigade**: Expect other Gundams to show up in the story. Period. Whether they be in Archangel hands, friendly hands, enemy hands, or something else I am not going to speculate on.

**GongingApples**, you are really starting to worry me, comrade. Yet, I find a certain validity to your suggestion to do Xenosaga, I have the first two games and have played the second for about a dozen so far, need to finish that up. I'm working over Wild Arms 3 right now, though, amazing what you find in a bargain bin for ten bucks.

**Akasui**, thank you for the review. Some magic can help with death, but it takes the kind of mage that the Archangel presently does not have. Even the best don't win them all. And the lapse in the Archangel's defenses was temporary, and came after they crushed the enemy on Romulus, so that was a bit of a moot point.

**Etienneofthewestwind**, always a pleasure. Oh yes, the bondsmen will definitely play a role in chapters to come, not only in this dimension but in locations to come. And though the time they got in this chapter was a bit thin, expect to see more of them in coming chapters. As to the Gundams evolving, I am unsure if I want to include them in that process, given the mechanic of how the Archangel is doing so.

**Bienviendo**, thanks for the reviews, comrade. Oh, be warned the first major cameo is coming up next chapter, as well as some serious scrapping in coming time, for Malthus may have had his arse handed to him on Romulus but he has not given up; if anything such a defeat has made him rather desperate to redeem himself. And Galaxy Commander Chistu is not far behind, either. And I find myself rather appalled that you would think this to end up a Mary Sue, you can rest assured that the Archangel and crew are going to get a workout that will make Odysseus sj1t an aluminum brick before everything is said and done.

As is said before, keep the reviews coming, comrades. Your dreams are but drops of fuel for the ongoing nightmares of the Archangel's crew.

Next up: more than one somebody drops in on Twycross, and things get real rough real fast because of it.

* * *

Footnotes:

(1): Blood Groove is nothing more than a macabre name for a feature that was designed to make a sword weigh less. The less a weapon weighs, the easier it is to handle, and having a fuller (blood grove) on the sword is one way to reduce weight.

(2): Normally, Jumpships go from the top (zenith) or bottom (nadir) of a star's gravity well to the equivalent point in the destination system. Jumpships cannot jump inside gravity wells, but where two gravity wells cancel each other out, they can jump to and from (these are called Lagrange points, Transient points, or sometimes Pirate Points).

(3): I hope severely I do not have to explain this metaphor.

(4): I could find little data on Twycross across the internet, except for industrial info, so I'm freelancing here. Battletech purists that are reading this and cringing have my apologies.

(5): A not-often-used tenet of Classic Battletech level 3 rules: utility 'mechs. This one is an ArgoMech, designed to help harvest crops. I'll toss in more utility 'mechs as the chapter goes on.

(6): In airport parlance, a gate is the parking spot of a plane. Same would apply here, this is where the Archangel comes to rest.

(7): To terminate a cable means to put a connector on the end so that it can be attached to a device or another cable length. I can terminate a CAT-5E (network) cable with dual male RJ-45 ends in about 20 minutes, or with RJ-45 female ends in about fifteen. And I am definitely not the fastest person at terminating cabling where I work, not by a long shot.

(8): Military parlance: a tour is a deployment of a ship or unit.

(9): Yes, a nine millimeter Full Metal Jacket round will punch through two people. Trust me.

(10): Though this may look like a reference to my online name, it is not. That is a valid Clanner thought.


	14. Grievances

(Section 2, Chapter 6: Grievances)

-x-x-x- (28 May 3050) -x-x-x-

(Vignette: Guard duty)

"All right, people, we have a mission, and a strange one at that. Listen up, 'cause we're going to have to clean house if necessary."

"Yes, sir," Yzak says in a somewhat bored fashion. Guard duty sucked any way you shoveled it in his opinion.

"Our mission is to guard a bar, against gang incursion. The details: since the incidents yesterday, they have received several threatening phone calls and people have been in and out of there that are not typical customers. That means there may be activity at the location tonight, probably as a warning message that no establishment is beyond their reach. It is our duty to persuade them that this establishment, and by extension any other establishment in the area, is off limits. Any questions?"

"Is this it? Against a whole gang?" Murdoch asks.

"Yes, just us. On the other hand, we will not be going unarmed, and there are three of us with Knight's weapons, so if we have to get violent it will definitely be in our favor. Also, a Gundam will be on stand-by in case more serious firepower is needed," Newman notes.

"Okay, what are we taking?" Athrun asks.

"These," and Newman opens his field jacket to reveal a RM-3/XXI sub-machinegun with triple-stack stick-mag. "Rorynex RM-3, small caliber high-velocity rounds with explosive tips. They'll do basic body armor like a chainsaw, and scuff up anything better. Each has a harness that goes over your uniform shirts and allows it to hang down below your arm like an old whippet gun. We go with four mags each plus one in the weapon, and tactical pistol holsters that will provide something visible to any casual annoyances." The pistols were the typical Earth Alliance 9mm pistols that everyone had a good idea how to use. "Gear up and get your field jackets, people, we need to be on site at 1700 hours."

The team reassembled in ten minutes at the motor pool, ready to go and of decent enough appearance to operate. Contrary to Mu's original plan, Newman was the operational commander for the team, not Chandratta, and if anyone had to put words to it, likely the better. Chandratta was trigger-happy by nature; Newman had a good sense of both offense and defense, which is what guard detail required. It helped that he had some of the best in-fighters on his team, including two from the Jade Falcons. Though the fact that this was something of a contract was in the air, the operative purpose was to take down the tangos that had tried three of the Team's ranks, including one of the Magic Knights and their operation controller. That made it as much a vengeance operation as anything else, and Clanners are no strangers to the term 'vendetta'.

"Ready to go?" Newman asks as the group assembles around a pair of crew jeeps.

"Aff," Star Commander Natalya says. She was familiar with the Clan SMG, the Rorynex was something new to her but not impossibly different. Kristen Redmond was rather amazed that they had called upon the Clan warriors this quickly, though when you get down to it, the _Archangel_ is staffed by lethally competent persons, not necessarily intimidating but very capable to killing enemy mobile forces wholesale (as they proved on Romulus). That fact necessitated the presence of at least one Clanner in the deploy team, though why they had not chosen one of the larger Elementals was still a standing question between the Star Commander and Star Colonel.

"Oh yeah," Yzak replies for himself and Athrun. Both the ZAFT pilots had their own beliefs, and neither of them would tolerate rapists, muggers, and gang-bangers. End of story.

"I still think I should being a titanium pipe with me," Murdoch says. Since they had to replace the hydraulics in the Strike with myomer, there was no shortage of titanium pipe around the bay.

"Does it sound like anyone here is stopping you?" Newman replies.

"Good point. Back in a moment," when Murdoch came back, he had a meter-long section of threaded pipe from the forearm of the Strike. "Okay, now I'm ready."

"Good, let's go." In a moment they were down the ramp in a pair of crew jeeps and headed down the service lane for vehicles toward the starport vehicle entry/exit gates.

"Lieutenant Newman and five headed into town," he says to the guard at the gates.

"Roger that." He writes down the vehicle numbers on a clipboard for the next shift to know that two of the _Archangel_'s vehicles were out and about and to let them in when they came back. Newman needed only look left to see a crew jeep headed into the base, and it appeared to have a loaded load-bed with electronics equipment. "Have a good day, sir," he says as he waves them onward.

"It would appear that Kira's crazy plan has caught on like wildfire," Athrun notes, apparently having seen the same thing.

"Yeah, it's a good plan. I've already asked him to purchase a set of those projectors to add to my quarters," Newman notes.

_Stravags really are a strange bunch_, Natalya thinks aloud.

-x-x-x-

(Vignette: Strange solution, strange problem)

Natarle could claim having done some real strange things in her lifetime. Contrary to her usual military decorum, she had been a very active and brash young lady at one time in her life. She had run with a pack of friends that were not as bad as most, but were pretty raunchy when you got down to it. She had off-and-on tried drinking and smoking prior to her tenure in California, then her placement to the _Archangel_, and even then she had something of a reputation for being able to pack away the cocktails and walk (somewhat) straight. She could still remember the times she had gone home, entered through the cellar and shimmied her way up the laundry chute to the third floor of her house where her 'apartment' had been (for lack of a better term, that was what it really was) for the sole purpose of dodging her parents.

If there is one thing that Natarle could ever claim, though, she had known perverts of the caliber that had quarters next to her, but she had never acted that way (to her knowledge—there were a few times where she had been blitzed so bad she had little knowledge of what transpired that night past). She could still remember a few vehicle trips where there were five in the car, she had been one of them in the back seat while the two next to her made wild and quite noisy love, and somehow managed to avoid getting a ticket for not having a seat belt on. There had also been one such trip where the two in the back seat beside her were bisexual, and had tried involving Natarle in it, though she quite fervently told them off and stayed out of that mess. More the better; last she had heard of those two ladies, one of them had killed the other in a murder-suicide incident that was gross, macabre, and wholly front-page news, and Natarle had known that the other likely would have killed her as well before turning the gun on herself to complete the murder-suicide triangle.

All things considered, though, Natarle had to remind herself that she had not even felt partially like how she had felt last night ever before, even when stuck in the same car as something like that. It had to be Miriallia's telepathy that was doing it, a rebroadcast of what was going on between her and Tolle basically, that had the rather unfortunate side effect of doing strange things to Natarle as well as keep her awake for over ten hours. _And, insert fifty C-bill bet here, neither of them had any clue that they were also making their neighbors feel all perverted_, Natarle thinks wryly. Kira had been by earlier in the day to request the right to move his quarters elsewhere, since what he had experienced reminded him too much of his involvement with Flay and he didn't want to feel that at this time. Natarle had to refuse on grounds, given that Kira was quartered as close as possible to his Gundam for a very good reason, but it pained Natarle to have to refuse such a logical and heart-wrenching request.

And, of course, she wasn't going to comment to anyone as to how many times their action had made her get off. But that was all the more reason to try and find a solution to the issue at hand, other than breaking them up (which likely would not work anyways and might piss Miriallia off to the point of pulling an 'Allster', which by dint of that situation had quickly become a catchphrase for fratricide on the ship).

The first logical thing that came to mind was to layer their room with lead, but that fell afoul of the fact that lead probably would not work, since the interior bulkheads already served that purpose without the use of lead, they were spec'd to stop the radiation from direct exposure to Uranium for quite a while.

"Captain, I have a little bit of a problem I could use a...well...unorthodox solution to, if you'll spare me a few moments?" Natarle asks from the doorway of the stateroom.

"Sure, Commander, come in," she says. "What's happening that you can't solve in the usual fashion?" Murrue asks with a level tone.

"Well, I think I just ran into a problem between two crew-members last night that is...has...shall cause problems with the personnel that are quartered in that area."

Murrue said nothing for five seconds, then: "Let me guess: Miriallia and Tolle."

"You knew?"

"My quarters are two down from yours, Natarle. Yes, I got more than a whiff of what went on in the room next to yours. I can only guess what it did to Kira, Yzak, Nicol, and Mu."

"Oh, crap, I didn't even begin to think about them," Natarle says, then remembers an almost-forgotten lesson from her young-and-stupid days she picked up from a friend: _guys usually get off before us ladies_, had been the phrasing she had used. The rest of the comment Natarle had never really had a chance to verify, nor the first part of it.

"And I'm not even going to ask." _Keeping Mu at arm's length is becoming more and more difficult for me, and no telling what he'd be like after that_, Murrue thinks but does not say. Not that she objected to having him close, per se, but she still had to maintain some level of professional decorum in such matters. Or so the rulebook said.

"Yeah, enough said as to what it did for the rest of us," Murrue said. "Though, for the record, I only got about four hours exposure, that was still a bit much for me."

"Enough said, Captain," Natarle notes wryly after coming to the conclusion that she was not the only person that had suffered so.

"And now, to find a solution to prevent the rest of us suffering that again," Murrue notes wryly.

"If you want to call that 'suffering', that is," Mu says from the door that Murrue and Natarle had been thoroughly ignoring.

"I take it you didn't object?" Murrue asks with quite a bit of humor.

"I was on standby, actually, for eight of the twelve they were at it." He raises his left hand, so that the glove was completely visible. "And I just found out the hard way that the link between us doesn't just pertain to our weapons, it conveys strong emotion as well," he notes deadpan.

"Oh, no, that means that both Nicol and Fuu felt it, and Nicol got a double-shot from proximity and from his link," Natarle says.

Mu sits down wearily. "If it was that bad to begin with, and I only got a partial from the glove, Nicol might as well have been in there," he says. This, of course, brought out rather disgusted grimaces from Natarle and Murrue. "Was Fuu...close enough to get both?"

"No telling, and I am not asking out of C-F-C." (1)

"Well, what's the impromptu meeting about?"

"We're trying to figure out some way to keep last night from affecting anyone again."

"Oh, man, that's a tough one," Mu says. "Are you sure it wasn't all as bad as you're making it out to be?"

"Kira requested the right to move his quarters. Think it's bad enough?"

"The kid making a request like that? It must be real bad, then." Kira was about as imposing and demanding as a common field mouse. "Increase the wall plating on their room?"

"The walls have no effect on her, remember? She can talk directly to our minds through the length of the ship." And had done so more than once, to help relay requests back and forth where speaking audibly was out of the question.

"Wonderful, strange problem, no solution. I guess all we can do is hope the ship evolves some way to confine that, right?"

"And what happened to the great Hawk of Endymion, 'Make the impossible possible' attitude? That one fell rather flat on the 'impossible possible' scale and it certainly doesn't help us right now," Murrue scolds rather directly.

"And I get the impression that you are not trying to find a solution here," Natarle says darkly.

"Hey, I'm just tossing ideas, I don't advocate anything—"

"Oh, now that he's made his position clear, can I kick him out?" Natarle asks.

"Careful, Natarle, there may be a line to kick him anywhere," Murrue notes wryly.

"I'm just digging the rut deeper," Mu says. "Really, though, I don't see a solution here except the ship evolving. This is a magical property we're playing with, there may not be a technological counter," he counters fairly.

"He has a point, Captain."

"Well, I task the two of you to figure out some way to jump-start the evolution of the ship, if at all possible. Barring that, we may not have any options here except to hope that one or both of them gets bored of sex sometime between now and when we get home."

"I remember what it was like to be that young. Does the phrase 'not a chance in hell' mean anything to you?" Mu notes.

"You can tell he is a guy," Natarle says sardonically.

"Dismissed," Murrue says before the conversation gets any worse.

"Aye aye, Captain," Mu says as he stands, salutes, and leaves.

"Yes, Captain," Natarle says as she leaves.

-x-x-x-

(Dateline: 29 May 3050)

(0500 hours Lima (local) time)

"Conn, Sensors, I have one Dropship coming in, landing on runway three west, aerodyne class Dropship, AFFC military craft callsign _Hegira_."

"Sensors, Conn, aye," Natarle replies to Kuzzey, who was covering the Sensors panel for a shift while Sai got some much-needed sleep. "Not a big thing, is she?" Natarle says as the external camera tracks it while it lands.

"Small Dropships are the trend, I guess," Kuzzey says. "Things as big as our ship must be rare."

"Well, the size both is and is not an advantage," Natarle notes. "With a ship this big, it would be easier to hit at speed than that Dropship that just landed. But, but the same token, this ship probably has fifteen times that ship's armor and weapon that will blow through it the long way."

"We get what we paid for," Murrue says as she approaches the captain's chair. "One very big destruction preventer."

Natarle nods thoughtfully to Murrue's comment. "Nothing to report, Captain."

"Excellent. I hereby relieve you."

"Captain has the Conn," Natarle says as she steps down. "What are they serving in the cafeteria?"

"Some of that Hartman Casserole, and sliced turkey and gravy, last I checked. They may have gone over to breakfast right now."

"Thanks, Captain." Natarle was out the door after a few moments.

"Huh?" Kuzzey says as his panel starts flashing. "Captain, we have priority traffic from the STC,"

"On the squawk," Murrue orders.

"Attention _Archangel_, this is STC with flash traffic, do you read?" The controller sounded rather badly panicked.

"STC, this is _Archangel_, Captain Ramius speaking. Acknowledge priority call, go ahead," Murrue requests.

"_Archangel_, we have a Warship incoming from the zenith point, confirm hostile ship is _Texas_-class heavy battleship. The only _Texas_-class in the area is a Jade Falcon ship, the _Falcon's Nest_. Estimated transit time is ten days."

"Is this the same ship that tried to take Romulus while we were on that planet?"

"Roger that, we picked up its ID when it was in the area of the Romulus STC. Same ship and same two Dropships, probably, that you did not kill off."

"Unless they went somewhere to pick up more forces," Kuzzey notes sourly.

"Understood. I need the STC Administrator, Major Steiner, the Colonel of the Twycross garrison, and the commanders of any other forces on planet here in the next hour, my ship's hangar."

"Roger that, I'll relay your request to all AFFC forces on planet. It'll be two hours before some of them can report here, though."

"Then plan for the meeting at 0800, but make it fast, if we want to do this right we have to be ready ahead of them," Murrue notes. "Anything else?"

"Negative, we will keep you informed as new details come in."

"Thanks, out." Murrue sighs. "The harder we try, the more enemies we accumulate," Murrue notes sourly.

"It's inevitable that we'd end up stepping on someone's crank on our way home," Commander Mu La Flaga notes. He had just entered the bridge, thinking mistakenly it was his shift to Conn the ship going nowhere fast, but such turned out to be a fortunate accident. "On the other hand, some people just need to have their wank stepped on, maybe it'll straighten them out?"

"I'm going to ignore the pervert phrasing, Commander, but I have to agree." Murrue switches settings on her console so she was broadcast around the ship. "Natarle Badgiruel, Athrun Zala, Kristen Redmond, report to the bridge priority one." She flicks off the console. "It's obvious they are out for blood, otherwise they would be long gone and not thinking about coming back."

"So, now we have to figure out how to knock them out completely, or they'll dog us until we get the hell out of here," Mu notes.

"Who's come looking for us?" Natarle asks. "Oh, shit, don't tell me, Malthus is back."

"Yeah, that's it," Murrue notes just as Athrun and Kristen Redmond had entered the bridge.

"Captain, what's the issue?" Athrun was barely dressed right now, and gave clear appearance of having just awoken.

"The remnant of the Jade Falcon forces from our battles on Romulus are back and headed right for this planet."

"Ah, that would be Nikolai Malthus and Galaxy Commander Chistu. It is likely they seek a vendetta for the grievous losses your forces have inflicted on the Falcon's touman," Kristen Redmond notes.

"It is so nice to be wanted, even if for nothing more than having our hides nailed to their Dropship doors," Natarle notes wryly.

"All right, Kristen, talk to me. What is his intention?" Murrue asks plainly.

"He will likely do this in two ways: one, he will call you to Trial of Grievance for your actions on Romulus, for refusing honorable combat and the ambush assaults you conducted. Two, he will conduct an all-out offensive if he believes your actions were so grossly out of line as to warrant no solicitude due a fellow warrior." Kristen's recital was coldly logical and analytical, how Murrue wanted it in all reality.

"Wonderful. Which shall he choose?"

"Likely, he will choose the latter. Your actions and reputation precede you, and Nikolai is more strict than some in the ranks of the Clan as to matters of proper conduct in the battle," she notes with what passed for a Falcon's sense of humor.

" 'Proper conduct in the battle,' " Mu quotes her. "Now that is something that we have a reputation for playing by our rules," he notes.

"And how do you define a fair battle?" Kristen asks, something that had been digging at her conscience since she had been taken bondsman. For sure, they did not fight like typical Inner Sphere stravags, they fought like every battle would be their last in her impression.

"As far as I am concerned, there is no such thing as a fair battle. Only battles we win or lose," Mu says a bit colder than his usual. The look that Kristen saw in the eyes of Murrue and Natarle was confirmation that more than one of them agreed with said philosophy.

"And that would explain why ZAFT's four best could never sink this ship," Athrun notes with a bit of wry humor. "All right, Captain, if Malthus shows up, we slag his 'mech down to spare parts. That's a given. My question is, then what?"

"We capture or slag down their Dropships, and then we sink their Warship."

Athrun gagged at that thought. "Ambition much?" he asks after a few moments.

"It may not seem the most reasonable goal possible, but by the same token it should not be impossible. You are standing in a Warship, remember?"

"Yeah, but Captain, that ship is what, three times larger than this one? Four? More? And what kind of weapons does it have?" Athrun retorts.

"Kristen, tell us about the _Falcon's Nest_, if you will," Murrue says.

"It is a _Texas_-class Battleship built before the Exodus. It was one of the seven surviving ships from the Amaris War, and has been renovated and recommissioned as the command ship of our Clan's invasion forces. She carries one thousand six hundred tons of armor, two naval Autocannons of the largest type, 4 Killer Whale missile launchers, eight AR-10 launchers, sixteen of the heaviest Naval PPCs, and 48 of the heaviest Naval Lasers. Her fighter compliment is forty craft, and she has docking for six Dropships."

_I think I can live with those odds_, Athrun thinks. He figured such a large ship would have a massive point-defense array, but apparently not.

"Damn, that does not sound friendly," Mu says. "Still, those capital weapons aren't going to be all that effective against small units, like Mobile Suits."

"They will not be, but one lucky hit will cause inexorable damage even to your machines," Kristen says.

"Love how she phrased that," Athrun notes. "Still, if the Captain says we're going to sink a Warship, we shall sink a Warship. And I will enjoy every minute of it."

"All right, Athrun, pass it on to the mobile contingent that we will be going into battle in an estimated ten days against ground, Dropship, Aero, and Naval assets, but not all at once."

"Understood, Captain." Athrun salutes and was out the door not two seconds later.

"Natarle, I want all ship's systems verified, especially the local control systems for the new point-defense weapons and the Lohengrin cannons. I expect we will get a severe workout in coming days," Murrue notes.

"Clear, Captain."

"Kristen, the Bondsmen teams will be assigned to combat crew and deck crew positions for the battle. You have ten days to sharpen your personnel's skills to an acceptable level for the coming battle."

"Aff, Captain," (Former) Star Colonel Redmond replies.

"Dismissed. Natarle, we have a staff meeting at 0800 with interested parties for the upcoming battle."

-x-x-x-

"All right, people, I'm going to make this quick and dirty. By now, you've all heard that the Clans are headed this way with a Warship and an indeterminate number of Dropships. And they are out for blood. Now, we can use that bloodlust against them if we think about it properly, and work as a team to counter the Clan threat. Now, before we go on, I need your names, ranks, and team strength, gentlemen," Murrue says.

"My strength is three machines unless you're willing to loan Val something," Major Steiner says.

"He can take out the Stone Rhino for the battle, it's a lot slower than his old Centurion but a lot more survivable," Murrue says on a whim. FedCom was likely brewing something up as a replacement machine for him, since they just got a huge influx of Clan tech their programs would get a hellish jump-start.

"Colonel Miesse, planetary militia. My strength is twenty-five older chassis, plus several dozen combat vehicles."

"Colonel, thank you," Murrue replies. "I'm going to have to lean on your people pretty hard in the coming battle, but the Romulus Militia was able to put a serious dent in the Clans, so they aren't unstoppable."

"Roger that," the Colonel replies. There was no pussy-footing or infighting about this: Captain Ramius would lead the effort against the Clans. Some were beginning to call her the Butcher of the Clans for her actions on Romulus. After two weeks from today, that name would be cemented in the history books, he surmised.

"Next?" Murrue asks.

"Captain Hart, 327th Skye Rangers. I have a dozen in my command, mix of newer and older chassis, no combat vehicles."

"Excellent, thank you Captain. Anyone else?"

"Major Steiner-Davion. Four in my unit plus two fighters," the youngest of the command personnel says. He had been the last to join the group, with a Captain telling him quite directly that they should not be here and should be aboard the _Hegira_ headed away from this planet at high speed. Murrue had been wondering what that was about, but with the declaration of his name, the matter became infinitely clear infinitely quickly.

"Major Steiner-Davion...as in Major Victor Steiner-Davion, the prince of the Federated Commonwealth?" Murrue asks warily as confirmation. She had definitely taken a crash course in who is who in the Inner Sphere, and his name was high on the list.

"Yes, Captain, I am," he says as he shoulders his way forward. "Is...something wrong?"

"You know this is going to get real bloody before it's done, right? For us as well as them," she tacks on for amplification.

"Yes, I know, but I can't run away from every little crisis situation like a helpless royal fop," the Major replies tiredly; Murrue suspected it was an old argument he had been facing for quite a while. "I am a Major of the AFFC, I have a duty to the realm as much as I do to the throne," he notes quite unnecessarily as his next counter to a parry that would not have come from Murrue on a bad day, much less any other time.

"Sir, Captain, Earth Alliance, not my place to argue with a Prince about what to do in a crisis," Murrue backpedals quite obviously, to make sure her position was clear on the issue at hand. "All the same, the help is much appreciated, highness. Welcome to the effort," she replies stoically. That much seemed to put the Prince in a better mood, that the leader of the counterattack wasn't automatically kicking him out of the party. "And that goes for anyone else as well. We need every 'mech, vehicle, and soldier we can get our hands on, especially if they managed to scratch up new forces to help try and crush this planet. If you know of anyone that may be holding out, has a machine and is not here, call 'em up and get them in here."

"I think this is it, anything else around here is the odd cargomech or loggermech, nothing really combat capable when you get down to it," Colonel Miesse notes. "For all practical purposes, this should be it, Captain."

"All right, that leaves a good bit to be desired, but it won't be impossible if we do this right. The operational concept is this: we will force their ground forces to deploy, with or without support, then we eliminate their forces by the type: ground, then air, then transport, then warship. By the time the smoke clears, there shouldn't be much left except scrap."

"Of them, or us?" Captain Hart asks, an entirely fair question in Murrue's purview, but interpreted as a joke by Colonel Miesse and Major Steiner-Davion.

"Now, that's an entirely fair question, but in the end I intend on going home sometime before mandatory retirement age. That means we have to kick arse here, despite the overarching advantages the Clan forces have. Their 'mechs have advantage over advantage over Inner Sphere designs. Oh, well, force the playing field in our favor, not in theirs. They are used to fighting open field, man-to-man, so we fight them in limiting terrain with overwhelming numbers. They do not use support forces, artillery and such, so we use our artillery assets. You win a battle by denying the enemy the ability to execute their intentions; that is how we shall win this battle as well. We'll need a few breaks to fall our way, but that is not as hard as it may seem compared to the rest of the invasion. They can be beat, all we have to do is set the table for them and suck them into our game instead of theirs."

"And the thing is, she has a reputation for doing just that," Major Steiner says to Major Steiner-Davion.

"Never play cards with the Aegis pilot, he's a vicious infighter," Captain Ryder notes to the Captain that was with Major Steiner-Davion. "No tellin' what shit he can pull."

"Aegis? Which one is that?" Valten points it out; the pilot was standing on the catwalks nearby, talking to three of the _Archangel_'s mechanics about something.

"Between the Captain and that pilot, they managed to build the plan that cleaned house at the Romulus starport. Don't underestimate them," Major Steiner notes.

"Past exploits aside, are you four ready to give some input on my idea?" Murrue asks the two Captains and two Majors in what almost sounded like a command voice to the _Archangel_ crew, and did sound like one to the four AFFC officers.

"Yes, ma'am!" Major Steiner-Davion says in reply. He knew how to recognize a real commanding officer when he saw one, not one of those stinking, flattering, political weenies that seemed to overpopulate the AFFC command structure.

"Excellent, now the first thing we're going to need to do is go over the combat areas available to us, and appropriate strategies for using those areas to our benefit." Murrue's monologue on her ideal areas covered the basics: terrain, considerations, mobile forces to be used, and the role the _Archangel_ would play in all of the above.

By the time she was done with her initial operational concept, and the other officers had weighed in on the planning, Major Victor Steiner-Davion was convinced of one thing: _she knows how to suck the enemy into one very tight spot_. A moment thereafter, he realized how badly such a thought could be misinterpreted, especially given her impressive looks.

-x-x-x-

(Vignette: Still on Guard Duty)

(Dateline: 31 May 3050, 2000 hours)

"Ah, what I would give to be part of the forces in this battle to come," Kristen replies to Natalya's comment on the battle to come. "Nikolai has slighted my competency and command more than once over the years, and I would relish the opportunity to repay him on the battlefield."

"There's already a waiting line for Nikolai's hide," Athrun says from where he was standing, watching over the crowd in the bar and grill. "Yzak appears to be first in line for a crack at him."

"Ah, you are referring to that deceitful ambush on your forces outside the farm on Romulus, quiaff?" Kristen asks.

"Yes. One of our pilots was killed in that battle. Yzak has...taken it personally."

"Damn straight I have," Yzak says as he passes by the three of them, headed for the other side of the bar to quell a loudmouth.

"Nikolai's actions were rather...unClanlike in that battle, even I must admit so," Kristen notes rather amusedly. "And still he failed miserably."

"He got more than he appeared to get out of that battle, but he made one serious mistake at that time," Athrun notes to the older Star Colonel.

"Oh? And that would be?"

"He failed to kill off all the Gundam pilots. Killing one of us simply infuriated the rest, and this time I have no intention of letting him escape to try again."

"Hey guys."

"Kira? You're not on standby?" Athrun notes as his long-time friend enters the bar.

"No, Nicol is. I figured I'd better get away from the ship before Murdoch lays into me."

"That bad?"

"Yeah, I guess," he says as a waitress approaches him to have him seated.

Since the day that Miriallia had shot the pervert, and the subsequent shoot-out between the officers and that 'collection agency' two things had changed: the bar had become a lot more lively with people, as they were now no longer afraid of the thuggery that had always haunted the bar, and the arrow that had killed the pervert had been put in a shadow box and hung on a wall that also had a lot of pictures of various other things, like a couple families, an old guy, a group of FedCom soldiers, and some other various triptych pictures. On the bottom of the shadow box was a plate with an inscription: "Arrow used to eliminate a pervert molester in the women's bathroom, 28 May 3050. Fired by Miriallia Haw, Archer and MS Operator, Archangel Team."

Kira stopped at the box and observed the arrow for a moment. "Is something wrong, sir?" the waitress asks as he looks at it.

"No, not really, just looking at the arrow," Kira notes. "The lady that shot it is one of my friends."

"Oh, wow," the waitress replies as Kira closes up. "Here you go, sir," she sets down a menu and place setting for the Archangel Team member. "I'm Lita, I'll be your waitress for the evening, if you need anything just ask."

"Thank you, ma'am," Kira says without really thinking about it. That more than else stated how 'green' he was in terms of personal relationships.

"How's the ship?" Athrun asks as he leans up against a low wall that had flower boxes on the top of it, with real flowers growing in them.

"It's good, everything should be ready on our end by next evening. Now all we need is the local crew to get in place and ready," Kira says with what he hoped was a neutral tone. He had his doubts about some of the units attached to the effort, as if they were planning to bolt instead of fight.

"Okay, just keep your doubts to yourself for now, or to the Captain. We don't need a panic." It went without saying that details of the incoming assault were already out, but the word on the street was that the forces were already preparing a hellish welcoming ceremony for the lords of war.

"Right." Athrun moved on, giving Kira a good chance to check the menu out. "Hmm, Chicken Caesar Salad sounds good."

"Ready to order, sir?"

"Yeah, sure, I'll take a Chicken Caesar salad and an iced tea, please," Kira says.

"Anything else, sir?"

"No, not at present, thank you," Kira replies.

"Thank you, sir, it'll be a couple minutes on the salad."

Kira had hauled out a graphic novel that he picked up in a bookstore down the road, using it to bleed time while the chef prepped his salad. When reading, ten minutes flew, and before he could even realize to the contrary thew salad was on its way. Something had caused him to glance outside momentarily before he turned to the waitress.

His salad was just arriving. And so was trouble.

"Huh?" Kira asks rhetorically as he catches sight of a gun outside the window to the bar.. "Gun! Get down!" Kira shouts "Everybody down!"

Most of the people hit the ground before the shooting started, as a pair of sub-machine guns and a shotgun were used on the facade and windows of the restaurant and bar areas. Kira had come up with his pistol after the fire finished raking the area he was sitting in and just unloaded as fast as he could snap back the trigger. By the time Yzak chimed in with his Rorynex, Kira had already landed the shot that changed the outcome of the drive-by significantly.

"Anyone hurt?" Kira asks.

"God...he saved our lives..." the Waitress that was assigned to his area had mumbled; she had somehow managed to end up wearing Kira's salad bowl on her head and was kneeling on the ground, staring at him.

"That car just crashed down the road, Kira, rearm your pistol and get ready to move," Athrun orders. Kira was nowhere near as trained in infantry tactics as was Athrun, so he did as ordered and did not argue the matter. All their pistol holsters also had integral storage for a pair of extra magazines, so he needed only drop out the expended 15-round magazine and replace with a new one, then release the slide catch to chamber a round and arm the pistol.

For what it mattered, Athrun had to remind himself that before the day of Heliopolis, Kira had no exposure to what he was being asked to do today, yet with practically no formal training he had become a lethally competent comrade to the four (now three) ZAFT pilots and to the _Archangel_ herself.

"Encircle the wreck scene to the counter, then we close in and apprehend anyone still alive. Move!" As the whole crew moved outside, Natalya and Kristen did not sweep right, toward the enemy vehicle, they had taken up position left, looking toward where the vehicle came from as a sort of rearguard in case there was a second vehicle or a foot crew.

The vehicle had gone 300 meters as it arced left across the wrong side of the road, then slammed into a lightpole and the engine died. As the vehicle impacted, a flaw in that model of car became apparent as the two surviving of the gang tried to get out, and found the stoved frame of the vehicle had jammed the doors closed, and they had not the strength to get themselves out except by dint of trying to kick out a window. As the first of them came out of the window, he came face to face with a Rorynex submachine gun in the hands of Yzak Joule, and he immediately knew it because the Rorynex has a distinctive styling, almost reminiscent of the old and no longer manufactured MP5-K. On Twycross, the only persons legal to own such a weapon were the military, not even security or police were allowed to own such an otherwise vicious weapon (2).

"Oh, shit," the punk says when he realized what kind of barrel he was looking down.

"It's a different game when you're the one under threat of death, isn't it?" Yzak asks with a rather sharp tone. "Face down, hands away from your body. I'm not going to ask twice, asshole," Yzak says in his best possible command voice.

"Two down in the car, one more too wounded to get out," Athrun says. Every window in the car had been shot out, and there was a lot of craters in the car from where Yzak had hosed it down with half a magazine of RM-3/XXI.

"Rear clear," Natalya says as her and Kristen had closed up on them walking backwards.

"Roger that. Murdoch, cover rear, Natalya, drag that living loser out of the vehicle."

"With pleasure, sir," Natalya says a bit savagely as she reaches into the car, across a dead body, and literally hauled her clear of the back seat of the vehicle with one hand. Despite the several nasty wounds, she had the one singular fright of being held off the ground one-handed by someone double her size. "Is there a second attack wave coming?" Natalya asks directly. "Speak, stravag!"

"Drop her, Star Commander," Athrun requests; the wounded hit the ground and immediately set off several waves of pain throughout her body that caused a tortured screech to rip up and down the street. "Now, lady, I'm only going to ask this once. I know there is another wave coming, and I want details."

"Don't...hurt me...again, please, sir," she gasps out.

"Talk fast," Athrun orders.

"Some...guys...from the third corner gang...coming to finish up...along with the other 41's...help..." she gasps, and slumps.

Athrun checks her pulse. "Bled out, she's dead." Even to Yzak, there was little in the way of conviction in his voice.

As they headed back toward the bar to secure their captive and report to the police and the ship, Yzak had the observation that the last of them to die had been physically stunningly beautiful, though he had to give her a negative score for running with a gang and being stupid enough to challenge professionals and special operations. _Definitely no match for Umi_, he tacks on at the end of his analysis.

---

"Captain, flash traffic from the Bar and Grill," Sai says. He was covering sensors and radio at this time, while Kuzzey was off duty and resting. "Bar team reports that they were just subject to a drive-by shooting, no injuries, three enemies down and one captured. Enemy has also reported that they have a load of reinforcements coming in from two different gangs."

"Great, so much for this being an isolated gang incident. Someone is stage-managing this. Comms, I want a direct line to the Twycross City PD open right now," Murrue orders.

It did not take Sai long to get a channel through to the personnel operator at TCPD.

"Twycross City PD, how may I direct your call?" She asks Murrue, not really paying attention to her monitor as she was something propped against her console.

"You can direct me to whoever has command over incident control on the issue at the Uptown Bar and Grill, please," Murrue asks in a gratingly civil tone.

"And you are?" She asks as was in her procedure guidebook.

"Captain Murrue Ramius, Archangel Team."

That caused her to blink; the Archangel Team was fast becoming famous, their legend redoubling with each retelling, and they were interested in some punk drive-by shooting downtown? Unless... "Ma'am, I don't know offhand who is commanding that incident, we're still operating in the dark at this time."

"Find out, fast, and you may want to advise the commander on deck that my personnel on scene believe that a second attack wave may be inbound the location at this time."

"Understood, I'll forward that to the commissioner," she says, not really pleased with having been told backhanded how to do her job and her demeanor showed it.

"Conn, comms, priority traffic, bar team is under fire, repeat bar team is under fire, heavy enemy assault at their location including at least one APC,"

"General quarters," Murrue says. "Deploy Blitz with whoever infantry personnel we have available at this time, pass to him that he is released to defend civilians and Archangel Team personnel at the incident site. Tell the pilot to step on it, they don't have all day down there." The ship's alarms had begun going off as she began hearing things in the background of the TCPD connection that confirmed it, since dispatchers all over Existence were trained to move information in such a case of crisis, and a gunfight with a crapload of automatic weapons was no exception.

"Conn, comms, report on the starport security channel that we have a break-in at the south truck gate, unknown amount of persons in light vehicles and under arms headed for us," Sai says as the bridge door opens and personnel begin taking their seats.

"Sensors, put that area on screen. Helm, power up levitator; if necessary, we'll put the ship up thirty meters to prevent them boarding us. Weps, arm point defense grid."

"Conn, Sensors, visual active," Sai says as he hammers out the requested command.

"Conn, Weps, point defense grid is active in manual mode, awaiting fire orders," Chandratta replies.

"Conn, Helm, Levitator is active," Tolle replies; since Newman was presently in a gunfight in the downtown area, Tolle was it for flying the ship.

On the visual screen, they watched—and blanched—as one person in the enemy group fired some kind of anti-tank rocket at the ship, which was grossly ineffective against warship armor but threatening nonetheless.

"Weps, slag that vehicle down," Murrue orders coldly. She was definitely not going to countenance anyone taking potshots at her ship, regardless of how threatening they may or may not have been.

"Roger that, targeting using broadside and aft-side weapons on port side...valid locks with pulse lasers, LRMs, ultra autocannons, out of range for Streak SRMs," Chandratta notes as the laser designators finish tracking in on the vehicles. "Firing Large Pulse Laser assembly now," Each assembly was a pair of Large Pulse Lasers stacked side-by-side in a turret that had been mounted on the outboard surface of the hull just forward of the tail binder and slightly inside of the vertical wing surface. This gave the said turret assembly an incredible field of fire, which also happened to include the vehicles that needed to be shot. The other assembly of Large Pulse Lasers on that side were on the lower array, and were tracking in on them now.

The crimson beams lanced out and struck the vehicle in question, immediately gouging through it and instantly killing both the driver and passenger. After a few moments the fuel tank began burning as it was leaking all over the tarmac, and the four people in the back of the truck in two pieces had leaped out, all but one of them clearing the burning fuel, the last became the classic running human torch as he (or she) landed in the middle of the fuel puddle, stumbled, got up and was running around on fire. Of the truck, there was not a huge amount left, much less untouched by the flames.

The second turret assembly tracked in on another small pickup truck, and though only one beam struck the engine (the other missed), the beam had dragged down the length of the truck and managed to cook off all seven of the persons in it, including the one with the rocket launcher that had struck the ship. It continued rolling unhindered, as the beam had completely missed the frame and axles, and eventually came to a stop after lightly impacting a baggage train that was feeding the _Hegira_ with smaller boxes, crates, and miscellaneous items for that ship.

The third vehicle was some kind of APC, a small one that had four fairly large wheels. "Captain, permission to unlock and use an Ultra-10 on that thing?"

"Do it, I'd like to see what those things are really worth," Murrue says, referring to the cannon and not the APC that was shooting SRMs at the ship without any real purpose. The SRMs were far too small to cause any notable damage to a Warship per missile, and the gunnery of the shooter was rather lackluster.

"Valid lock, centering on target...fire!" he says as he hammers out the fire command. The cannon barked a three-round burst, then another about a second later, and both bursts struck the APC dead in the side. The second burst blitzed through the internal structure of the APC, in the process mowing through the ammo feed for the turret-mounted SRM-2 and causing the ready ammo to explode, which chain reacted back into the stowed rounds and converted the APC into a hail of shredded steel, body parts, ignited gasoline, and various sundry bits. Without doubt the squad of infantry inside were very much dead and no longer a threat to the ship.

"That would have taken a lot more effort with just the Igelstellungs," Natarle notes from the CIC pit. "Captain, Blitz reports ready to launch with twelve."

"Launch, direct vector toward unit's last known location," Natarle immediately relays that order to Miriallia, who activates the catapult and launches Nicol's Gundam toward the requested vector.

---

Despite getting used to the thought of having to kill people, and of being in jeopardy himself, he still flinched badly whenever a burst of automatic rifle came near him. Despite this, Kira was still holding out against the growing and sickening feeling of despair, mainly because he **knew** the cavalry would come to the rescue. It **always** worked like that in the movies, right?

Athrun, Yzak, Murdoch, Newman, Kristen, and Natalya were sweating it. They had fired off all their Rorynex ammo and most of their pistol ammo. Newman had come equipped with some grenades, and had used those, though how well he did against an APC was doubtful. For damn sure they were still shooting at the bar.

"Are we outta options here?" Murdoch asks.

"No, no way in hell, I'll go down with my sword in hand before these fucks take me alive," Yzak says coldly.

"You and me both," Athrun says as he slams in his last magazine for his pistol. "Murdoch?"

"There's a reason why I picked up a titanium pipe," he says.

"This battle is not yet lost," Kristen says. "If there is one lesson I have learned from the _Archangel_, it is that even when outnumbered and outmaneuvered, you are not defeated."

"Strange, for a second there I thought I was listening to Mu," Yzak notes. "I have one mag and a partial, you have one mag, the Falcons have a partial each, Kira's dead dry, Murdoch's dead dry, what about you, Newman?"

"Dead dry as well," he replies; "Piss and vinegar's all I got left," he adds after a few moments.

"Well, I guess we can hope to take as many of them to hell with us as possible," Yzak says as he reaches down to his glove on his left hand and pulls the two-handed sword. "You guys in or out?" He asks the two others that had Knight weapons, being Kira and Athrun.

"I'm in," Athrun says, "but first I'm going to finish up with my pistol before going blade," he says.

"Bar team, this is Blitz, I'm two minutes out at full burn. Hold your position, guys, the cavalry is comin' in hard and fast," Nicol's voice was definitely a welcome reprieve from the dismal prospects of the coming close-quarters battle.

"Two minutes? I don't think they intend on waiting any more than thirty seconds," Athrun says as he was observing the situation outside the bar through a group of .50-caliber holes in the wall next to him that had been put there by the APC outside. They had apparently fired off all their ammunition and were now just standing there, blocking fire against the accompanying gang-bangers. On the other hand, the one oversight the team had made was that they had no anti-tank firepower to use on this tango, so they could not have taken it out of play to begin with.

Kira had to stop and take stock of what had happened since the first drive-by. They had been assaulted by about thirty persons and the APC, using a variety of weapons to include laser pistols, laser rifles, automatic rifles, at least one light machine gun, and the two integral support machine guns on that APC. The whole bar was trashed; it would need weeks of repair before it could even be considered passable for customers, much less back to normal. Despite the trading of massive amounts of firepower, the worst casualty was a couple of kids that had received a partial blast of laser rifle and their parents were holding them down with bar towels compressed on the wounds. Others in the bar had taken scratches or minor shots from small-caliber weapons, nothing major; they were keeping pressure on the wounds to stanch the bleeding. Of the Archangel Team, Athrun had taken a pair of 9mm rounds to his left arm and was notably not using it right now, and Murdoch had several cuts on his face from flying glass, but for the most part no other notable injuries had been received.

"Let them come out into the open, people, then hammer 'em," Yzak says as he pulls the slide back on his pistol to rearm it.

"Roger that," Murdoch says.

"Right," Kira replies.

"Four more seconds...three...two...one...NOW!" All of them jump up and level their pistols out the windows at once, firing on anything moving in sight of the restaurant. Before the enemy could even begin to react properly, they had taken a number of casualties and fired off a few scattered rounds at the windows again, certainly not the volume of fire the team was expecting. "Are they outta ammo too?"

"Looks like it!" Yzak says as he switches to his last full magazine of pistol. "This is gonna make our chances of survival all the much better," he says after he drops the slide on his last full magazine.

"Kira, get ready, it's time to get up close and personal," Athrun says as he pulls one of his swords. He could not use his left arm, so he had to use only his right-hand blade. Kira drops aside his pistol and pulls out the double-bladed sword that he had become notorious for being able to break even with the Magic Knights against. "Kira, don't hesitate when they come in, it's either us or them."

"Right, Athrun," Kira replies.

As the first of them entered the bar, armed with a machete normally used for clearing brush and vegetation, the team was upon them from positions of cover, hiding behind tables, structural columns, the bar itself, low walls. Yzak was the nearest to them and had gone in with his massive two-handed sword, a frightening weapon to someone who had only seen a katana in holovids, and not seen a sword larger. Thus, he did about the only thing he could in such a circumstance, which was to try to block the swing with his machete, though he failed miserably on two counts: the sword Yzak was using was far larger, and the enchantments on the blade allowed it to cut clean through the machete, and shortly thereafter clean through the guy's head sideways as the blade continued onward past the remains of the machete.

As the blade of his sword stopped moving, he released his right-hand grip and drew his pistol, firing one-handed into the enemy group trying to force their way into the bar. With fifteen shots he took a shotgun, a pair of pistols, a trio of revolvers, and several of the melee-armed tangos. This also had the rather unsightly but useful effect of causing a pile-up of dead bodies in the entryway, forcing the enemy to have to either stomp over their half-dead comrades or try to jump in the shot-out windows, which immediately subjected them to the remainder of the team piecemeal. The emptied pistol hit the ground and he took a proper grip on his sword once again, visibly daring anyone to try coming through the clogged doorway to challenge him.

"Yzak! On your six!" Athrun shouts. Yzak immediately reoriented his body to haul his sword around and into the new threat axis; Athrun had for a while guarded the rear door, and the manager had been covering the door the whole fight with an old magnum revolver, though it appeared the enemy ranks were too dumb to have tried flanking them by using the back door. Oops.

"Whoa! TCPD Tactical Response Unit!" The first guy says as he immediately releases his grip on his weapon and shows both hands empty.

"Where the fuck have you slackers been?" Yzak asks crassly.

"Across town, ass-deep in a hostage situation!" their sergeant replies equally crassly. There was ten of them, in full body armor and carrying Gunther KA-23 Submachine guns as well as various other useful weapons. As soon as they made their presence known, the enemy crowd of about a dozen had begun moving back toward the APC to get the hell out of dodge.

They never made it. The enemy group was raked with high-caliber ammunition as a loud tearing sound echoed up and down the block; Kira immediately grimaced as the blood and body parts from the open-field massacre began settling, and quite a bit of that had come back into the restaurant. The APC had jolted and began trying to move away from the new threat, though before it could move ten meters the rocket anchor of Blitz had grapneled completely around it, preventing it going anywhere as it hit the end of the anchor line. A moment thereafter, the Blitz hit the ground with a loud impact, and Kira need only look out the windows and up to see the Igelstellung vulcans on the Blitz For five seconds, the driver squealed tires as he tried desperately to break free, though Nicol had one good solution for the ensnared tango vehicle. With a shrug and a massive heave, Nicol had used the vehicle and rocket anchor as a massive stone in a sling, and in less than three seconds the vehicle itself was flying northbound; after a hang-time of nine seconds, the APC landed roughly twelve blocks north and splintered badly, becoming a steel tangle and assorted spall that hamburgered down the length of a block and change. Naturally this incident scared shitless all drivers on that road, though the fender-benders caused by panic stops had caused no major injuries.

And it was all caught on the news.

"Holy God," the TRU Sergeant says as he watches the vehicle crater down the way.

"Yzak, you all right in there?" It had been on the loudspeakers of the Blitz and the tactical radio for the TRU.

Yzak grabs the shoulder microphone off the Sergeant and activates it. "Yeah, we got a couple minor injuries in here, we'll live. Thanks for dropping by, scrapping the last of 'em."

"Any time, Yzak," Nicol says as the accompanying Marines from the Archangel hit the ground from his shield by way of rappelling ropes. They immediately set up a perimeter around the store, then begin sweeping outward for any last active threats, and were joined by the TRU in securing surviving enemy gang members.

"Well, I definitely ain't going to complain about the Archangel Team's quality of service, I was expecting a lot more damage to the joint than this," The Manager says as he approaches Yzak and Athrun, who were standing with the TRU Sergeant.

"If you don't mind my asking, who didn't you pay protection to to warrant sending two gangs to hack it out?" the TRU Sergeant asks bluntly.

"Tony P."

"Oh, shit, this is just the beginning, then, you're gonna need a lot more protection."

"Ensign Joule, reporting area secured and nine tangos captured alive," one of the Marines says as he comes to attention and salutes. Yzak, uncharacteristically for his conduct vis-a-vis the Earth Alliance personnel, returns the salute in ZAFT fashion.

"Chief Warrant Officer, establish a perimeter around this location with base of fire north. Deploy your heavy weapons in defensible locations with good fields of fire. I want a solid spread in five minutes, in case the jackoffs come back for thirds," Yzak orders directly and efficiently.

"Aye, sir," he activates his tactical radio. "First element, set up Big Bertha field of fire north. Second element, pair off and establish corner guards."

"Sergeant," Yzak begins in a civil fashion; "tell me about this walking deathwish named Tony P."

-x-x-x-

(Dateline: 8 June 3050, 1600 hours)

"Gentlemen, we are gathered here on our much-needed, pre-ordained, sought-after day of rest, to go over the final operations plans. The Clanners are two days out, we just started picking up their ship's radar on our ESM equipment, and they be coming in hard and fast for us. Gentlemen, it is now officially payback time," Murrue concludes as the opening statement to the meeting. "Colonel Miesse, I would like to have you do the brief on the ground ops plan, provided they want to conduct a standard ground invasion."

Colonel Miesse looked just plain haggard; he had been running twenty-hour days to prepare for the invasion, setting up mines, fieldworks, trenches, fire lanes, basically a whole network of primary, secondary, tertiary, and final defensive networks for the forces to use to every possible advantage against the invaders. Twelve days, even with 'borrowing' local construction crews and manpower, had driven him to the ragged edge, but in the end everything was dug, emplaced, situated, and camouflaged for the upcoming battle.

"Gentlemen, as you know our first line of defense against the Clanners will come here, known as the Gorti pass, as they will likely land here on the Gorti Flats and push north toward the city. Everything north is too rugged to try and march a force southward, that is if they can find enough parking space for their Dropships. West is out, that would necessitate them trying to march through the bivouac of the Archangel, something they should know better than by now. East is out, not enough room between the city and the ocean for them to accomplish that. South is it, unless they feel like trying to drop their 'mechs in the middle of a heavy-populated city, which by all Clan logic is not something they will do. So, when they land, they will march northward, through this pass and into our first line of defenders. Oops."

"Where will the_Archangel_ be initially?" Major Victor Steiner-Davion asks.

"We are going to be at the starport, playing dumb and complacent to prevent them from dropping in on the starport. Now, if they do drop in on the starport, I intend on drawing them into the gap between the second and third defense lines so your forces can sandwich them between two walls and the ship. If they land in the optimal place, as soon as they touch the ground I will deploy the ship and race south to reinforce the first line, or second line if they have already overwhelmed your first position."

"Ah, excellent," Colonel Hart notes with a rather sadistic smile. The more preparation had gone on, the more meetings, the more he liked the plan to hammer the Clanners flat. He was not about to break ranks as he had initially thought about doing, since he figured them for better than 70/30 odds of winning at present. More, if the _Archangel_ captain was as ruthless as her reputation.

"Second, we have the White Forest," Colonel Miesse notes. "The forest is built primarily on hills that give us excellent fields of fire for our long-range 'mechs, as well as the forest areas that we can use to force close quarters with the enemy machines. Also, the one road going through the White Forest has been heavily mined with command-detonate mines and we have access to some Thunder LRMs to help with tactical application of minefields. In short, these bastards are in for one helluva rude awakening if they get this far."

"I think we can come up with some creative uses for that area," Major Steiner says. "How about drawing them into the south scale of forest and setting it on fire?"

"That is a possible if we have to retreat. I want to avoid that, however, since that forest is a big part of the local logging industry."

"The forest goes before we go," Captain Hart says stoically; the Colonel had no choice but to nod assent to the comment, much as he did not want to see it shot up.

"Third line is here, the ridge south of the suburbs. If we have to fight for this piece of ground, that's it, the city gets completely evacuated, refugees are to head north and east toward the roughlands and shipping docks for evacuation priority. There isn't much to say about this area, other than we have pre-built earthworks that have been camouflaged that should provide us some cover. We also have this area here mined with vibrabomb mines to help delay the Clanners, so do not move through this area. All the mines are set to tonnages at and above 65 tons, since that is the weight spread Clanners favor."

"That's our back to the wall, basically, if we have to fight there it has already been a bad day," Murrue says deadpan.

"Correct. Line four is the city itself, the southern quadrant. As much as I do not want to force combat inside the borders of Twycross City, in this case we have little choice. This is our back to the wall for real: we stand here, we win or we lose. There is no real way out, because if they have position three they also have the ability to cut any retreat action off from here to the spaceport."

"Uh, one question," Major Steiner-Davion begins; "Exactly how much support can the_Archangel_ provide us while the fighting is going on?"

"The _Archangel_ is capable of using any of its weapons against Mobile Forces targets, with the exception of the Lohengrins, which are far too powerful to use against anything except a very-high-value target, like a Dropship or Warship or a very large formation of enemy ground assets. Expect to see us commonly using the Valiants, Gottfrieds, Multipurpose Missile Tubes, Helldarts, Igelstellungs, and our new point-defense array on anything that gets too close to us. If we have to, I intend on setting the _Archangel_ down between our retreating forces and the enemy and just using it as a gun battery until your teams are in the clear. In terms of plain firepower, every weapon the ship carries is capable of crippling or destroying an enemy machine, with the exception of the Igelstellungs which are normally used to intercept missiles."

"Ah," Major Steiner-Davion notes. _God, I wish we had a ship or two like that_, he thinks behind a still rather shocked mien. Warships were a rather rare breed courtesy of the very brutal Succession Wars, but nobody could doubt their utility and majesty. In this case, the _Archangel_ was even more so useful, as the ship had such a wide variance of capabilities that it was almost impossible to completely counter. And they were going to prove that fact by using it to take down the flagship of the Jade Falcons.

"All right, that's basically it for the ground ops, except for one thing. If everything goes to hell somewhere along the operational plan, our main fail-back plan is to get to the starport and get as many machines off planet. The _Archangel_ will cover the retreat in such a case, then will escort the _Hegira_, the _Kwaidan_, and any other transport Dropships off planet to deny that salvage to the Clans. All ships will link up with the _Strongbow_ and _Katana_ and will retreat toward Tharkad for the time being, until new orders are relayed to them. That is straight from the Archon herself, on the off-chance we fail to knock the Clanners down a peg she doesn't want us risking anything unnecessarily. Better to flee for today and come back another day than to waste our lives in a futile last stand that we know we have already lost."

"And who determines when the battle has gone to hell or not?" Captain Hart asks.

"Captain Ramius has the best record against the Clans of anyone in the Inner Sphere, bar none. If she says we can win the battle, you do as she orders when ordered. If she says run for your lives, don't bother asking how fast, just do it. Clear?"

"And if she says 'haul out your wank and size up the matter'?" Captain Ryder asks Captain Galen Cox (the Prince's guard) as a wan joke that he thought would not be overheard.

Unfortunately, he was overheard by just about everyone in the room. "Then you damn well better have a ruler short enough to do the job in your cockpit, Captain Ryder." Everyone in the room had a good laugh not at the initial joke but at the Colonel's retort. "All right, jokers aside, I now return the floor to Captain Ramius to detail phase two and three of the battle."

"Gentlemen, phase one of the battle involves the ground action. Once that is resolved in our favor, phase two begins. After the ground is done, this becomes more or less a one-horse race as the Archangel, with any surviving allied fighters, attacks the enemy Dropships in more or less the same fashion we did on Romulus: we hammer them hard with our anti-ship cannons and leave the smoldering wrecks for the salvage teams to pick up. There's nothing really of note here, the Dropships have a spread of weapons but not enough to really threaten the _Archangel_. I do not see any major problems taking them down."

"That sounds like a cake-walk if you ask me," Captain Hart notes. "I mean, those Lohengrin anti-ship cannons you got, they'll blow through the Clan_Overlord_ ships the long way, right?"

"I don't know about the long way, I haven't had a chance to try that yet, but I do know they slice through them side to side very efficiently," Murrue replies.

"Oh," he replies, suddenly quite spooked by even that potential.

"Phase three is where it gets dicey. We will deploy out into space, chase down, and proceed to assault the enemy Warship _Falcon's Nest_ with the _Archangel_, taking care to cripple the ship and force a surrender if possible. I expect that however we go about this, the _Archangel_ is going to take a hellish beating, but with luck we can beat them down faster than they can beat us down, and the Lohengrin cannons are going to go a long way to diffusing their armor the hard way, same with the rest of the ship's arsenal. The only problem we may have is enemy fighters, though by all accounts the Falcons have less respect for their Aerofighters than some of the other clans."

"You have the Gundams for that, right?" Someone (Murrue thought it was Lieutenant Ramirez) asks.

"Yes, we do, but it is going to take all the available fighters plus the ship's arsenal to take all them down before they turn the _Archangel_ into a smoking hulk." Murrue maintained no illusions about aerofighters; ignored long enough, they would cause severe or crippling damage to the ship. Thankfully, her ship now had an extensive standard-scale weapons array to use on them, as well as capital weapons that could be easily used on the enemy in the right circumstances. For sure, the Valiant linear guns would be marvelous against enemy fighters and even a Dropship if they had any deployed in space.

"Understood, ma'am." Indeed, the speaker was Lieutenant Ramirez.

"Any questions?"_Nobody commenting on the suicidal nature of the plan against the enemy Warship? I guess we really do have a reputation around these parts_, Murrue thinks as nobody stirs. Though Star Colonel Redmond was present, she had had to say nothing in the presentation, since the command staff had already been briefed at length about Clan tactics and technology by the Clan personnel. It still amazed Major Victor Steiner-Davion that the _Archangel_ had managed to take as many bondsmen as they had, and would likely take more before the week was up. "All right, then, anything else from the Colonel?"

"No, ma'am," Colonel Miesse replies.

"That's that, then. Cafeteria and lounge are available for your hospitality, ladies and gentlemen, as is the hot springs and arcade."

"Whoa, wait a moment, this ship has a hot spring?" Major Steiner-Davion asks.

"Yes, we installed it in transit to Romulus using parts on hand and stone from Dustball," Captain Ramius notes to the rather unexpected question. "Recently, without my approval, someone who shall remain nameless installed a series of holoprojectors in both sides of the room, to provide extended entertainment to the ship's personnel using the springs," Murrue tacks on dryly. There were a few chuckles as to what would be viewed (in theory) on such a setup. "All things considered, sometimes you need a non-standard way to vent frustration and relax."

"No argument here," Major Victor replied. "Hungry, Captain?" He asks Galen.

"I could go for some chow, sir," the Captain replies.

"This hall starboard, two intersections forward, it'll be the next door on your right," Captain Ramius was very much used to giving out such instructions of late.

Even Murrue had decided on the trip to the cafeteria, since just about everyone had gone that way, with the exception of a few of the junior officers and Redmond, who had gone down to the hangar. When they entered, they were accosted with two sights: first, a goodly portion of the mechanics were in the cafeteria, chowing down while they went over a list of needed tasks before the fight to come, and second, Athrun and Kira were in the room, wiring yet another set of holoprojectors, this one rigged to play in the center of the room, at the intersection of the aisles between the four major lunch tables. _The personnel would certainly love to see some three-D entertainment with their chow_, Murrue figured.

The herd of AFFC and_Archangel_ officers had traversed around the tables to the mess line. "All right, Kira, give me the power!" Athrun says in a rather cheery voice from atop the ladder below what appeared to be the last of the four projectors set up for this array.

"Roger that," Kira replies as he throws the breaker next to the control panel for the holoprojector, which was on the wall opposite the door so it would be less likely to be interfered with by a troublemaker.

**Crackfzzzsssttt**. "Ow, fuck!" Athrun had jolted back away from the fixture as it began smoking. "Turn it off! Turn it off!"

Kira was fast to throw the breaker to the 'open' position. "What happened?"

"Ow, that sum-bitch hurt," Athrun said as he wrung his right hand.

"Is everything all right, Athrun? What happened?" Kira asks a bit more directly.

"Yeah, I'll live. When you threw the breaker, it discharged through the fixture to ground," Athrun notes. "And I was touching the fixture."

"What the...huh? How did that happen?"

"I dunno, give me a flashlight so I can check things out," a flashlight was passed up to him. "Hrmm, ah, I think I got it. I'll need a screwdriver, slot large, a terminal stripper, and a new crimp-on terminal connector, large ring."

"If you're looking for strippers on this ship, you've dialed the wrong number," Kira replies as he hands up the screwdriver to Athrun.

"Oi. And what do you qualify Flay as?" Athrun asks.

"Definitely not a stripper, she'd tear your heads off and shoot hoops with it if you asked." Kira had been digging around the toolbox, and came up with a spring-loaded crimper/stripper combo.

"Still not sore about that incident?" Athrun asks as a follow-up."Wait a second, did you just say 'heads' a moment ago?"

"I think I did," Kira says in a pondering fashion. "Either way, it still fits."

"So I guess you're still not sore about it."

"No, not really. She's very easily misunderstood."

Athrun snorts as he strips down some of the wire he was working on. "That's a definite original way to describe her," Athrun notes. "Y'know, I keep telling myself that I want to believe I've met people like her before, but really I have not. Cagalli was rather an unusual one, but nowhere near Flay's league."

"Uh, Captain, what are they talking about?" Major Steiner-Davion asks.

"Flay Allster, a friend of Kira's. She's down in the brig right now, when they broke up Flay took it real personal."

"Now that's an understatement," the 'crazy cook' notes with a hint of humor to the Captain's synopsis of the incident.

"I had to brig her for her actions, since it happened to be the most fitting sentence for what she tried doing," Murrue notes after rolling her eyes at the cook.

"What did she do?"

"For lack of a better way to describe it, she tried stabbing Kira to death with the enchanted kodachi that she received on Cephiro. She was quite emotionally distraught from the breakup."

"More like white-eyed pissed off, Captain," Yzak had been sitting at the table nearest them, chowing down on the loaded baked potato that was being served for dinner today. "I've seen my share of pissed off people, but she's got a temper when you push her hard. I'm guessing Kira pushed most of her hot buttons almost all at once to get that kinda reaction out of her."

"That's one way to put it," Sai notes from the other side of the table.

"Mentally unstable?" Captain Galen Cox asks.

"That's a hard one to define, Captain," Murrue replies. "In the end, though, I'd have to say no. She's just had harder times than the rest of us, especially given her upbringing and residency."

"That's a rather artful way to put it," the AFFC Captain replies. Yzak, though unseen by the AFFC officers, had rolled his eyes famously at that comment.

"Ow! Fuck, man, turn it off!" Again, the fixture was smoking slightly as the paint was slightly cooking off. It did not stop smoking immediately, but it did stop making a rather demonic sizzling sound. "All right, let's check this crap again..."

"Athrun..." Kira begins, but does not finish the sentence.

"All right, I think I got the bastard. Let's do this again, give me the pow—Arrgg! Fuck! Turn it off, damnit!"

"That's it, Athrun. Down off the ladder before you absorb any more voltage," Kira orders directly to Athrun.

"Arrggg," Athrun replies before stepping down to let Kira take the ladder to inspect the mount.

"No wonder it keeps shocking you, it is not grounding right," Kira says as he shines a flashlight into the wire recess. "Give me a half-meter section of four-gauge, a wire clamp, and a crimp-on terminal, large ring. I'll need a socket wrench to match the wire clamps as well," he adds after realizing he had nothing to screw down the nuts onto the wire clamp. Within moments Athrun had supplied the requested components and stood back to watch.

"Check this out," Yzak says, playing a hunch. He picks up his spoon and slinks out into the aisle behind Athrun, quietly, who was paying attention to his friend and not the Duel Pilot. When it approached Athrun's hair, the voltage difference between the several-times-shocked Athrun and the spoon caused the hair on Athrun's head to dance to however Yzak moved the spoon. The reverie had drawn giggles from a good chunk of the onlookers, especially because the otherwise situationally aware Athrun had not noticed. That ended when Kira dropped the socket wrench, which caused Athrun to jolt away from the falling tool, which caused the spoon to impact his head, which sent a hellish static shock back up the spoon to Yzak's arm. "Ow, fuck!" Yzak shouts as he dropped the spoon and wrings his right hand.

"What the—what were you doing?" Athrun asks, wondering what involved Yzak, his head, and a spoon.

"Agh, that shit hurt, you absorbed a lot of charge, damnit," Yzak said in a somewhat frustrated tone.

"Serves you right," strangely enough, the speakers happened to be both Athrun and Umi. "Now, what were you doing?" Athrun continues alone.

"Messin' with the static charge you had built up and your hair, man, don't get your panties in a wad," Yzak says as he reclaims the offending spoon from the floor and takes his mostly empty tray up to the dishes counter. He was out the door in a matter of moments thereafter.

"Sometimes he has to be more immature than Hikaru," Umi says in a frustrated tone. "Has he always been like this?" Umi asks Athrun, ignoring the lick of hair that was now standing straight vertical on his head.

"Only when he thinks he can get away with it," Athrun replies sardonically.

"Done. I know this line is probably the most unlucky one in this job, but: 'give me the power,' " Kira says, dreading the possibility of getting shocked.

Apparently he did it right; when the breaker was thrown, all four projectors spun up and centered, ready to put out a picture. "Shall I run a test pattern?"

"Yeah, sure," Kira says as he begins climbing down the ladder. By the time he got down the ladder a three-D model of the Strike was being projected onto the ground, and even better resolution than in the hot springs. There was assorted cheers and clapping from the mechanics and the other crewmembers in the room, mostly for the thought of having some good entertainment but also for Kira getting it right. The main monitors in the break room were switched over to external news feeds or an internal ship's monitor panel, while the Holovid system was spun up with the entertainment de rigeur.

-x-x-x-

(9 June 3050)

"Conn, Sensors, it's party time," Sai declares. "Two contacts, classified Dropship, gross mass estimate 12000 tons each. Present heading of 2-6-5, azimuth 66, inbound speed 21000 kilometers. They are coming down hard and fast, target point appears to be Zone Zero as the Colonel predicted."

"Sensors, Conn, aye," Murrue replies. "Natarle, sound general quarters. To borrow Sai's line, it's party time."

"General quarters, general quarters, all hands to your battle stations, repeat, all hands to your battle stations, this is not a drill," Natarle orders over the 1MC. "All Gundam pilots, 'mechwarriors, and Magic Knights to deploy status in the next two minutes," Natarle orders.

"Conn, Weps, all weapons are precharged and armed, we're good to go," Chandratta notes even before the question was asked.

"Weps, Conn, aye," _he really is trigger-happy_, Murrue notes sardonically in the confines of her head.

"That's the best compliment I've received in quite a while," Chandratta replies.

"Wha—oh, shit, wonderful time for me to develop telepathy," Murrue notes. "We have got to figure out how this keeps happening to us...and why."

"Later, Captain," Natarle cautions. "All mobile forces reporting good to go," Natarle adds after checking the status boards.

"Two Dropships...two clusters? Or something less?" Murrue asks. "Sensors, time until enemy ships land?"

"Eight minutes, thirty seconds."

"Helm, I want us hovering over the first defensive bulwark within ten minutes."

"Helm, aye," Newman notes. "Going hot on engines and levitator. Comms, Helm, confirm STC has shut down the airspace," Newman notes as he throws switches up and down his console seemingly by some internal guiding hand, not by conscious action. In fact, it was rather freaky to Mina how he could do that with almost no mental effort, whereas she had to struggle to remember the combination of switches it took to get the ship hovering. She did not know that Newman had close to a year of practice already, and she had a scant week and five days exposure to the ship's helm station.

"Helm, Comms, STC is blank. Sensors shows no traffic except military VTOL units," Kuzzey replies almost immediately.

"Going live on levitator and engines," Newman says as he first brings the ship up to sixty meters, then starts jetting northward and immediately rolls left and around to head first west then south then southeast over open tarmac and toward the coming battle. "Steady on course 1-5-0, speed is at ten percent. ETA eight minutes."

"Conn, sensors, enemy Dropships dead overhead at this time," Sai says.

"Senors, Conn, aye," Murrue replies. "Weps, do you have track?"

"Roger that, I have track and valid solutions on Valiants, Gottfrieds, and missile tubes. No capital weapons deployed."

"Sensors, Conn, range to enemy ships?"

"Range is 6550 Kilometers, closing fast."

"Captain, they're sitting ducks right now," Natarle says. "Should we scratch them now and be done with it?"

"No, we don't want to chance the enemy warship venting their frustration on the city for how we knocked down their ground forces." Kristen Redmond had made it clear that if the actions they took were too far left of what the average Clanner called 'dishonorable' Galaxy Commander Chistu might take serious offense and level the city from orbit with the guns on the ship, as well as pepper the _Archangel_ from orbit. While the Archangel might be able to return some of that kind of fire, it would make her job all that much more difficult.

"Right. Sensors, track steady," Natarle orders.

"Track steady, roger that," Sai replies. "Six minutes to enemy landing."

"Prepare to launch forces. Launch Duel, launch Aegis."

"Duel, Aegis to catapults. Standby for imminent launch and contact," Miriallia orders on the pilot frequency.

"Tell Sai if he can pinpoint that bastard Malthus, I'll take him down and smear the ejection pod across the southern continent of this planet," Yzak says crassly as he positions his Gundam for launch on the port-side catapult.

"I heard. So far no sign of 'em." Seconds passed; "Conn, Sensors, enemy ships five minutes to landing at present velocity," he adds after running the numbers through again.

"Sensors, Conn, acknowledged. Report if any change in enemy status."

"Conn, Helm, passing over secondary defense line now," on the external cameras, infantry were seen to be on their feet, waving their rifles and cheering at the passage of the _Archangel_. The secondary defense line was stocked up and down the way with tanks that were hull-down, their turrets and weapons assemblies the only visible part of them over the earthworks. They had vehicles as small as ten tons, APCs to mirror the one that the Blitz had thrown at the bar, and vehicles as big as the SturmFeur that had only recently been assigned to the garrison of Twycross, and more than two dozen in between the two extremes. Quite frankly, the bite of the second line only got worse the closer the enemy got, and that was not even counting the battlemechs assigned to it.

_Are you ready for this, I mean, really ready for this_? Colonel Miesse had asked Captain Ramius last night in private before they broke up. Of course, she answered affirmative, though in the end she knew the body count on both sides would be very high. Even with prepared defenses the toll on both sides would be massive, bloody, and something for the record books, especially if they won. For damn sure this was another case of EA versus ZAFT, though only with different players the technological disparity was absurdly evident.

_Oh, well, that's why we're taking a lead role here, so we can even the odds_, Murrue thinks as quietly as she could muster the thought to prevent a rebroadcast.

"Captain, approaching the front line now," Newman notes. "Orders?" They had discussed several possible movement patterns for the battle in the days prior.

"Hold station above and slightly behind the first line, Newman. Weps, prepare to break out the capital guns on my command. You are full released to engage enemy forces with standard-scale weapons unless I say otherwise. CIC, launch our units to fortify the first line."

"Miriallia, load 'em up and launch 'em as fast as possible," Natarle orders.

"Aegis, Duel, you are clear for launch, orders are to reinforce the first line."

"Roger that, CIC, any sign of Malthus?" Athrun asks.

"No, nothing yet," Jeez, they must be ready to really knock his ass out, Miriallia thinks.

"I don't blame them." Strangely enough, the comment came from Natarle. "They lost one of their best friends to these assholes on Romulus. Now they want vengeance."

As if to confirm: "Screw justice, I want vengeance," Yzak replies to a comment made by one of the Magic Knights.

In amplification: "Justice is all well and good when you can truly have blind, impartial justice. But when your best friend is killed in a deliberate ambush that only happened because someone doesn't like you, that isn't a time for justice, it is time to knock them completely out and sort the scrap out," Athrun adds to Yzak's comment. "It just so happens that we're also doing the Inner Sphere a favor—a just favor—by knocking them out."

The Blitz and Buster were launched next, Tolle having received a week-long crash course from the ZAFT personnel on how to properly handle the Buster in a running gun-fight. The one worry was that he did not have the reaction speed that Dearka did, and would be subject to more energy weapon fire than his predecessor. To that end, his orders were to hang back several hundred meters and operate as fire support for the team, and to keep an eye on the flanks to make sure he did not befall the same fate as Dearka.

The two Battlemechs were launched next, being Mu's Timber Wolf and Valten's Stone Rhino. Valten had definitely declared he was not an assault 'mech kinda guy, he preferred the speed and maneuverability of the medium machines, but he was still suited up and ready to fight. On the other hand, he had clearly and repeatedly stated he liked the firepower of the Stone Rhino, which had four long-range weapons each with the striking power or better than the Luxor Autocannon in his venerable Centurion. He, like the crew of the Archangel, considered the small laser little more than an add-on for shits and giggles, as it would have damn near zero utility in the upcoming battle.

Last out the bay were the Rune Gods, the majestic and graceful in-fighters of the unit that had already themselves grown into a myth of their own right. The exploits of the Rune Gods on Romulus had scared both friend and foe alike, as their speed, defensive power, survivability, and most of all their combat capability had come as a brutal shock to the denizens of both the Clans and the Inner Sphere. Nobody had ever seen a Clan Omnimech chopped in half vertically in one swing, which is precisely what had happened when Fuu had taken on a Nova in an alleyway of the Romulus Starport.

The ship itself came to rest five hundred meters behind the primary defensive line, the launch bays closed off and the weapons turrets began spinning up to combat readiness.

"Attention, garrison forces of Twycross, this is Star Colonel Nikolai Malthus."

"Good, he is here," Yzak says with a savage tone.

"I call the forces of the mercenary warship _Archangel_ to Trial of Grievance for their actions on Romulus."

Murrue picks up her phone and dials in the all broadcast option. "Attention Star Colonel Nikolai Malthus of Clan Jade Falcon, this is Murrue Ramius, Captain of the warship _Archangel_ and commander of the Archangel Team. Your call to Trial By Combat is heard and summarily rejected. In the face of your actions on Romulus and in purview of the whole Clan invasion of the Inner Sphere, I cannot honor any grievances you may**think** you have with my unit, while you burn a swath through the lands of the Inner Sphere for no reason other than a race to Terra."

"You are refusing the call to honorable combat? You mock our crusade against the dezgra dogs of the Inner Sphere that burned down the Star League in the flames of war? Is your appreciation of history so shallow that you would overlook these facts?"

"Is your appreciation of life so shallow as to believe that somehow you have the right to kill off the population of the Inner Sphere simply because they are the descendants of those who started the succession wars? Honorable men and women would not shoot the sons or daughters of criminals, what gives you the right to?"

"Not only are your forces disgraceful mercenaries, your beliefs have been twisted by the power and corruption of the Inner Sphere dogs that you take coin from to do their bidding. I was hoping some of your ranks were of noble caliber, able to see the light of reason, the ways of the Founder. Clearly I was mistaken in such a belief. There will be no honorable combat here. I will crush the defenders of Twycross as I did on Romulus, and I will destroy your ship and unit as I should have on Romulus."

"Bring it on, Star Colonel. Many have tried and many have failed to sink this ship. I will enjoy adding Clan Jade Falcon to the list." The phone hits the cradle, breaking the radio links. "Think I was convincing enough?" Murrue asks. She intended to piss them off so they would blindly charge the pass in an attempt to charge down the battle line, thereby forcing the battlefield in the defender's favor.

"You had me convinced," Newman notes.

"Helluva performance, Captain," Miriallia says.

"I'm beginning to like the CO," Yzak says in backhanded confirmation.

"Don't say that too loud, Yzak, or you may have to discipline yourself," Athrun tosses in as a wan joke.

"Conn, ECM, detecting enemy Battlemech sensors in search mode, lots of them. Looks like you succeeded in pissing them off, and here they come."

"Weps, precharge one Lohengrin." Colonel Miesse had made it clear that this far south was little in the way of environmental factors to be concerned about, and if Murrue could figure a creative use for her Lohengrins in stopping the enemy forces, she was released to do so.

"Roger that, precharging starboard Lohengrin."

"Conn, Comms, allied recon reports enemy lead wave is already advancing into the canyon, appears they are strung out badly."

"Fast for the kill, I see," Murrue says with a dose of irony. "Colonel Miesse and Captain Hart have been informed, right?"

"Yes, ma'am, they are ready for it," Kuzzey says.

"Conn, Sensors, our early-warning gear in Pass Section 1 is reporting contacts, 'mechs stomping by.

"Roger that. Weps, deploy starboard Lohengrin, do not track on a target yet. Sensors, call them out as they charge down the pass."

"Aye, ma'am. Targets are now just entering the area of section 2 sensor groups." Sai was not normally an excitable person in a crisis situation, but even Natarle had not missed the change in tone he had. "Captain, looks like a lot of them have now entered zone one, estimate over thirty contacts."

"Sai, I want to know about thirty seconds before that large mass of tangos gets to zone three," Murrue orders. Some targets were just impossible to pass up when you looked at the evolving battle...

"Captain, you ain't got long to wait, the first of the enemy fast machines should be cresting out of the pass now. Estimate one minute before enemy large formation is where you want it."

"Weps, fire call, I want the Lohengrin to fire on the eastern face of the pass canyon. Do so in fifty seconds,"

"Fifty seconds," Chandratta repeats. "Captain, enemy forces are in range of Valiants, missiles, helldarts, and forward small arms batteries," The first of enemy machines literally waked into a wall of beam rifle shots from the IWSP Strike, the Blitz, Buster, Duel, and Aegis. After losing both legs and one arm, it hit the ground skidding and did not move. The second 'mech up the pass escaped the same fate as the first by expedient of running straight east as soon as clear of the walls, and only lost both arms and serious chunk of its torso.

"Prepare to fire Lohengrin," Murrue orders, "Sensors, enemy location?"

"Enemy mass is about at the optimal point...now!"

"Fire!"

The positron beam cut through the skies over the two battle lines, angled into the gorge, and immediately cut into the million-year-old stonework of the pass. Chandratta had aimed low and swept the beam right to left, cutting into the wall and loosing massive amounts of stone to cascade down onto the blood-lusty Clanners and seal their fates. The stones smashed down into the advancing formation of Clan heavy machines, boulders as massive as a small Dropship loosed from the wall bounded down upon enemy 'mechs and crushed them into the packed dirt below them. Cockpits were impaled and smashed by falling debris, killing pilots left and right. Disorganized by their wild charge to begin with, the rock assault made the matter all the worse as disorganization became disarray became disorder, and who would have been able to escape with a timely jump-jet thrust did not as 'mechs collided into each other and were knocked flat, to be buried under hundreds of tons of rock.

For all the carnage caused, Sai had made a slight misjudgment as to their position and the amount of casualties was only about two thirds of the enemy medium and heavy machines, causing little damage to the light machines and no damage to the assault machines.

"Colonel, this is_Archangel_. Detonate the mines in the pass."

"Roger that," Colonel Miesse retorts, and throws the master plunger. Gouts of dust and smoke surge upward from the mines that were detonated, as well as several ejection pods more than had already flown courtesy of the rock slide.

"Colonel, we sacked them hard in the pass, should we hold here or fall back to phase line two?"

"How hard? Can you and the 'mechs hold?"

"Fifty fifty right now, we're about to chime in though, so we should have improved odds, and what is here is cut off from their Dropships and assault forces." The assault forces had been mauled as well by the mines, but to a man were still standing.

"Do it, then, our artillery is getting set up still. You have support authorization. Good shooting, by the way," he adds, referring to the Lohengrin blast.

"Mister Chandratta, unlock and deploy everything, reseal the Lohengrin."

"Reseal Lohengrin, deploy all other weapons, aye," he repeats back while hammering out the commands necessary. Within a matter of ten seconds, all the weapons on the ship were armed and ready.

"Sensors, do we have valid trajectory to the enemy Dropships?" Murrue asks.

"Negative, Captain, they are on the far side of some hills from us," Sai replies, then adds: "Captain, enemy main wave is coming over the pass hill now!"

"Chandratta, missile barrage the pass from the crest of the hill back, fifty meters between each missile, two wide down the whole way," Natarle orders, as would be the most optimal way to make a hell out of their lives would be to give them an area barrage, cause some of them to fall and scatter the rest.

"Firing!" Chandratta shouts as twelve missiles fire forward, followed by twelve missiles firing to the rear and then arcing up and over the ship's conning tower toward the enemy. As he was ordered, so he did: two of the larger air-to-ground missiles hit every fifty meters starting at the crest of the hill, effectively putting twenty-four of the capital-scale missiles in a box sixty meters wide and six hundred long. After the dust settled, there was a tally of four more parachuted pods from the downed machines.

"Great shooting, Chandratta," Murrue comments. "You are released on all point-defense weapons. If you have a target, service it. Deploy Anti-Beam Depth Charges, all directions." Within seconds, the whole ship had become surrounded by an anti-beam field that would have been hard to bypass with a full barrage of Naval PPCs.

"Conn, sensors! Aerofighters from the west, coming down from space!" Sai shouts. "Twenty contacts, minimum size forty, maximum size one hundred tons!"

"We knew this was coming, people, that Warship has a helluva contingent of fighters. Well, we have a helluva Warship and ground support to deal with them." Murrue sounded like she was trying to convince herself as much as anyone else on the bridge. "Sensors, classify the largest enemy fighters and send the data to the weps panel. Chandratta, start swatting flies priority deploy."

"Roger that, Captain," Chandratta and Sai both reply at the same time. "Weps, there appears to be a pair of 100-tonners in their ranks, four 90-tonners, and a lot of 75-tonners, six maybe."

"Deploy Anti-air shrapnel warheads, use the Helldarts and all available point-defense weapons. They'll have missiles, so Igelstellungs in Auto-track mode," Natarle orders.

"Enemy in firing range in less than a minute!" It was not possible to hear the sound of the missile tubes rearm with the requested missile type, of which they had few of the AASW missiles due to their limited usefulness in most situations. This was one use, however, where it would be very useful.

"Solid locks on craft, I have good pattern with missiles. Firing!" The Helldarts and multipurpose missile tubes fired first, and as the enemy fighters approached the heavier point defense guns began firing at the maximum available range for each weapon system. On the starboard side, the enemy had the Helldarts, the AASW Missiles, 10 LRM-20 launchers, 4 Large Pulse Lasers, 2 Ultra AC-10 cannons, 4 Medium Pulse Lasers, and 4 Streak-6 SRMs. With the Anti-beam Depth Charges deployed, the laser weapons were rendered unusable by the _Archangel_'s active defense, but the bulk of the firepower for the sides of the ship actually accounted for that, being ballistic or missile and not energy.

Before the enemy even began their fire run, they flew through a wall of anti-air shrapnel as 24 of the massive missiles ejected first their hail of submunitions, each too small to properly see, then each submunition began detonating within two meters of the enemy fighters, or on contact in some cases. In three cases the actual body of the missile itself careened into enemy fighters, providing the final, fatal punch into an already wounded fighter, as two of them went in, their pilots ejecting from their terminally damaged craft. Three of the fighters spared themselves any more damage as they performed split-S turns to move away from the _Archangel_ as best as possible.

And still, the remaining star and a half of enemy fighters bored in on them.

The next wave of weps to hit was the Helldarts, small missiles though no less dangerous to an enemy fighter than anything else. Again, as with prior battles, warhead fratricide reduced the efficiency of the attack, despite the fact that they had been broken down into four groups of four missiles. Still and all, the hits that did happen (even after four blue-on-blue kills and six misses) claimed one of the largest fighters, a Kirghiz, and two of the smaller 75-ton Sabutai fighters. One smaller fighter, a Visigoth, changed direction with an obvious limp, trailing smoke from where a Helldart had struck right in the middle of its port-side wing.

And still they charged the ship.

"For what we are about to receive..." Natarle chants as the one enemy 100-tonner remaining disappears behind a wall of smoke as it fires five LRM-20 racks, one of the 90-tonners fired a hail of PPCs and two gauss rifles, and two of the 75-tonners each barked out a gauss rifle slug apiece. The remainder of the firepower loosed at range was entirely energy weapons, all of which were turned aside by the anti-beam depth charges on the starboard side. It did not take long for the missiles fired to streak in and impact the ship, even after the Igelstellungs tear a total of 42 out of the salvo and another 22 miss completely.

"Captain, I—"**CLANGCLANGCLGANGWRAAMCLANGCLANGCLANG**. As several of the fighters closed, they brought to bear more energy weapons used at shorter ranges, and a plethora of ballistic guns that quite well outpaced the Ultra-10 Autocannons the ship mounted, but still had caused miniscule surface damage to the ship when wagered against what such firepower would do to a Battlemech. Within a moment thereafter, the fighters had zoomed through the anti-air hail of fire that had actually managed to do a good job at causing more damage to the enemy, but had scratched none. On the way past, a few parting lasers from the other side actually did put down another of the 90-tonner fighters as the lasers blew through the port-side wing structure and caused the wind to shear the wing clear off.

"Jeez, we killed or wounded half their aerofighters in one pass, and they caused very little damage to us," Chandratta notes. "Are we doing something right here, or are these Falcons just sucking today?" he asks.

"Both, I guess," Murrue replies in a dazed fashion. She was expecting a whole helluva lot more from them, and they were royally disappointing.

"Captain, I know where Malthus is," Miriallia says. "I can sense him, I can sense his mind, his rage."

"Relay his location and details to the Duel," Murrue notes. Temporarily she had lost complete track of the ground battle courtesy of the fighter strike, but she had to focus on the greater threat, which had just changed from the ground to the fighters, and now back from the fighters to the ground.

---

"Duel, Control, enemy VIP located. Look left of center of their main line, you are looking for a red Summoner with green highlights, should have the Large Laser and AC/20 combination," Miriallia orders. They were still receiving support fire from the forward and forward-side point weapons on the_Archangel_, and the Valiants had just put a pair of slugs into the ground below two enemy machines, causing them to take a short and wild flight up into the air and then down on their backs, but with the coming of the enemy aerofighters they had lost the main support of the multi-purpose missiles, each of which was far more powerful than a standard artillery shell.

"Malthus?" Yzak asks in retort.

"Confirmed."

"Roger that, engaging priority," he says as he looks for and locks in the stated enemy machine. He was not all that far off from it to begin with, it was actually in his field of fire for the next thirty seconds.

The battle had started as a melee and not gotten any better. When the enemy main came on line after charging out of the pass, they walked into a wall of fire from the three units involved in this phase of the battle, starting at 800 meters and closing. The tradeoff here was that the fifteen Inner Sphere 'mechs were subject to about twenty Clan machines, but they also had the support of all five Gundams and the Rune Gods, plus Valten and Flaga in their Clan machines.

"_**Flame Arrow**_!" Hikaru had learned a nifty trick to use with her Flame spells: when used on enemy machines that notoriously ran hot, like the Stormcrow or the Timber Wolf, it caused the machine damage as well as almost always shut them down. In two cases, she had been able to cause an ammo explosion by superheating enemy 'mechs, the hellish explosion had ripped through the medium chassis she had done in that fashion and forced the pilot to eject or die with his 'mech. Particularly susceptible to the overheat trick was the Hunchback IIC, which naturally ran real hot after firing a full volley of Ultra-20 AC.

"Shit!" Yzak shouts as he ducks behind his shield to block a pair of PPCs incoming for him. "Athrun, I have the main enemy asshole dailed in but I am decisively engaged! You'll have to take him out!" It pained Yzak to say it, but he had to since he had to keep himself alive. Athrun was in a better position to deal with him, regardless, due to the Strikers being down on that side of the enemy line. Colonel Hart's troops definitely knew how to fight, granted, but the Strikers were all that much better. Yzak's beam rifle centered on the offending enemy 'mech and fired two rapid shots, both impacting within half a mater of the other.

"Roger that," Athrun replies. "Major Steiner, can you take out the two Hunchbacks to the left of the red Summoner?" Athrun asks as he deliberately targets the cockpit of an enemy Puma light 'mech. With one shot, that pilot was erased out of Existence; it was a simple shot at 220 meters for the Gundam pilot, though he had to admit that they might not be able to hold for much longer before needing drastic repairs.

One of the Hunchbacks in question was knocked flat by a pair of Gauss Rifle slugs from the Archangel, then hammered while down by two batteries of LRMs. The machine did not move again. Major Steiner focused his fire on the other Hunchback, seeing that Athrun wanted to exploit the rent in the enemy line to take out that Summoner, whoever it was. After a dozen missiles hit the Hunchback, as well as several laser blasts, it went face down into the ground and started trying to lever itself back up. Captain Hawkins put paid to that plan, though, as the two Victory Nickel Alloy ER Large Lasers in his Mauler tore into the tops of the autocannon housings, burning through to the cannon itself and causing the ready rounds to cook off. The Hunchback's computer, fooled into thinking it had an Ammunition explosion, ejected the pilot at a weird angle that just barely missed tearing the head off Major Steiner's Axman.

A Longbow fire support 'mech was holding the ground next to Athrun, though its fire accuracy had dropped severely as the Clanners closed to spitting range; Inner Sphere missile launchers have a minimum range that they could be fired within, but it made getting good hits all that much harder. After another volley of missiles, the pilot began to retreat his machine but was hammered flat by the summoner of scrutiny, a four-round burst of autocannon tearing into its already badly-abused armor and literally detaching one of the barrel-like arms from the machine. The pilot ejected as the machine spun around and started falling to the ground, and on landing int continued spinning, eventually knocking the feet out from under the Aegis. Athrun's Gundam went face-first into the trampled and scarred ground, on the way down he was subject to a Large Pulse Laser burst that tore into the mid-chest of his Gundam and damaged the neural linkage that connected his cockpit to the rest of the machine. "Damn, I'm down, I'm damaged! Yzak, back to you!"

"Nothing will stop me from eliminating all of you dezgra dogs!" Nikolai shouts on an open channel, apparently in response to Athrun's communication. Another burst of the autocannon hammered into the center torso of Major Steiner's Axman, and a large laser combined with a Streak-6 Missile pack into the Mauler. The Mauler survived, but the Axman was toast; Major Steiner ejected, his battered mount no longer capable to the battle. Hawk returned the favor with his Autocannons and missiles, though he encountered the same limitations that the Longbow pilot had: the enemy was too close to fire accurately. Another laser burst knocked the gyro out on Hawk's Mauler, and it collapsed backwards as it unable to stand any more. "And now for you, maroon machine," Nikolai says as he centers his arms on the downed Aegis that was trying to stand up.

"Your ass is mine, Nikolai," Athrun says as he starts trying to enable bypasses for the damaged neural linkage.

"Only in your wildest dreams, little free-born warrior," **CLANGCLANGCLANGCLANG**, four of the heavy autocannon shells hammered his machine and exploded on contact, though since the Aegis was protected by Phase Shift they did absolutely no damage to the Gundam. On the other hand, they did manage to drive the Gundam back to the ground, forcing Athrun to restart the process of struggling his Gundam to its feet. The six missiles from its short-range pack had the same effect: no damage, just impact. When he fired his lasers onto Athrun's Gundam, that was it. The ER Large Laser sliced into the back armor of the Gundam without hesitation at all, bored into the center torso and the bastard-mount fusion reactor inside, immediately causing it to SCRAM instead of leaking plasma all over the inside of his machine.

"Athrun!" Yzak shouts.

"I'm alive, but Aegis is trashed. You're it," Athrun was referring to the fact that Blitz had actually been knocked out by a stray PPC earlier in the battle, a blue-on-blue incident from a dying allied machine. Buster was out of the question: this enemy was simply too good for Tolle, even after the week-and-change crash course he had received in fighting.

"Athrun!" Kira shouts as the IWSP Strike lands between the Summoner and the downed Aegis, in the process bracing his shield to defend his downed friend.

"Kira, I thought you were—forget it, take him down!"

"Strike, back off, get the Aegis back to the ship! I'll handle this asshole!" Duel had landed between the Strike and the Summoner, shield set and hand on a beam saber.

"Attack me, one or all, it does not matter. I will send all of you to your graves!"

"No, asshole, it's just you and me. This one is personal."

"Oh, have I somehow offended your unit, besides your naive belief that defending these Inner Sphere dogs is just?"

"Romulus, the ambush you set at the farm the night after we first engaged your forces. The Pilot of the one machine you knocked out was a friend of mine, and I intend on exacting vengeance for his demise." Yzak's mind had gone clear, his senses picked up to incredible heights as he saw what he wanted to do clearly: rip the cockpit housing clean off that Summoner and fire a round of Shiva into the worthless shitscum of a human inside it. (3)

"Typical free-born scum, more attached to your so-called friends and family than to the duty to your command. I tire of this pointless arguing," and he wasted no more words, simply firing on the Duel with all his weapons. The Lasers were Yzak's main concern, since the Assault Shroud armor would not stop a beam weapon, but he absorbed the impacts from the other weapons. The add-on armor did not have phase shift, but the original Duel did, and the missiles and autocannon failed to penetrate. In the haze after the hits Yzak tosses his shield aside and to the left, giving Nikolai a moving target to watch, while the Duel went right, circling around him by use of thrusters, and pulled a beam saber.

Nikolai fell for the ruse, realizing two moments too late what it really was. By the time he had begun to reorient, a Beam Saber had slashed into his left arm and grated through the armor right into the upper arm actuator; with some creative sawing motion, the autocannon was detached from his machine completely. His immediate reaction was to attempt to step back and away from the Duel while reorienting the lasers of his right arm onto the enemy. This did not work, as he ended up overcompensating while Yzak darted around the front of Nikolai's machine; a paired blast of both large ans small laser missed the Duel by a meter. Yzak solved that threat by shoving the still-lit beam saber down the barrel of Nikolai's ER Large Laser, to the point that the saber housing fit snugly into the barrel orifice. It only took a second beyond that for the beam to chop out the back of the arm housing, in the process severing the power cabling for both lasers as well as completely annihilating the ER Large Laser.

The right hand of Duel came up and clenched the framework around the cockpit of the Summoner as Nikolai, in one last desperate attempt to damage the Duel, fired his SRMs again into the Gundam. With a screech of metal and crackling of polycarbonate the whole cockpit frame came off the Summoner, and for a bare moment Yzak got to see the pilot of the enemy machine, the commander whose forces had killed his best friend. Yzak would have been impressed if he was not categorically pissed; even after having his arm badly flayed open by the severed cockpit frame, he was still holding one of the control surfaces, pulling the trigger on a missile launcher that was still reloading. Shiva swiveled down and centered on the cockpit, and Yzak pulled the trigger on his weapon, which was armed and loaded, unlike the missile launcher in the Summoner. He just barely caught a glimpse of Nikolai as his body was completely sundered by the rail gun round, and afterwards all that remained was a bloody streak and bits of him thrown in every direction from the sheer impact.

The final irony of the Star Colonel's existence was that he had made a perfect distraction for the Duel pilot, in that part of his sundered body had flown toward the head of the Buster and left a hellish blood steak down the center of the left eye on the Gundam. As a consequence, that blood streak was also smeared on the visual coming into the cockpit monitors. Visually, it was quite annoying, even despite how it got there.

"Duel reporting, enemy commander has been eliminated, confirmed KIA at close quarters," Yzak deliberately had put out the report on all broadcast channels and in a cold, collected tone of voice. To him, it may have been an act of vengeance, but it was a professional courtesy to use it to scare the enemy ranks.

"Roger that, Duel, resume normal combat procedures. Aegis is in process of being recovered right now."

"Archangel to all forces, we are withdrawing to secondary defense line. All forces, begin withdraw under the ship at this time," there were not a lot of the enemy surviving, but by the same token there were also few of Colonel Hart's men left as well. All the Strikers were down as well, except for Valten Ryder and the Stone Rhino.

Yzak drew his Beam Rifler and shield and began firing at range on the last four enemy machines. Realizing they had lost this one for fair, the highest-ranking Clanner had recalled them to wait for the Assault 'mechs that had been grossly held up by the landslide, and they would finish the job in less than an hour.

Of the enemy fighters, only four had been brave enough to try again, and two of them had hit the ground in fiery wrecks. The rest were outside the atmosphere in minutes, headed back to the enemy Warship.

It was not long before the whole campaign was called off by their Galaxy Commander, the two Dropships headed back out to space with far lighter loads than when they had arrived. Within two hours, it was confirmed by STC that the enemy warship was burning hard away from the planet.

-x-x-x-

"After suffering two terrible defeats in a row, Galaxy Commander Chistu will be relieved of his command by the Khan." Pytor answers the question from Major Victor Steiner-Davion. "It is likely the _Falcon's Nest_ will be reassigned to Delta Galaxy, as Gamma Galaxy no longer has any assets worth transporting on such a vessel." By rough estimate, all that Gamma had left was about two Trinaries of assault 'mechs, a mixed Trinary of the survivors from everything else, and a contingent of aerofighters. What that amounted to was about an average Clan Cluster, certainly not the Galaxy that Chistu had started with, and sure as hell not enough to challenge the _Archangel_ even under the best of circumstances. In short, they had lost for fair, and they knew it.

The hot springs were a bit crowded at this time, as many had taken a beating and a lot of stress, and needed some way to relax. Of particular taxing had been the deck crews, who had to support the Gundams with reloads and whatever repairs they could, until they started falling after fifteen minutes into the gunfight. Pytor had been on the team to reload the Duel, which surprisingly had taken the least amount of damage of all the Gundams. The Gundam Pilots, the Strikers, Major Steiner-Davion, Captain Hart, and Colonel Miesse had priority to the springs, as it was they who did the bulk of the dirty work.

"Unlike Star Colonel Redmond, I never had any fear that the Galaxy Commander would use such dishonorable tactics as to bombard the forces or city from space. Though he probably has the name of this ship carved into his forearm in plain fury, he is an honorable warrior of the Clan and holds himself to the Clan codes of conduct. Even if relieved, though, you can expect he will return at the head of some force, likely as a Star Colonel or Star Captain, to continue the battle, though this will be some time as they will need to draw new forces from the homeworlds."

"So, basically, we knocked half the Jade Falcons out of the Inner Sphere?" Major Steiner asks to sum it up.

"That is correct, Major. All that remains of Gamma's forces are garrison troops stationed on worlds that were previously taken. The assault forces no longer exist, or exist as bondsmen to the AFFC and the _Archangel_," most of which were to go to the AFFC forces involved; the Archangel had room for only another ten before they were full crew compliment.

"And yet, the invasion will continue," Major Victor notes sourly.

"Yes, Major, it will continue, but do not doubt for a moment that the actions of the_Archangel_ have given all the Clans, here and in the homeworld, a serious pause. A single assault ship with scratch-up forces that few understand has laid waste to a whole Galaxy of Clan forces, and even had the ambition to take out a _Texas_-class battleship prior to the end of the battle, and mind you the Jade Flacons are respected throughout all the Clans if not downright feared by some of the lesser Clans. Only the chronically arrogant Smoke Jaguars or the schizophrenic Fire Mandrill would scoff at your forces hereafter; every other self-respecting Clan would definitely heed this ship, and by extension whoever they serve, as a serious and imminent threat."

_Hell yes, we now officially have a reputation as professional badasses in the Inner Sphere and the Clans_, Yzak thinks behind a wicked grin. Props like that did not come around by being screwoffs or lucky, you really had to beat the hell out of someone several times in a row to earn it. This was even more the case with the Clans, were fighting is what they were born for, what they lived for, and what they died for, literally on all three accounts.

"It's a start, cousin," Major Adam Steiner notes. "Once we get the Strikers and the Archangel Team patched up, our next stop is the Delta Galaxy invasion corridor. We may not be able to take back the planets the AFFC has lost, not immediately, but we can stop their advance before they get any closer to Terra."

"I thought the Striker's main mission was to gather intelligence," the Prince asks wryly.

"We've gained more intelligence by beating the hell out of them than we could ever have by skulking around their fringes," Athrun replies deadpan.

"He's right, cousin," Adam notes just as wryly as the Prince had asked.

"There may be something to be said for hitting the enemy head-on sometimes. Just don't get yourself killed in the process," Colonel Miesse says in reply to the tack of the discussion at present.

"Hey, I heard that the Duel took out one of their commanders alone and almost unsupported, you got footage?" Captain Galen Cox asks. Where the Prince went, so did he, even if that meant going into the hot springs along with the Prince. All things considered, he was enjoying it.

"Yeah, I did, it wasn't pretty. I did chop up that part of the battle record and serve it out on the movie server," Yzak notes. "Kira, hit it, it's under battle footage," Kira happened to be the person closest to the control panel that had been added at reach height for the people sitting in the springs, since the original panel was too high for someone in the springs to get to.

"Okay, here," he selects the movie footage. Nothing happens for several seconds, then the panel returns: " 'Playback error, projector three not powering up,' " Kira reads off the panel. "Athrun, you're closest, check it out," Kira says, pointing to which projector was number three.

"Okay, here," he jumps up and unlatches the water-sealing enclosure, what was left of the silicone caulk gave way with little effort. "Uh, Captain Cox, if you have a knife, can I borrow it?"

"Sure, here," the knife in question was a small pocket knife, nothing major.

"Also, can someone standing have the attendant call for a mechanic to bring a ladder and a tube of silicone caulking here?" Athrun asks. "I mean, I can do some things hanging off the bracket, but not all," he notes.

After five minutes of otherwise mundane conversation, the mechanic showed up with the two items. Athrun was fast to move up the ladder and check the projector out, and within ten seconds had his eye on the problem. "Ah, I got it," he says as he begins screwing down the fixture ground. Like usual, he did not remove his hand. "All right, Kira, try it."

"Playing now—"

"FUCK!" Athrun shouts as he snaps his hand back and starts shaking it. "Damn that hurt."

"Here we go again," Kira notes drolly; more than a few people in the room had a good laugh at Kira's comment.

-x-x-x-

(Vignette: Of Guardians and Collection Agencies)

Far, far away from the war-torn planets of the Inner Sphere and in a completely separate alternate dimension from any that the _Archangel_ would ever traverse, a person had been born sixteen years prior, under the name Dearka E. Notsen. Some would say over the years that his parents really didn't like him, with such a name for an otherwise average American, though in fact his parents thought it a suitable name for someone with what they believed to be a fate unlike any other.

They were partially correct, actually. Dearka, or at least part of his being, had a past that was unlike any other in Existence. His fate, on the other hand, was the province of one who could read and properly understand such things. Arrogant were those that believed they could sense his 'fate' without proper skills to that effect.

Of the two standing on top of the low-rise commercial building, leased presently by Kohl's designer fashions, neither was really an expert on the matter of fate, per se, though one of them had some limited talents in seeing the future. The other lived and acted on the moment, only notionally concerned about the future in the orders she was given. Manipulating fate was a matter of opinion between the man and lady, and varied. The man figured he had more than a few very competent subordinates that were experts (aces, in all actuality) at writing the future as it should be, and he aided that effort by stage-managing resources, personnel, and effort to provide the desired outcome. The maiden figured such was the province of her commanders, and she had no real place in it except doing her part along the path of her orders.

The maiden was a Valkyrie, some called her the 'chooser of the slain' for the rather macabre way in which they nominally picked their recruits: those about to be killed in battle were the ones they recruited. The Valkyrie are the custodians, the recruiting agents of the Einherar, the massive army of the Gods, an army fated to conduct the final battle Ragnarök and hopefully win enough of the battle that something was left in Existence after the smoke cleared. A tall billet any way you cut it, since the agents of the OpFor did not have to play nice, and in sub-skirmishes they did not not play nice at all. Her armor and arms, ancient relic banded mail with a Norse helmet, plate greaves, plate bracers, kite shield, and weapons such as spear and broadsword, all had enchantments that made her invisible to all but the elite, the best of wizards in Existence. The guy standing next to her was the only person on the whole planet that could see her.

The guy, on the other hand, was adorned with a form of armor that bespoke not a tradition of a warrior group, but a tradition of evolving battlefields and duties that were as diverse as the warriors the Valkyrie picked up; as such, his armor massed over five tons and was as much a technological evolution as it was magic. Like the equipment of the Valkyrie, the equipment of the guy was thoroughly enchanted, from the full-coverage and very heavy composite plate armor to the paired energy swords that when channeled through could best any relic or magic in Existence, even the .45-caliber pistol on his right thigh was custom and enchanted beyond the grasp of normal man. The gunmetal gray base color, white primary plates and major equipment with blue highlights was said to be the stuff of nightmares to those who dared oppose him directly. Like her equipment, one of the functions of the armor he wore was a variable state of invisibility that could be set to a value other than off and on, as in the invisibility of a specter, not completely there, not completely not there. Right now he was completely invisible to everyone on the planet, including the Valkyrie, though she knew he was there by sensing his distortion aura, something he was not concealing.

The two on the building were observing the one that could have been. A casualty of an accidental involvement in a conflict he should have had no part of, Dearka Elsman, now reincarnated in an average American family by deign of the guy in the heavy battle armor, would never know the conflict to which he had given his life and beliefs except in passing. What was his life and death elsewhere in Existence was here a game system that had some rabid fans, another game of science-fiction mechanized warfare in a sea of them. The fact that he was here, in suburban America, was because he had ordered the Valkyrie next to him to not 'recruit' him just before the moment of death, for though all indicators was that Ragnarök was fast approaching, some people deserved a chance at the inevitable peaceful life after having given their lives in duty in defense others.

"I still cannot believe you would deny him to the Einherar, Executor," the Valkyrie says after several minutes of silence, staring in the windows of the school across the road at the intended subject.

"He has served his duty to Existence in more fashions than one, Valkyrie, and this without ever believing or knowing that his actions would save lives in many more theaters than he would ever see. He, more than most, has earned these times of peace that he will enjoy without really knowing why he lives them without interference."

"He could save so many more lives serving the Gundam Divisions of the Einherar—"

"Do not delude yourself into believing that one elite, neg, ace pilot more or less will sway the outcome of the final war. Only upon the hopes and dreams of the common man, woman, and child shall the fate of Existence be changed. We warriors are simply the vector for those hopes and dreams, and that is the tack that we must focus on lest we undercut our own efforts with our own elitism."

"You have lived for well over forty eons, have fought the best of the Gods and routinely won, you have bled the ground of a million planets red with your own blood, you yourself have changed the fate of Existence, and still you believe yourself insignificant? What travesty is this?" The Valkyrie asks with more than a hint of disgust.

She did not notice the air conditioning technician that was repairing a roof unit behind them, though had heard their discourse quite clearly on this calm and sunny day. The Executor knew the technician was there, his sensors had him pegged from the moment he set foot on the roof, though he did not really care that the technician was listening.

Her line of complaint drew a mirthless chuckle from the Executor. "I have done that and far more; grossly more than even the Gods would admit on a cold day in hell. I do not believe myself insignificant, Valkyrie. I know, as has been foretold among my ranks and elsewhere, that the nightmare of the final battle Ragnarok shall not be won by the hands of Executors, Gods, Gundam pilots, infantry, or even midgets with pitchforks. Victory, if you dare to call it that, shall only come through the belief of life, and that only through the belief of all Existence, not just through the hands of those who fight for it. What effect that belief shall take in and of itself I can only begin to guess at; I rest assured that several of my subordinates know, though they speak not of these matters openly. Let us hope the choir gets the prayer service right the first time, because when the battles start there will not be a second chance."

"Ah, so it is not a question of insignificance, but a question of relying on others," The Valkyrie asks in an almost-derisive fashion. For the Executor, it was old-school pessimism from the servants of the Gods, of whom he had personally kicked out of ruling status eons ago, and nothing he was overly concerned about. Even at her level best of combat and magic skills she was no threat to the veteran of wars past.

"Not everything in Existence can be solved by the hands of the few. Not for want of trying, of course, but sometimes you just have to ask for help."

Silence for over a minute, though to those whom time has no effect a minute might as well not be there. "So, now that I have been officially denied by the highest authority in Existence the right to induct him into the Einherar, I trust you will clear up anything administrative with Freya?"

"Rest assured you will not be executed for a possible 'failure' on something she was overridden on. It is by my will that he has become again, here, and shall forever be off-limits to the Valkyrie for his duties already completed. Report back to your commander and tell her that I have ordained that this instance of the Gundam Pilot Dearka Elsman is hitherto never to be the ward of the Einherar. If Freya has a problem with that, she knows how to find me and sort this out."

"Understood, though she will not be pleased with the interference from the Executors." The Valkyrie sounded rather blunt and somewhat pleased about such an observation.

"Such flares of her temper are her problem, not mine," the guy declares coldly. "Executors write the rules that the rest of Existence lives by. This was true eons ago, it is still true today." It did not take long for the Valkyrie to remember that while the Gods were good, the Executors gave the Gods the rule book. Period. And millennia of doing the work of the Gods could cloud or cause to forget that plain and simple fact. "Begone from here, Valkyrie, and never again covet this resigned warrior, quiaff?"

The HVAC repairman simply sat there, staring to where he thought he heard the voices. He stared for over ten minutes, as nothing was said. A religious man, he had never heard of anyone who spoke freely of such beliefs and of the Gods of long past, and he had never heard of half that which had been said, though he could see a very faint, spectral outline of something that looked like a very bulky man standing there on the edge of the roof. Something was still there.

"Enjoy your life, kid, this one and the next dozen. What you have set in motion by your hand and heart has more than earned your respite. Never shall you see the continual training and carnage of the killing fields of Asgard, awaiting a war that haunts us so-called 'chosen' of Existence. Live in peace and honor, Elsman of ZAFT, you have earned it."

The spectral outline changed orientation, and with the movement of its leg the HVAC technician heard a metallic-style impact; the whole outline looked as if he was turning facing, looking away from the school and now toward the rest of the building, which coincidentally put it heading toward the technician. However, after a short moment it was no more; all that remained was open air and cloudless skies.

* * *

Author's Chapter Afterword:

Chistu got pwnz0rd completely this time, and so did his bitch-boy Malthus.

You can probably tell I don't like Nikolai Malthus. He was the wrong flavor of cruel for my tastes in Clan honor. He only played by the Clan rules when he believed it suited him, and played dirty whenever else. As far as I am concerned, no big loss. You could almost call it a personal goal to kill him in a messy fashion, but hey, he did get some good digs before the end of his existence. Even I will not deny that he was a good Mechwarrior.

On a general aside, I should note that the tenure for Battletech is coming ever slowly to a close, for now. There is a possibility for a return trip, set in the future of the Battletech universe now indelibly altered, though I can confirm no details and I am not confirming that it will happen at all. It is still a tentative possible, and even at that it would be a long ways down the road.

You will note that the issue with the Gangs is not completely cleaned up. Rest assured, that will be cleaned up before the team leaves, as well as any standing repairs that need to be made. After that, it's onward to more and more brutal battle, as the Archangel has officially made the Falcons desperate to regain momentum. Major Victor Steiner-Davion's involvement may not be completed, either, as he may continue to play a role with the Strikers and Archangel, as well as the powerful role he will play in the future of the Inner Sphere.

Other than that, I don't have much else to add to the afterword, so I have two call-outs to give and the obligatory review replies.

First, of honorable mention, there is a story in the GS area called Battle of Gettysburg, In a New Way, by **Framing Armageddon**. It was initially in the Anime X-overs area, as was my Jokers Wild series for a while. I'll say this much: it is a busy story, with the confluence of a lot of different elements and plot-lines, and takes a bit of brainpower to follow. Still and all, if you want to see a rather brutal crossover retelling of the battle of Gettysburg, it is a good read.

Second, a frequent reader by the call-sign of **00idiot** has requested the right to break off an AU of the Archangel's Amazing Adventures, rather than going to Battletech he will diverge it at that breakpoint and follow a different path of worlds to wreak havoc upon. I definitely respect the differing path and look forward to the release; keep your eyes peeled for a different take on the chaos.

And now, for the review replies:

**Frasermage**, thx for the idea. I have always been a Star Wars fan, so there is a hint of validity to that thought.

**Gonging Apples**, thanks for the Merry Christmas calls. Stay tuned, it ain't over yet, and they still have to sort out the mafia involvement with the bar. And I don't think what I put in qualifies as a lemon, per se, though the fact that they did so is implied and reinforced with events in this chapter.

**Knives91**, thx for the review. Yeah, I can say that when pressed or pissed, Miriallia is not someone to hold back. And that bow of hers is very dangerous, and will continue to be very dangerous for some time.

**CHM01**, I have only one thing to say: from the last time I was on a shooting range (as opposed to my backyard) I have a silhouette target where I managed to put a .357 round into the target's nugz. It happens IRL, and far more frequently than anyone would admit. As to magic sk1llz, they will be improving. Note that Murrue seems to have gained telepathy now, which is going to be interesting for her, and it is possible that someone else may gain an advance of magic skills in the next chapter or two.

**Etienne of the west wind**, thx for the reply back. You will note that I have not covered what effect it had on Miriallia or Tolle or both, but I did cover the side effects in this chapter. Sparing the gory details, I think I will have to cover the rest in a vignette in the next chapter.

**Akasui**, once more than you for the review. Tolle is back on the Buster, though not stated his involvement in this chapter was pretty heavy, and the Clanners did not get a chance to flank him. Kira may be the most 'innocent' person on the ship, per se, though last I checked the Clanners are not all that big on personal relationships, either. So there may be some strife from that angle as well. And what is confusing you?

Thank you, one and all, for the reviews. Keep 'em coming, comrades, the _Archangel_'s nightmares need more fuel. Not that Frasermage's idea isn't the equivalent of a tanker truck of such petrol, but...

Next Up: when you have occupied a zone, be sure to tell the enemy you have done so.

* * *

Footnotes:

(1): C-F-C means Common Fucking Courtesy, something sorely lacking in many societies of late.

(2): the Rorynex is banned on hundreds of worlds because of the nature of the wounds it tends to inflict on a target. Military forces (including mercenaries) are exempt from that law, however.

(3): Yzak went SEED; it's time to get brutal.


	15. Separate Ways Worlds Apart

(Section 02, Chapter 07: Separate Ways (Worlds Apart))

(Dateline: 12 June 3050)

"All right, people, we have one major issue still outstanding before we can get off Twycross, much as the thought of free beer and props for quite a while may entice us to hang around," Captain Ramius begins the briefing. "Tony P, the local underground crime and mafia boss, has turned the heat up on the Twycross PPD and militia, and the Militia refuses to operate because of threats to their family and property. The Police aren't really set up to fight the insurgent battle that Tony's crew is running, but they can do it if we can take out their heavier assets. Summarily, they've contracted out to us to bring down his mechanized assets so the police forces can take down the rest."

"Finally, we get to finish that punk off," Yzak says with a very amused tone.

"Well, I must say that the Twycross PPD wants him alive, Yzak, but if he's taking shots at you I don't want you taking stupid chances. At the end of the day, I want everyone on this ship and ready to hit the enemy on our next destination."

"And what is our next destination?" Athrun asks.

"FedCom wants us to move straight on to the Wolves. The Falcons apparently are not in a hurry to continue their offense since we hammered their best Galaxy flat. They appear to be reinforcing their present positions and awaiting new orders; this may be grossly conservative for the Falcons, but they probably know that pressing the issue will get them cut off and destroyed by us."

"Enemies with brains, that's actually kinda scary," Nicol says.

"Well, if you look at it right, we have only ourselves to thank for that mistake. We beat the hell out of them, so they grow a brain to try again," Natarle says crossly. For the _Archangel_, annihilating them all was not a real option since the mobile compliment of the _Archangel_ was far less than the Clanners they beat the hell out of. On the other hand, that is what Natarle wanted to do, take them all out as a clear warning to the other Clans that such actions came with a very steep price tag.

"Regardless, we have that to look forward to in further pursuit of our FedCom contract, but we have tonight to deal with beforehand. Now, we have three things to cover here, then we begin preparing units for operation. First, the site is Tony's mansion, which is a walled large-scale residential structure, is about forty kilometers west of the starport. This facility is known to be guarded by four battlemechs, and while normally the Intelligence Secretariat would take down such forces, since we are available they are willing to pay out for us to do it. They will have no more assets than just APCs and personnel on-site, so we have to kill anything heavier. Second, before the Twycross PPD and the FedCom Intelligence Secretariat can begin to operate on-site, we have to take out any fixed emplacements of heavy weapons, like support lasers, support machine guns, or missile launchers, and any heavy weapons teams he may have. To that end, the_Archangel_ Marine team is also going to deploy as well to help secure the grounds. Third, once the FedCom IS team and the TPPD are on site, we are to provide assault support as necessary—again, an infantry function but it may also be needed for the Gundams to get in there and work it as well."

"Keep one thing in mind, people," Natarle says. "This is also going to be conducted simultaneous with operations on known gang-houses and drug-houses in the city, as well as ops against other suspected insurgents involved in this spike of violence over the past two weeks. We may end up being called into the city proper to assist the forces in there against enemy insurgents. We've had nine personnel downed in the city proper by gang violence, one of them seriously. Be prepared to put them down hard if necessary," Natarle concludes her additions with a rather cold tone of voice that actually chilled some of the crew to hear.

"Any questions?" Murrue asks. "All right, next phase. Units to be deployed are primarily going to be Duel, Yzak is it ready to go?"

"Yes, ma'am, 100 percent and waiting," Yzak replies with a good bit of cheer.

"Also to deploy is Blitz; Nicol, what is the status?"

"95 percent, I can deploy with no issues but some of the armor has been a bit thinned out on the left torso," which was where a FedCom Warhammer had hit him with a Kreuss PPC after the 'mech pilot jerked a shot out of fear from staring down a pair of Summoners. That PPC hit had knocked the blitz out of action when it roasted his left-side neural linkage completely, unlike the partial that Athrun had received when he went down. "Murdoch and crew are still preparing new plates for that area."

"Can the PS armor still stand up to incoming ballistic or missile hits?" Murrue asks to verify his survivability.

"Yes, ma'am, without issue," Nicol replies assuredly.

"Athrun, Aegis status?"

"No go, Captain, Aegis' guts are strung out all over the hangar." The fashion of his comment, though not deliberate in intended effect, was enough to make more than a few people in the briefing room grimace. He had, without trying, made it sound like they had gutted a living creature and dragged its entrails down the length of the hangar.

"Uh, Athrun, I think you're starting to pick up some bad habits from the hangar crew," Nicol says quietly to Athrun. In point of fact, Athrun had been doing a lot of work with the hangar crew of late, as had Kira, despite his aversion to Tolle's heavy metal music that they had somehow acquired.

"All right, Buster, your status?"

"I can deploy, everything should be nominal," Tolle says.

"Strike?" Murrue continues.

"Ready to go on all packs, Captain. You want Strike and Buster up on the foredeck (1)?"

"That would probably be best, give us sniper coverage over the area while Blitz and Duel go in close," she notes. "We're going to keep the Omnis and the Rune Gods on standby in case our deployed assets and the ship run into extra trouble. Also, the _Archangel_ will be in close to provide covering fire and heavy support, and if necessary the Gundams can re-board and the ship will pursue a fleeing target. I rest assured they'll run out of fuel faster than we will," Murrue notes with a hint of humor; that was completely disregarding the fact that the _Archangel_ was a floating gun battery that could and would mulch anything as meager as a passenger vehicle with unarmored personnel in it.

"Roger that," Yzak says coldly. He _so_ wanted to take Tony P to the cleaners by way of his beam rifle, but orders were orders: capture preferred, but don't risk your life grossly to capture him alive.

"All right, without further ado, all personnel to stations, we depart in one hour."

"Any particular reason why you're holding the 'Mechs back?" Mu asks after everyone else files out.

"There's a difference between fighting to win and fighting way too aggressively, Commander. Using the Gundams is more than enough, even Tolle could manhandle the enemy right now. Using all four Gundams, the Rune Gods and the Timber Wolf is way too much."

"Oh, so now we're overkill, is it?" Mu asks in a tone of humor as Murrue sits down next to him. "I'm sure the girls would love to hear that."

"Actually, probably not," Murrue says. "They like the concept of fighting a lot less than we do," and it went unstated that the personnel of the_Archangel_ did not like fighting whatsoever. "It's just, it seems we're stuck with the war, for now, I guess." She braces her chin on the table in front of her. "It gets depressing, thinking about it all the time."

_The view gets better and better, though_, Mu thinks as he eyes more than just her facial expression.

"Oh, yeah, I forgot to tell you, didn't I?"

"What?" Mu asks, suddenly a bit shocked at the change of her demeanor.

"I seem to have developed telepathy, though not quite as powerful as Miriallia's, yet at least."

_Oh, shit_, Mu thinks, though he says "Oh, wow, this is getting stranger and stranger all the time," he says with a bit of exasperation.

"Tell me about it." She leans back in the chair next to Mu. "I've been doing a lot of thinking lately, about what I'd want to do when we get back home, and the answer that keeps coming to mind is...well...borderline."

"Borderline what?" Mu asks, avoiding actively thinking about the view at present.

"Well, borderline anti-Earth Alliance. I think Kira has the right of it, what we are fighting now is a valid reason to fight, what is going on at home isn't a valid reason for fighting."

"So, you're out as well, I take it." Not a question, but a clarification.

"Oh, come on, Commander," Murrue begins with a hint of disgust. "Don't tell me you haven't seen the writing on the wall over the past few years, much less the venom of the war before this happened to us."

"I don't mean _that_, Captain, serious," Mu backpedals quite quickly. "The kid does have something of a point in what he told us the day after Flay tried skewering him. Not to mention if you need proof of what that kind of hatred is, all you need to do is go talk to Flay." Flay had been known to be vindictive, but she had apparently also liberally coated one wall of her cell with ways to kill or torture Kira. The other two had other things written on them; Murrue was beginning to wonder if Flay could be considered sane at all at present. _And one of those torture ways seems to be 'sleep with Kira' and about a dozen different variations_, Mu thinks aloud.

"Commander, you're being a pervert again," Murrue notes.

"I'm just trying to figure out why she considers that such a valid form of torture," Mu notes aloud and quite honestly.

Murrue sighs wearily. "Kira is the most straight-laced person I've met in quite a while. He doesn't normally do anything like that, which is why Flay would consider it a form of torture to use on him. Except, none of that matters now, she is banned from non-duty contact with Kira."

"One, I don't think that is going to hold up in practice, and two, if she keeps using that form of torture on him, she'll find herself pregnant."

"And which one of us warns her about that?" Murrue asks as a level rejoinder to Mu's rather crass (and obvious) comment.

"I walked right into that one," Mu says dejectedly.

"Yeah, you seem to have a bad habit of that lately, Hawk of Endymion," Murrue says in a teasing fashion.

- - - - -

"All Gundams, report ready status," Miriallia orders over the radio.

"Duel, ready for op," Yzak replies. He was not now as cheery as he had been an hour prior, now he was cold and calm, professional in a word.

"Blitz, ready for op," Nicol says. His mind was slightly distracted, in remembrance of last night as once again Miriallia and Tolle had been going at it, though this was not the twelve-hour 'incident' that they had run the first night. Even still, with his quarters that close to the lovers, and his link to Miriallia through their magic gloves, it was a feeling that Nicol figured he'd not live long enough to experience, especially with the way the Strike pilot was becoming ever the more competent in battle. Strictly speaking he was not going to object, everyone needed their own way to cope with the stress, but was getting a bit annoying...

"Buster, ready and waiting," Tolle replies. Nicol could tell his was a tone of determination, as he was still getting used to using the Buster and he probably felt that he would never match up to Dearka. Nicol could sympathize; there was times that even he felt that he was not 'qualified' to be one of the Gundam pilots when wagered against Athrun or Kira.

"Launcher Strike, ready for op," Kira declares.

"Helm, Conn, ahead one third, set your course at 2-1-0 and altitude of forty meters," Captain Ramius orders.

"Course 2-1-0 at forty meters, ahead one third, aye," Mina replies as she dials all the appropriate settings into the controls for the levitator, then begins advancing the throttles slowly. To turn, rather than using a combat bank turn, she used her rudder pedals to ease it over to the requested heading. "On course 2-1-0, forty meters up, speed at one third," Mina reports after she double-checks the consoles.

"Thank you. Keep her steady for now, there should be no obstructions in our flight path. CIC, report status," Murrue requests.

"CIC and mobile forces report ready op," Natarle says.

"Sensors, Conn, report status," Murrue requests.

"Conn, Sensors, I show no traffic in area, ground or air. Flight path appears clear at this time. No enemy ECM detected."

"Conn, Radio, I have a report from the TPP that they are ready to begin when you call."

"Roger that," Murrue says.

"What the..." Sai mutters, then changes modes on his console. "Oh, crap! Conn, sensors, we're being tracked!"

"What?" Murrue asks, looking down and left, behind her chair to Sai's normal seat.

"Someone's tracking us! Oh, shit, they've locked us up!" Sai's voice held quite the hint of worry, since most the time the Archangel was tracked but the mobile forces took the enemy down faster than they could fire on the ship. In this case, that wasn't an option, nobody had been launched yet.

"Activate ECM, weps prepare all missile tubes and Valiants. Sai, plot their tracking location—" Their location became painfully obvious after a few impacts that were close enough to the front windows of the conning tower that it had Captain Ramius' attention.

"Targets! I have twelve contacts confirmed, four battlemechs and eight ground vehicles close aboard! Configurations not recognized!"

Murrue had the main monitor slaved to where the sensors were seeing the enemies. "Those are triple-A units, all of them. Rifleman is the 'mech, the tanks are Partisan units. And they unloading on us for sure," Murrue says as their fire raked back and forth down the underside of the hull, though they were shooting at a Warship, not a Dropship and certainly not a fighter. "Weps, prepare—"

"Captain, wouldn't it be easier to use one of the Gundams for this detail?" Natarle asks.

"Which one?" Murrue asks back.

"Buster would be the best bet, so long as he starts off by taking out the four Rifleman machines." _After those Riflemen are down, Tolle can stomp on the tanks to get rid of them_, Natarle thinks.

"Roger that, deploy Buster," Murrue orders.

- - - - -

"Buster on Right, requesting launch," Tolle says as he finishes positioning Buster for the cat-shot.

"Buster, you are authorized. Make sure you come back alive," Miriallia orders him from her position up in the bridge.

_Don't stop moving until they don't have any threatening weapons to use on you_, Tolle recites Athrun's parting words in his mind. "Tolle Koenig, Buster, launching!" He advances the throttle past the takeoff point as the catapults immediately kick in and launch his Gundam out and actually through a hailstorm of incoming autocannon fire. Each of the enemy machines mounted at least two Autocannons, and the tanks each mounted a quad of the cannons to the exclusion of other weapons. On the way down, one of the Riflemen scratched his right arm with a Large Laser, though a scratch hardly counted as something of a major worry to a Gundam pilot.

To make sure that he didn't take any crippling damage, Tolle began using random jinking maneuvers on his way to the ground to evade their tracking; he could not dodge the autocannon shells coming up at him in volley, but for those his machine was defended with Phase Shift armor that resisted kinetic energy or explosive energy attacks. While jinking he reached back his Gundam's arms and unlocked the Buster's weapons, the Gun Launcher and Beam Cannon, for use as soon as he hit the ground. As a harassment technique, Tolle fired the vulcans at the nearest of the Riflemen before he touched down.

As he came down and settled, one of the Riflemen took a full-on Valiant slug in the side, first crushing in the left arm, barreling through the left torso, blitzed through the center torso structure and specifically the gyro, and came out the right torso sideways. The machine itself traveled with the direction of the shot for over fifteen meters and skidded to a stop, unmoving; Tolle thought he could see some kind of red stain on the cockpit window. Before the nearest of the Riflemen could draw a bead on him with its close-in Medium Lasers, Tolle had the Buster moving at a skew angle toward and aside of the enemy machine, which coincidentally put him directly charging down two of the Partisan AA Tanks. While running one direction, he was looking at the nearby Rifleman; he began with four of the heavy missiles (three hit, one in the left leg, one in the left torso, and one in the center torso), a shot of the gun launcher (the pattern spread all over the enemy machine, but most of it was centered on the left torso of the machine) and finally another volley of the vulcans, the last of which caused a sparking reaction of some kind in the left torso as he raked it back and forth across the central body section of the machine.

The second of the Riflemen machines was moving in the exact opposite direction of Tolle's machine, and using that as a counterbalance to try to flank and suppress the Gundam. At 800 meters it managed to miss with both of the arm-mounted Magna Mk. III Large Lasers but did not miss with the Magna Mk. II Medium Lasers, both of which scored into the Buster just under the left arm in the side torso area. Though neither managed to penetrate, this still caused a significant amount of armor damage to that region of the Gundam's exterior (2). Tolle performed one of his favorite tricks in the simulator that seemed to confuse the enemy AI badly, testing the waters to see if it worked on real opponents. He immediately hauled back on the throttle to bring the Gundam to a dead stop, then hammered the thrusters while the throttle was still back, which basically caused him to jump-jet backwards just barely skimming over the ground. The same Rifleman missed with all four of the lasers and both Autocannons this time, and found himself staring down the two weapons of the Buster at close range (under 100 meters) just before Tolle pulled both triggers. Being close, the pattern of the Gun Launcher was a lot smaller than at range, and Tolle had both crosshairs centered over the enemy right torso. The beam hit first, and immediately shredded the main structural support of that torso section (much less vaporized the armor off it), to be followed hotly by half the pattern of the gun launcher that chewed at both the center armor and the internal structure. The right-side arm of the machine hit the ground a bare moment before some support fire came in from the _Archangel_ in the form of four volleys of LRM-20. These missile volley hit the ground around it and the machine itself, extenuating the damage to it even further as the missiles continued to eat at the armor of the torso and the legs, and even to the point of destroying the large laser in the remaining arm after punching through the armored housing behind the weapon's barrel. For the first of Tolle's official kills, he sighted the enemy up with the beam cannon and fired a dead-center shot on its chest, the beam scorched through what was left of the center armor and punched a massive hole in the reactor housing.

Tolle was very abruptly reminded of the two remaining enemy machines by incoming autocannon fire, even as one of them was knocked flat by a trio of Autocannon-10 volley that hammered it into the ground relentlessly. The second machine was grazed by three of the emerald-beam Medium Pulse Lasers and took hits from two flights of Streak SRM-6 launcher, though it remained standing and was still slighting up the Buster, as the Partisan unit continued raking the _Archangel_ with autocannon fire. Those Autocannon shells that hit him exploded harmlessly on his armor, though served as a reminder to keep moving as he jammed the throttle forward again and swiveled his torso to look at the standing and fallen enemy machines. His launch silos popped open again as he dispatched another quad of the heavy missiles toward the enemy, two to each of the enemy machines. This time, all four hit, though on the downed machine both struck in the left leg and caused moderate damage to the internal structure after obliterating most of the leg armor. Of the machine that was standing, the missiles struck both side torsos, one above the laser, one directly on the laser housing that destroyed the beam focusing lens and rendered that laser inoperable.

As the missiles were in flight, Tolle snapped over the gun launcher and combined it into the anti-armor shotgun configuration and immediately centered it on the standing machine. The pilot of the Rifleman had a bare second to wonder what the hell the enemy freak-machine was doing before Tolle pulled back on the trigger. The 40mm charged shot of the weapon combo hit the target for the most part, very little spilled around the edges at the range between them; this had the devastating effect of blowing one arm clean off and shredding the torso to the point that the pilot ejected himself, but only after four of the shot punched through his cockpit window and kicked up some spall that cut into his arms and side badly.

The last of the Riflemen had propped itself up using one of its arms and taken aim at the Buster using the other; it was at the wrong angle to use the paired medium lasers, though not for want of trying as it fired them as well. The Magna Mk. III Large Laser, an exceptional laser in its own right used on several 'mechs, struck dead-on and blitzed through the right torso of the Gundam and into the internal structure. It managed to miss the neural linkage, the missile launchers, and the hydraulics contained in that section, but it did not miss the main thrusters on that side of the machine. "Tolle's hit!" Tolle shouts as he checks his status panel. "Nothing serious, armor and a thruster. Continuing mission,"

"Use caution, Tolle, that enemy machine is still alive and tracking you!" Miriallia half-shouts at him.

"Not for long," Tolle says as he unlinks the Buster's weapons and reverses them, converting them from a shotgun into a sniper rifle. He was still moving to avoid getting hit a second time by the enemy, whose nerves were so frayed already that his machine's arm was shaking visibly. Tolle had to stop, though, to sight up the enemy for one accurate shot, and the enemy took advantage of this fact just as he did. Both fired at exactly the same time, though with two wildly varying results. The ruby-red beam of laser zoomed to and punched through the left leg of the Buster, completely going through the leg and out the back of the thigh; the transit missed the structure by a matter of centimeters, but it severed the main hydro line for the leg. Tolle's shot penetrated the enemy left torso, blitzed through armor and internal structure completely, and was angled so that it dug into the center area of the machine, where the shot found the enemy reactor and fatally breached it. The sight as the enemy machine cooked off in a primary and secondary explosion was spectacular, and enough to throw the other three machines in proximity away from the blast.

"Enemy Battlemechs downed," Tolle notes over the radio. With a few toggles, he had the external speakers set and was marching toward the Partisan units, some of which were training their guns downward on his machine. "Attention enemy anti-air unit, you will shut down your engines and weapons systems and evacuate your tanks in an orderly fashion or further action will be taken against your units;" Tolle had broken down his weapons and sighted up the nearest of the enemy tanks. "And you don't want to see what 'further action' will do to a tank." Of course, the flip side of his comment was also the rather nasty but rarely-advertised fact that the guns on a Partisan had a very inconvenient minimum range, whereby it was harder for them to target even a stationary enemy at close range than at longer ranges. Only about five of the enemy machines farthest away from him had a good chance at hitting him; the others were too close to do any good without backing off, which would have been a dead giveaway as to their intent.

After a few moments, the tank turrets began centering to their main body and locking in place, and Tolle's sensors picked up the electromagnetic variance shift as the systems in the tanks were turned off. Within a minute, the crews of each machine had evacuated the machines and were all sitting on the front glacis plate of armor, staring at the abused but still wildly effective Buster. Nobody bothered running; they had seen the compliment of weapons that the Buster had and knew that something as foolhardy as running was a major mistake they would not survive.

"Buster reporting, all enemy forces have surrendered. Request infantry support to secure tank crews and the one enemy ejected pilot, over."

A minute later: "Buster,_Archangel_, TPP support is two minutes out. We will hold position at this time until support arrives."

- - - - -

"Helm, Conn, keep her steady, when we get to that forest swing her around to port on the far side until you settle on course 1-9-5."

"Swing around the forest onto course 1-9-5, aye," Mina replies. They were still two minutes away from beginning the turn, though the main operations plan was now unfolding behind Murrue's seat.

"Miriallia, please have the Blitz and Duel launch and vector in on overland march," Natarle orders.

"Duel, Blitz, you are authorized to launch and walk it in," Miriallia orders. In days prior Yzak would have at least mentally chafed against taking orders from a Natural; any more, he just did not get pissed off about dealing with Naturals, since he seemed to be fated to do it any more and after a fashion he held no real objections to anybody on the ship, with the exception of Flay.

"Oh, double-direction assault, sneaky," Nicol says as he immediately realizes what the bridge was planning. By forcing them to attack two different directions, they would have to split their effort in countering the assault, which made the affair that much easier for the _Archangel_.

"Follow me in, Nicol, and don't bother being nice about it," Yzak says as he lands from the cat-shot. "These shits have earned it," he continues in something approaching a low growl.

"Roger that," Nicol says as they both jam their throttles to the max walking pace. They had a running speed and a sprinting speed still, but neither of them were planning on using that at present; best to hold some of their performance in reserve as a rude shock to the enemy.

"Miriallia, you may have the Strike deploy to the forward Deck in Launcher weps config," Natarle orders.

"Strike, control. You are go for sniper detail on the forward deck with Launcher Strike, over," Miriallia orders.

"Got it," Kira replies as he walks down the launch catapult on the starboard side and jumps up onto the central forward deck section. He had Agni set up on a feed coming straight from the ship's accumulator, by which he could fire Agni in a mode that he had just written into the Strike's control software. He figured it was going to be a very rude shock to the enemy when he deployed this little surprise on them...

The only kink in the existing battle plan was that they had to hangar the Buster due to the fact that it could not walk right now, which made it a sitting duck for even sniper detail. That meant that the ship had only one 'sniper' unit deployed...

...Or not. "Captain Ramius, Windam—err, Fuu wishes to speak with you," Miriallia says.

"Go ahead, Fuu," Murrue says after she picks up a growler phone.

"Captain, since the Buster is out of operation, I was wondering if it is possible for one of the Rune Gods to use its weapon while connected to the ship's power system," Fuu asks.

"I...whoa. I don't know, hold on a second." She dials in the frequency that Kira had reserved for his machine only. "Strike, _Archangel_," Murrue prompts.

"What's up, Captain?" Kira asks.

"Can the Buster's weapons be used by connection to the ship's power grid by one of the Rune gods?" she asks, not entirely sure how she wanted to go about asking it herself.

"Uh, no, the Buster's weapons require FCS telemetry to work right, same with Agni or our beam rifles. The only weapon we have that can be dead-fired like that would be the EM Rifle on the Lightning Striker," he says after about ten seconds of considering it.

"Can that rifle be fed from the ship's power grid like you are running Agni right now?"

"Yes, it can," Kira replies. He had built in a power connection for it so he could charge it straight from the ship, allowing it to be used as something akin to a gauss machine gun, since the hand plugs on the Gundams could not feed enough power to it to be fired any more than once every other second. In connection to the ship, it could fire once every 100ms, or ten times a second, and each slug was as powerful as Shiva on the Duel. After that, it only took a second. "Which Rune God?"

"Windam. Fuu." Murrue's voice clearly stated she did not want to send Fuu into battle, even as a sniper.

"If any of them, Fuu would be the best bet." _Nicol might not be all that pleased about it, but_...

"Very well, I'm deploying Windam to join you," Murrue says reluctantly. After changing radio frequencies: "Windam, _Archangel_ Conn, you are authorized on the starboard catapult to receive the Lightning Strike EM Rifle, then report to the front deck to connect it to power grid for use. It is an iron sight rifle, Fuu, the Buster's weapons rely on the Gundam for telemetry, so the Rune Gods can't fire them."

"Understood, thank you Captain," Windam moved forward into the taxiway and right, toward the Starboard catapult where she stopped at the Strike's Striker Pack mechanism. The two parts of the EM Rifle come out from the sides, though the rest of the Strike Pack does not deploy. She had seen Kira use the EM Rifle before, and she knew how to assemble the rifle and unlock the handle so it could be used.

"Sir Yamato," Fuu says by way of greeting when she arrives on the foredeck of the ship.

"Fuu," Kira acknowledges. "There's a power connection right below your Rune God. I should warn you, I modified that rifle to fire automatically when it charges back up. Don't hold the trigger down for more than just a moment."

"Right," Fuu says as she connects the power dongle to the bottom of the EM rifle. It was on a self-retracting cable that extended when needed and drew itself back in so to avoid tripping up the connected machine.

"Duel to all forces, we're engaging a crapload here at the enemy mansion, repeat, I count at least eight plus some vehicles," Yzak says hurriedly. Before his radio cut out everyone could hear the translated sound of a PPC striking his shield, which lent credence to his declaration.

"Duel, Control, roger that," Miriallia replies. "Can you hold?"

"For a little while, command, but any support would be nice as fast as possible," Nicol notes.

_It must be bad if they are asking for support_, Murrue thinks. "Helm, ramp it up and get us around that forest pronto!"

"Uh, roger that," Mina replies.

"I'll take it from here, Mina," Newman notes.

"Go for it," Mina replies, dividing her attention between her array of controls and what Newman was doing. Within moments, he had advanced the throttles to the point that the ship was up to 30 percent power.

That gave it more speed than the fastest of Inner Sphere helicopters, and they still had a lot of power in reserve. After the ship got up to speed, Newman began a graceful port-side bank that took the ship around the side of the forest and kept it close, while continually bringing it closer to where they wanted to be. After a few minutes, they were in range of what they feared: the Duel and Blitz were holding their own but were decisively engaged by four-to-one odds, and that not including the enemy vehicles which could not readily cause damage with anything but energy weapons.

"What the hell kinda monster is that thing?" Chandratta asks as his sights cross over some very large and sharply-angled tank with three barrels in a turret assembly.

"I don't know..." Murrue notes as she pirates his feed. After a few moments of adjusting its turret, the enemy vehicle unleashes a barrage of three PPC blasts at the Blitz, all three of which connect on its right leg and completely blow it off mid-thigh. "Holy shit, a PPC carrier," Murrue says. "Weps, snipers fire at will, Deploy Rayearth and Selesce, then deploy Timber Wolf."

"Nicol!" Fuu gasps immediately as she realized that Nicol's Gundam had been downed. She immediately sights up the offending enemy vehicle, gives it what she thought would be an appropriate lead for the still-moving ship, and fires. Kira had been devastatingly right about the gun she held, it would be a demon if she held the trigger down long enough. In this case, it had unleashed five slugs before she let off the trigger, three of which hit in the front of the vehicle and two of which barreled into the softer center of the vehicle. Just like that, Fuu had turned one of their most devastating weapons into a smoking wreck.

"Nicol, report your status!" Miriallia shouts as she notices the Blitz was not moving.

"My Gundam's got no leg, Mir, but I'll be all right. I'm playing dead right now for a reason, hopefully they won't waste effort on me for now."

"Fire orders?" Chandratta requests of the Captain.

"Fire Valiants, Gottfrieds, missiles. Point defense weapons as they get into range," Murrue orders.

"Roger that," Chandratta replies as he begins hammering out fire commands to the computer. The ship's main guns belched four emerald beams, one of which made a lucky contact against an enemy missile 'mech that bore a striking resemblance to the Timber Wolf that was just launching at that moment. The pilot of the enemy machine punched out just as Mu hit the ground and skidded to a stop before he began looking around for his best assault vector.

The enemy had arrayed themselves into a firing line, and were taking shots at the Rune Gods, the _Archangel_, and the two on the ground (Duel and Timber Wolf), while another 'mech hung back and was taking long-range shots at the Duel with missile launchers.

"How the hell does a criminal kingpin have this many 'mechs? And why didn't he cough up when we asked for them against the Clanners?" Natarle asks in a frustrated voice. On deck, Kira had sighted up the enemy heaviest machine, one that was armed exactly the same as the Schreck PPC carrier, and fired a shot of Agni at it. The blast missed by expedient of zooming between its legs, though without a doubt that multi-colored streak of energy had their attention to a man.

"We'll ask the shitheads later. Chandratta, put a volley of missiles straight down their row," Murrue orders. Within seconds, twelve missiles were inbound to compliment the two Rune Gods, two snipers, one surviving Gundam, and one Omnimech. As with the unrealized issues with the Helldarts, part of the missiles hit had caused warhead fratricide among their ranks, and of the twelve only eight got to the target area intact. One machine took two this dead-on and was crippled, the pilot ejecting. The Awesome took a hit to the right leg but remained standing. A real badass machine that looked (sort of) kin to the Summoner took one in the left arm and completely sheared said arm off. Two hit the ground and threw smaller machines to the ground from the translated explosions. One struck an enemy Centurion in the head and completely decapitated it. The eighth missile struck a Wolfhound in the center torso and blew through the engine, causing the pilot to eject.

"Conn, Sensors, enemy support forces on the road to the south," Sai says as the enemy begins locking the Duel and Timber Wolf up. They were inexpensive LRM carriers, designed to present a mass volley of missiles to the forces that would be a hail of death to just about anything caught in that barrage. Except, the Duel and Blitz, the main focus of those barrages, were Phase Shift protected and not in the least harmed by the incoming ordinance, despite the serious scuffing the Assault Shroud was taking.

A Valiant slug slammed into the ground just under the 'mech with the equivalent weapons to the Schreck, the kinetic impact translate caused it to be lifted into the air about two meters and come crashing down to the ground face-first. It did not readily move at that time, though the Sensors could tell it was not dead per se, though the pilot may have been knocked unconscious. Kira had been sighting it up again, though when it went down he traversed to the support vehicles, LRM Carriers that he had seen a half-dozen of in the planetary militia, and sighted them up. The port-side Gottfrieds got two of them, so he got the third with Agni as it was trundling northbound on the road in front of the mansion, which was on the far side of the mansion to them.

Hikaru had moved against the medium-range enemy tanks that were trying to flank the forces, a combination of speed and guns but not armor protection, as her sword proved when it stabbed straight through the turret of a Goblin and into the main body of the machine at an angle that put the tip of the blade into the crankshaft of the engine. Rayearth had commented on the power of the enemy laser and how it had got his attention, though he was rather amazed that for forces with such powerful weapons their defensive capabilities were rather sub-par in the Rune God's opinion. Hikaru directed Rayearth around and to the left, where a pair of boxy enemy wheeled tanks with missile racks were harassing the Timber Wolf as it shot at smaller, faster enemy hovercraft. Umi had seized two of those in her _**Sapphire Whirlwind**_ spell, which had caused enough damage to the vehicles that when they hit the ground almost a kilometer away they exploded from their fuel tanks and ordinance cooking off. Hikaru chopped one of the tanks in half laterally, the engine making a guttural grinding noise as it spewed motor oil out as if a living creature spewing blood; when she hauled her sword clear, it was coated liberally in green-yellow coolant, 10W-40 engine oil, and the human blood of a crewmember that was in the wrong part of the tank at the wrong time. The second wheeled support tank had zeroed in on the Rune God and fired its six-tube SRM rack at the head of the Rune God; four of the missiles contacted the head and shoulders, the other two flew clear over the Rune God and fell to the ground harmlessly. Hikaru, after having her stomach turned by the three colors of blood from the last tank, decided she would play it different on this one, since Rayearth seemed to notice but not slow from the hits. With her free left hand, she picked up the tank one-handed and slammed it into the ground, at the least giving the crew a serious case of whiplash. As it hit the ground, the turret was dislodged from its ring and the tank showed no signs of doing anything at present; this was all well and good, because Hikaru had sighted the most ungodly monster of a Battlemech that had walked clear of the enemy hangar.

Yzak found he had a helping hand when taking on the 'kin of the Summoner' machine; as he put a beam into its heavy centerline armor, Fuu put another five-round burst into it, followed by four rounds of Gauss Rifle slugs from the forward anti-air batteries of the _Archangel_ (_Archangel Mod 1_ as he was beginning to think of it). The combined hits knocked it out of service as the exposed engine gave off a puff of flame on its way down backwards, its pesky array of lasers silenced forevermore. Immediately behind it, however, he got a very rude shock as the Thunderbolt 'mech fell away to reveal something bigger and far uglier than the one he just knocked down. The fact that it was matte gray with neon purple trim made it all the more clashing and made Yzak question the pilot's sanity.

"So these are the almighty Gundams that have trashed the best of the Jade Falcons..." the enemy pilot was transmitting in the clear, and even Yzak's systems were able to identify the massive enemy machine as the source of the transmission. For what it was worth, the five-tube missile system on its left breast hocked four salvos of the smaller LRMs at 500 meters, the few missiles that would have hit were intercepted by Yzak's vulcans. "Not bad, I see why the press likes you guys. How about this?" Below the five-silo LRM-20 launcher (3) was a six-silo SRM launcher, and across the massive torso from the SRM stack was a single-barrel AC/20, both of which barked ordinance into the Duel that caused it to stagger badly, even as the enemy charged onward at him. That was enough to skew his first beam shot, though before the cannon or missiles could reload he was centered back on target and had fired once into the enemy right torso, then once into the center torso, then once into the right arm. In each case, each shot flashed over a ton of armor to vapor, yet the machine shrugged the hits off as if they were not a big deal at all.

"What the fuck?" Yzak asks his cockpit monitors as the enemy machine continues inward, closing inexorably as he hammered the left torso and left arm with a round of Shiva apiece. Still, despite the heavy impacts, the enemy machine kept coming onward. Yzak even fired the rarely-used 175mm Grenade Launcher into the enemy machine's center torso, and it still appeared as if he had not breached the armor on it!

"My turn, little man," The enemy pilot declares as he hammers the Duel with another volley of Autocannon-20, the paired heavy slugs blitzed through the exterior Assault Shroud armor and exploded on the Phase Shift armor below it, again off-balancing the Duel as the enemy closed to hand-to-hand range. Yzak made one grave miscalculation as he realized the enemy intent, and instead of dropping aside his beam rifle he made the mistake of taking the time to rack it on the Duel's right hip and then reached for a beam saber. This gave the enemy pilot enough time to execute his strike: the enemy machine reared back and punched in, over the shield of the Duel and straight into the head of the enemy machine; the strike force was enough that it completely ripped the head clean off the Duel and sent it rolling for a hot two dozen meters on the ground behind the Duel. This drew sharp gasps from everyone that was witness to it; thus far, the only time the Duel had taken that kind of damage was against the Strike, on the first day of the engagement on Cephiro. (4)

"Holy shit! My cameras are all out!" Yzak had never had a chance to draw his beam saber before losing his head, so he had no way to see the enemy and no way to effectively force him back. Most of his inaction was due to plain shock at the effective single strike and the amount of abuse he had delivered to no apparent avail.

What happened next was the stuff of nightmares of Inner Sphere pilots, whom had long heard horror tales of the prowess of this type and model of 'mech. The Duel, with the Assault Shroud on, was not a light machine by any standards; in fact, it massed well over 100 tons. This being said, even that did not slow down the enemy machine as the 'mech heaved up the Duel by grabbing the shoulder (and coincidentally stripping Shiva off the shoulder armor, which reduced its weight significantly) and by grabbing the Duel's crotch. Yzak had the singularly unsettling feeling of feeling his machine get turned on its side, then the temporary weightless feeling as it was thrown to the ground and slammed into the concrete helicopter pad he had taken position on. As if that was not enough, the next thing he heard was **CLANG** as the enemy machine kicked the side of his Gundam while it was down, though the side was protected by Phase Shift and took no damage from that strike. (5)

"Who is next?" The enemy pilot asks on open channels.

"Yzak!" Umi shouts over the radio, which unlike that of the Gundams and Battlemechs was open broadcast.

"Ow, my friggin' head, man," Yzak replies blearily; he had busted his head three times during the flight and impact.

"Try me next, maggot," Mu says as he centers the torso of the Timber Wolf on the enemy machine and rattles off both packs of missiles at it. Of the 28 missiles that hit, ten landed in the left torso, five in the right torso, five into the center torso, another five into the left torso, and the last three hit the enemy in the right thigh, barely scratching the paint and pocking the armor where struck. "Whoa, that is a walking monster," Mu notes as the enemy machine still appeared to have all of its internal locations still shrouded behind armor. As the enemy began with his LRMs, Mu jammed the throttle to the stops in the reverse direction, actually, to put some distance between him and the enemy. As he continued backwards he reached out with the ER Medium Lasers in each arm and the Medium Pulse Laser mounted below the right LRM pack, the latter weapon being just barely in maximum attack range, the former being at the maximum of what was considered 'long' range for their use. All three lasers contacted the enemy machine, though with Mu walking backwards he missed the optimal killing placement and two of the lasers contacted the left leg of the machine while the pulse laser contacted the right leg, immediately flashing more than a ton and a quarter of armor to vapor and slag in an instant. And still the enemy machine gave the impression of not slowing down whatsoever, though it was not really fast to begin with.

"What—a Hunchback! Hikaru, watch out!" Fuu shouts from her overwatch position, immediately centering the EM rifle on it, though her shots were not fast enough to help Hikaru as the snide-ass pilot inside chuckled mirthlessly while hammering her with a massive single-slug autocannon shell. Fuu's burst of five shots arrived a moment too late to stop him, though they definitely hit his machine twice, once in each arm. Rayearth was knocked to the ground in the course of the hit, and while down the enemy pilot applied both medium lasers to the Rune God as well.

"That isn't fair!" Kira shouts on the open channel as he sights up the enemy machine and fires a tap of Agni. The shot barely grazed the inside of the left leg of the enemy, certainly not enough to slow it down even as the beam carved a glowing-red-hot crescent out of the inside of its leg armor.

"Jesus! Those shots were almost four kilometers!" one of the pilots on the enemy side shouts.

"Slick bastards, but too bad they let their ground forces become divided and overwhelmed," this was the voice of a third pilot, another massive 'mech that Sai immediately recognized from his involvement with the Twycross Militia.

"Conn, Sensors, confirm enemy Hunchback and Zeus battlemechs have come out of the hangar and are assaulting Rayearth and Selesce," Sai says as the Zeus sights up and unloads on Selesce. The missiles and Autocannon missed by dint of Selesce being the fastest and nimblest of the Rune Gods, though the Thunderbolt A5M Large Laser and Defiance B3M Medium Laser did not miss their mark. As Selesce withdrew back to reengage at Umi's discretion and choosing, the Zeus refocused its main guns on the downed Rayearth, unloading the two arm-mount weapons in lieu of letting the lasers be for now to cool the innards of the 'mech. At a range of 600 meters the missiles and autocannon had little trouble striking the Rune god that was still attempting to stand up, though the damage to Rayearth from such light weapons systems was less than trivial. By the time the autocannon on the Hunchback finished loading and was 'up' for use, Rayearth was back on its feet and had the shield braced for it. The second shot was far less impressive than the first.

"Chandratta!" Murrue shouts.

"No can do, Captain, if the shot is off by more than two degrees, kiss Rayearth goodbye," Chandratta replies hurriedly.

"Sniper team, do you have a shot?" Natarle asks, sensing that if someone did not get Rayearth some relief real fast they would be explaining what went wrong to a second crewmember's mother. "Rayearth, pull back 1000 meters and regroup with Selesce!" Natarle orders immediately.

"Windam, no shot at this time," Fuu replies. Her angle was worse than Chandratta's off the starboard-side Valiant.

"Strike, I have a shot to the Zeus, I got jack on the Hunchback," Kira says as he sights up the Zeus in the distance.

"Take the shot, Strike," Natarle orders.

Agni spoke, the two-color beam lanced out at the enemy machine that was just barely on the inside of four kilometers away from the Strike. Over that distance the Hyper Impulse beam bled off a quarter of its striking power, but when it struck the enemy machine in the hip plate it blitzed through the center of the machine and quite literally came out the arse of the assault 'mech. The pilot punched out almost immediately as the legs of the 'mech lost most of their structural link to the rest of the body and folded in under the machine; after about a second and a half, the whole 'mech collapsed under its own weight straight down.

Single shot, single kill striking power was grossly unheard of in the Battlemech world, even when driving and especially when facing down assault machines. The Hunchback, the nearer of the two surviving machines, was rather stunned that a sniper unit had taken down a Zeus in one shot; worse still was the fact that they had assumed these Gundams were overrated because of their hype and battle record of getting lucky against the Clanners, when in one shot they just proved that their actions were not hype, they were very real and very powerful. Still and all, the pilot had a clear foe and good range to the enemy, so he reselected his autocannon and deliberately targeted the Rune God's exposed right shin. With one heavy slug to the knee, Rayearth hit the ground; the slug had never penetrated, but the impact and subsequent explosion as the shell detonated broke the right knee and made it impossible for Rayearth to stand.

"Ow!" Hikaru was undoubtedly gripping her own right knee, as the impact that translated from one to the other would definitely be painful. As confirmation: "I feel as if I just broke my leg!"

"I'm clear! Taking the shot!" Fuu squeezes off another five-round burst, just as Chandratta fires all four of the forward-mount Clan Gauss Rifles and the three forward-mount ER PPC weapons. Chandratta, the ship's senior shooter and all-around trigger-happy firearm fanatic, had managed to put all seven of the rounds from the ship into the Hunchback; Fuu hit with three of her five shots, the other two came dangerously close to Rayearth but did not contact. In a matter of three-quarters of a second, the enemy hunchback became a smoking crumpled wreck as three PPCs and seven Gauss Rifle slugs tore off both arms, the left leg, and mauled the left and center torso sections of the enemy machine to the point that the machine spun around 180 degrees before falling to a skidding stop on the ground.

"Excellent shooting Fuu, Chandratta," Murrue notes over an open band.

"Rayearth, report status," Miriallia orders next.

"I'm still alive, but I think that last shot broke Rayearth's right knee. I can't stand."

_It did break the knee in question. Thine foes' arms are not to be taken lightly_, Rayearth grumps telepathically to everyone in the area.

"Mu, do you require support?"

"Negative, I think I can overpower this one," Mu says as he unloads both missile racks again, this time following up with both ER Large Lasers. One of the lasers missed completely, went wide by a margin of two meters. The missiles hit again with 28 of the 40, hardly an impressive record of fire support but quite effective when you got down to it. The ER Large Laser scorched off more armor on the enemy left leg, followed hotly by three flights of five missiles into the left leg, a five-pack that hammered into the 'mechs left shoulder, three missiles into the center torso that actually appeared to now have punched through to the innards of the machine, and one flight that landed squarely in the faceplate of the enemy machine. It was the last that gave him pause, as even through the heavy armored faceplate some of the cockpit window had been turned into a minute amount of spall that had cut into him readily. Mu's last act of defiance before he noticed his heat climbing faster than the heat sinks could compensate was to fire the Medium Pulse Laser, which missed significantly to the right. "Whew, heat spike," Mu says as his 'mech temporarily slows down due to heat-increased resistance in the myomer muscles.

The hell of the matter was that Mu could walk backwards as fast as the enemy could run forward, though the enemy had the luxury of gaining ground in 100-meter gulps on those two occasions that Mu had managed to overheat his machine already, slowing it down and reducing his accuracy to the point of comical ineffectiveness. His weapons did not take long to cycle, and his system heat was down to an acceptable level again, so he waited for the enemy to do his deed first, as the flight of LRMs came in hot and fast, ten of them slamming into his right arm and two into the right leg, the other eight had sailed clean over his 'mech and kept going until they ran out of fuel and nosed into the ground. Mu still had a missile lock on the enemy, so he fired just those weapons again and the Medium Pulse Laser to allow his machine to finish cooling off. One of the salvos went wide and slammed into a grove of trees, causing more than a few of them to fall to the ground. The other salvo contacted with a mere six of the missiles, the pattern of which was centered on the center chest of the 'mech and spread slightly left of center as well, though still the enemy kept coming. The laser was a bit more effective, though against such a peripheral target as the left arm it did little to slow the oncoming behemoth.

"Are you still afraid of me, little man?" The enemy pilot asks as he takes a series of shots at him with the Medium Lasers on his 'mech and the last of his own LRM ammunition. The lasers were grossly out of range and failed to target properly; the LRMs, though, he got lucky on and managed to contact with all twenty of the missiles this time around. The flights struck in the left leg, the left torso just below the mounting for the LRM launcher, the right shin, and the right arm on the connecting joints to the remainder of the body, an otherwise heavily-armored point on the 'mech.

"Afraid, hell no," Mu replies calmly. "You're just playing my game by my rules, big, dumb, and ugly." Mu stopped his 'mech dead and sighted the enemy up for a laser barrage from both arms. With the enemy still predictably charging Mu down, hitting it was dead simple for all four of the shots he took. The right arm of the monster marching his way absorbed the right ER Large Laser from Mu, the other Large hit the body of the enemy 'mech just above the autocannon and gouged into the internal structure with a sparking visible return. Mu managed to center both ER Medium Lasers on the enemy's chest, which also gave sparking returns and one of those sparks looked like it was something important before Mu's laser cooked it off.

"Ah, so the horsefly has a bite, I'm somewhat impressed," the enemy pilot notes. The enemy took his sweet time closing up from 1400 meters to 1000, which gave Mu's machine enough time to cool off to zero excess heat. With one step to the side Mu had his machine positioned to go in a completely different direction, and before he put pressure on the throttle he gave the enemy a parting shot as he rammed the throttle completely forward to running pace. The two missile volleys and three Medium Lasers struck the enemy machine just as he anticipated, though only 22 of the 40 missiles contacted the enemy machine. Though the missiles peppered the machine in several locations, it was the lasers that struck in the torso that did the final dirty work of rendering his machine inoperable, having destroyed the main support for the enemy machine's engine and basically depowering the machine. On the way down, a flight of missiles sailed into the head of the enemy and caused even more trauma to the fearsome enemy 'mechwarrior, even as he pulled the ripcord to eject his cockpit clear of the 'mech.

"_Archangel_, Timber Wolf. Enemy machine is down, pilot ejected. I'm going in on the ground to capture this bastard, see who he is," Mu says as he brings his Timber Wolf around and toward the falling ejection pod.

"Roger that, Mu. We're going to drop some Marines down to help you, over," Murrue says as the ship begins approaching the site. From several of the personnel access hatches on the port side, specialized ropes were connected and dropped down to the ground, as troopers took the rappel-lines down to the ground fifty meters below them in full tactical gear. The Crazy Cook, who had the kind of Special Forces background that Murrue could only guess at, had been teaching the Marines and Elementals alike on proper fast-rope, rappel and zip-line deployments since the _Archangel_ was basically the perfect replacement for a helicopter personnel transport. More than once the_Archangel_'s Marines had 'assaulted' a Starport terminal in that fashion, taking the facility by storm in a precision and inexorable swift action that overwhelmed the militia guards every time in the simulated battle. Even Colonel Hart's best were no match for the planning and execution of the Crazy Cook. By the time Mu hit the ground, just moments after the pod finished parachuting to the ground, the Marines were on the ground and ready.

As the Marines moved to the pod, the side panel was kicked open and the pilot stepped out, then tossed his neurohelmet to the ground in frustration. "Damned Mercs, fucked my ride up. How much is it going to take for you to let me walk away?"

"Tony P himself," Mu notes with quite the amused tone, much akin to the one that the said person had used when taking down the Duel and trying to take down Mu. The enemy mechwarrior was easily recognized as who they wanted to capture due to the copious intel briefs they had received prior to the engagement of operations. "Now this is a bit of a shock. One thing we've been wondering, how in the hell did you manage to acquire over a battalion of 'mechs and tanks?" the set of Mu's assault rifle was enough warning that he should not do anything stupid, much less the presence of the Marines in heavy tactical gear and weapons.

"In the Inner Sphere, money is king, and I got a shitload of it. Name your price and its yours," he says smoothly, though he had put his hands up in the classic 'I surrender' fashion.

"I got a price tag for ya," the Crazy Cook says as he jacks the bolt back on his new Gunther Light Machine Gun. "How's 'bout you stick your head between your legs and kiss your ass good-bye, dickface. 'Cause you don't buy the _Archangel_ Team out, we do what contracts we want and we stick to 'em," he says as he takes position and sight on the tango.

"Jesus," Tony replies.

"Marv, Vic, bring compliant and secure," the Crazy Cook orders. Two of the Marines sling their rifles and move at a skew angle to behind Tony, then close in on him and force him to the ground. Within moments he was handcuffed.

The main battle was over. The tango was secured. This Yzak and Nicol knew, though they were in little position to celebrate at the time.

"You know, I may have been wrong all along," Yzak says to his front monitor, though it went out on the radio.

"What are you talking about, Yzak?" Nicol asks.

"I think I have been lying to myself the past few years. I seem to keep getting my ass kicked by the most ungodly unlikely foes I face."

"No...way...you have actually figured it out?" Nicol asks.

"What do you mean I 'finally' figured it out?" Yzak asks testily in retort.

"I would have figured you understood this after about the twentieth time Umi handed your bum to you in the training circle." Miriallia literally had to disconnect her headset to keep from laughing outright on the radio channel. This had the downside of immediately putting the conversation on the bridge speakers.

"That whole...incident...was rather embarassing, but I think I know why I figured it, and only one of the four reasons is really a valid one in the end, now that I think about it." Yzak says, referring to their first time training. Umi had taken Yzak down time and time again over the course of several hours, not even a hint of hesitation in her demeanor as she matched her swordsmanship against Yzak's supposed genetic superiority. The training won readily in the end.

"Let me guess," Nicol begins, then continues before Yzak could counter: "You believed that you were getting your arse kicked unfairly by a 14-year-old natural girl swordmaster, and only now realize that the only part of that argument that matters is the fact that she is a swordmaster."

There was silence on the radio for several moments, which was a good thing: the _Archangel_ crew was still laughing very hard and did not want to miss the next steps of this dance. Yzak's retort: "Just because you are right does not mean I will not kick your ass up between your shoulders for it."

"C'mon, Yzak, you know you enjoyed it. Then and now."

"I definitely did not enjoy getting my ass kicked, but it does something for the soul to know that maybe, just maybe, I have been wrong this whole time." Yzak sounded almost defeated, resigned to his fate.

_It's a start_, just about everyone in the area heard telepathically.

"Don't think I didn't hear that, irreverent perverted bridge bunny," Yzak replies with more of his usual tone and vehemence. Without knowing, he had committed another step in the right direction instead of calling her something likely racist (inasfar as the debate between Naturals and Coordinators was a racial issue), though Miriallia definitely did not see it that way. Tolle thought it was amazingly true, though wisely did not comment on it over the radio.

"All right, all right, clear the channel, all of you," Natarle orders over the radio. "Duel, Blitz, we have recovery teams headed your way to return your units to the ship. Stand by."

"Roger that, CIC," Nicol replies.

What little resistance had been put up in the house was minor crap, a zealous staffer, maid or handyman with a pistol and not much a threat to Marines.

-x-x-x-

(Dateline: 26 June 3050)

In due time, the operations on Twycross were completed. The Archangel Team had agreed to purchase Tony P's mansion off him, since it would be necessary for him to sell his property to afford his keep in prison and his defense in court. Thus, for a mere 6.9 million C-Bills the Archangel Team became the legal owners of Tony P's mansion and associated 'mechbay, where the Duel and Blitz had been hangared long enough to repair them. It was front-page news, so Tony P could not try to go back on the deal. Most of the facility staff remained on site, and Murrue had hired a lawyer to oversee the facility while the ship continued operations, with the instructions to use the repair bay as a per-contract bay for the AFFC or militias as necessary.

After a two-day break and repairing of the ship (Miriallia and Tolle had the singularly unusual experience of being able to sleep together in one of the 'guest' bedrooms of one helluva huge mansion), they had launched out and set course for the zenith jump point where their ride was waiting. Only, they were going the opposite direction from the Strikers; the AFFC wanted them to begin in on the Wolves, then the Ghost Bears.

"Well, Captain Ramius, it's been a pleasure working with your team," Major Steiner says. "Too bad FedCom brass wants you guys to go the other way, it would be a pleasure to have your team help us out on Somerset."

"I guess we all go where we're told," Murrue says. Henceforth, the_Archangel_ truly was an autonomous assault team, not even attached to a small strike unit like the 1st Somerset. The one concession to the _Archangel_'s inability to transit star systems itself was the necessity of using a Jumpship, to which they had been assigned the _Strongbow_ by the AFFC, which was the same class of Jumpship as the _Katana_, just a different flag and designation.

"Look, I don't know if we will ever cross paths again, or if you will ever take the next step on your journey home, but never give up and don't let your subordinates give up, either. We both have duties to our homeworlds, and we can't give up on them."

"I know, it's just...well..." Murrue had about a thousand things to say to the Major, and could phrase not one of them.

"I know. Just, don't give up, wherever you end up. And if you do find a way to transit dimensions controllably, do come back and visit."

"Definitely," Kira says before Murrue could. "One of our comrades and friends is buried here. We'd readily come back if we knew how," Kira says.

"Captain, ready to go?" Natarle had been talking with the 1st Somerset tactical officer, Rachel Spector, though their parting was a lot less involved. Rachel and Natarle had established a rapport through their mutual duties, though nothing as 'linked' as Murrue apparently had to the modern-day Knight that commanded the Strikers. Even Natarle liked the Major, if for no other reason than his sense of duty and chivalry to his nation.

"Yeah, let's get moving. _Strongbow_ is waiting, after all," the three from the _Archangel_ trade salutes with Captain Verstadt, Major Steiner, and Lieutenant Spector.

Yet, before they could leave, they had one last visitor; Franklin Sakamoto. "Captain Ramius-sama, before you depart I have something I would like you to leave with." He presents two long boxes to them. "With Major Steiner-san's assistance on this matter, we have assembled these two as a reminder of where you have been, and who you have aided immeasurably." He formally presents the two boxes to the Captain and the Commander. "They are the flags of the Federated Commonwealth, the Draconis Combine, and the Jade Falcons," Franklin says as he presents Captain Ramius with a third box that was being carried by a crewmember of the _Kwaidan_. "I noticed, when last I was on your ship, that you seem to be collecting flags in your stateroom; I figured these would be the best parting gifts we could present to you."

"Thank you, Franklin Sakamoto-san," Murrue replies as she gives a proper bow to him to show gratitude. "I will definitely have them hung in the stateroom and soon. Thank you."

"May your travels lead you to your true home, Captain Ramius, Commander Badgiruel," all three of them bow in closing. As the Major and Franklin drifted away, Murrue and Natarle had moved to the personnel pipe from the _Archangel_ to the _Kwaidan_ to cross over to their ship and get ready to move onward.

The dock pipe with the _Archangel_ had been modified with a series of red painted stripes that formed an increasing gradient as one got closer to the ship. Their intent was clear; about the time that they got to the 60 percent gradient, they were under the influence of the _Archangel_'s artificial gravity, and by the time they got to the hatch into the bay of the_Archangel_ they were standing and walking. Within moments they were inside the _Archangel_ and headed up toward the Stateroom to deposit the flags, though Murrue swore she would set them up later. By the time Murrue had arrived at the bridge (Natarle was technically off-duty at this time) Newman already had the ship cruising toward the _Strongbow_, which was rather distant from the _Katana_ due to the fact that two jump-capable vessels cannot be near each other when preparing to jump, or the other ship would interfere with the process. (6)

It was ten minutes before anything was said. "Conn, Sensors, magnetic anomaly to stern consistent with the _Katana_ making a jump," Sai notes.

"Are we far enough away to avoid damage?"

"Aye, Captain, we're safe," Murrue's briefing on the effects of hyperspace jumping was a little perfunctory and a bit of a time ago, but she did clearly remember that you never hung around a vessel that was about to jump unless you were docked with it and going that way.

"Conn, radio, we have incoming from the _Strongbow_." Kuzzey puts it on speaker since it was apparent this was not a private, Captain to Captain conversation.

"Jumpship _Strongbow_ hailing Warship _Archangel_, do you read?"

"_Strongbow_ from _Archangel_, reading five by five. Go ahead, Captain," Murrue requests.

"_Archangel_, we are ready to jump to the Romulus system as soon as you dock. How did you guys connect to the _Katana_?"

"We connected to four of the dock points on the keel of the _Katana_, Captain."

"Four?" The Captain sounded genuinely shocked. "That's a huge amount of docking space," he mutters, as if he was speaking to himself more than else.

"You can do it, right?" Captain Ramius asks. She had noted that the _Strongbow_ was carrying three cargo Dropships at the time.

"Roger that, _Archangel_, we'll just have to play musical Dropships beforehand, and re-plot our jump point. It'll be about thirty minutes after you have docked before we jump."

"Roger that, Captain, anything else?"

"Yeah, one thing, I think I heard this strange rumor about there being a hot spring on your ship, any truth to that rumor?" His tone was clearly one in joking.

"Well, you know the press, they're always saying some of the strangest things," Murrue replies, neither confirming nor denying what was asked.

"Roger that, Captain. You are authorized direct vector to the rear four dock points on the ship; bring her in and lash up, FedCom wants us moving within the day. _Strongbow_ out," the link cuts audibly.

-x-x-x-

(Vignette: On Modding and Gundams)

_The transit time has to be the worst part of seeing the stars_, Hikaru thinks with a slight frown as she wanders through the port-side main corridor of the Archangel. _On the other hand, wait 'till I get to tell my brothers where all I've been_... She thinks with a sly grin to accompany. Of course, she knew she would only be able to tell if she could corroborate it (ergo, the entire _Archangel_ came with her to her home dimension), otherwise such would only be her own haunted story of how she ended up probably several years older than when she went missing.

In her wandering, she ended up on the bottom floor of the hangar, which off-and-on was an interesting place to hang around in her opinion. The flip side of that, of course, involved actually working when Murdoch noticed you were slacking. Did not matter where you were assigned on the ship, if he caught you slacking down here, you got put to work, even if it was something as simple (and grody) as degreasing parts for one of the Gundams. Hikaru normally did not object to loaning a hand on mechanical detail, in fact she enjoyed fixing things. Umi thought it was exceptionally weird of her, though.

So, when she first emerged into the hangar, she looked around to see if she could spot anything interesting going on. After about four seconds she noticed Athrun and Kira on the far side of the taxiway, in front of the cargo and vehicle doors, working on something. So, without much in the way of hesitation she began a short jog across the hangar floor to where they were working, though she had to stop at the edge of the taxiway lines as the Buster stomped past from port to starboard, to what purpose Hikaru did not know. Once it was two paces clear she continued her jog as the said Gundam moved to its assigned cubicle and hangared, shut down by the pilot after he was finished doing whatever he was doing. It was not more than ten seconds before she actually got to where Kira and Athrun were hovering over some kind of very large device that Hikaru did not recognize.

"See, now this is where it gets tricky. We still have to cool this thing, and that is why I'm thinking we need to use the DHS, it'll weigh less overall."

"Hi, guys," Hikaru says as she finishes closing the gap. "What're you two up to?"

"Oh, just building a new add-on for use by the Aegis and Strike," Kira says. "Well, actually, any of the Gundams could use it when you get down to it," he muses after a few moments.

"Yzak has his own project list, I think he's trying to rebuild the missile pack he had on Romulus and lost in the fighting," Athrun says. "So, what're you up to, Hikaru?" Athrun asks in a civil, if stand-off fashion.

"Just looking for something to do. Umi and Fuu are managing the hot springs, so I'm free for now," Hikaru notes.

"Shall we?" Athrun asks Kira.

"Sure, she's just as handy as Sai is, and a lot better in a frame than Kuzzey," Kira notes.

"Care to join us?" Athrun asks Hikaru after he was assured that Kira would not get bent out of shape about it. A few times that she has offered her help on things he had rather directly but politely kicked her out, and such hit-miss logic was not adding up to Athrun.

"Sure!" Hikaru half-shouts, intrinsically not afraid to get dirty (or bloodied) in the pursuit of team efforts. (7) "Okay, what are you doing, now?"

"We're trying to figure out how we want to arrange the internal parts to this new weapon that Athrun is going to carry into battle," Kira says. "If his does good, I'd like to build one for the Strike to augment the lighter-armed Striker packs, like the Sword pack," he says.

"So, what's the big deal?" Hikaru asks.

"Well, first off, we have to figure out how we're going to place the weapons onto the frame." They were hovering over a portable drafting table that had several cutouts of varying sizes, and Hikaru could after a fashion understand the resemblance between the cutouts and the various sundry yet large devices that they were trying to assemble.

"Okay, sorta like a jigsaw puzzle, right? Only, you're trying to make it look like a real-life rifle of some type," she notes.

"Correct," Athrun notes.

"Here," and with ten seconds of rearranging the parts she had beat out the logic of a professional Mobile Suit pilot and an engineering student, both of whom being Coordinators. She had arranged it so that the frame members were under the main weapon and made it look like one long rifle with a side-feed magazine for the main cannon (ballistic) and the secondary (smaller) weapon mounted under the first inside the frame. The main issue of contention she had solved as well by distributing the double heat sinks down both sides of the main frame member and stock of the weapon.

"Whoa, she's got us both beat there, Athrun," Kira notes.

"Okay, let's see if I got this right," Athrun begins as he brushes aside the jigsaw collection so he could use a pen to draw out a sketch on the table that fairly well matched what Hikaru had illustrated with the cutouts. "This is what you are thinking, as well as having a side-mount magazine here for the main, right?"

"Right, I guess. I don't really know all that much about this stuff, it just made sense for a moment there," Hikaru admits in an embarassed fashion.

"It still makes sense, Hikaru, don't let Athrun scare you with that icy glare of his," Kira says. "The only problem I see would be reloading, you'd have to make it two separate actions, pull the old magazine, load a new one."

"That actually wouldn't be too much of a problem, especially since I'd be reloading with my Gundam's left hand, which would force the shield to a guard position while I did that," Athrun notes as he considered the mechanics of how he would reload. "And that also solves the coolant and power routing issues we would have had with the magazine feeding into the bottom of the weapon. Now we can feed both easily by running the power and coolant through the lower extension of the frame and give it a more narrow profile than we had initially anticipated."

"Excellent," Kira replies. "So, shall we begin?"

"First, let's do the math here," Athrun says. "First, structure, that'll be two tons of Endo Steel, no problem. The autocannon will be ten tons, the laser will be six, we'll need a minimum of six double heat sinks."

"That's twenty-four tons, a far cry larger than the Aegis Beam Rifle. Can your Gundam handle that?" Captain Ramius asks from a distance of two meters behind all three of them. It had been enough of a surprise to all that they spun around on her and all three had basically pinned her with an accusatory stare.

"Actually, I'm going to armor it as well, and I think he'll need more heat sinks to handle the laser and autocannon output than six. Call it eight, and the rest can be armored. Can Aegis lift thirty tons and still move right?"

"I can lift forty with Aegis," Athrun notes. "Though, with the beam rifle and shield, that'll be just about forty tons total if we can get the weapon in at thirty. I'll be a little thin on magazines for it, but I can live with that. Any kind of firepower booster is better than a stick in the eye."

"Athrun, you're doing it again," Kira cautions.

"What?"

"I think he means the use of strange and usually revolting phrasing you've been picking up from the mechanics," Murrue answers for Kira.

"Hey, at least it's better than the Marines, they seem to be talking more and more like the Clanners," Athrun notes with a tone of obvious humor.

"Wonderful," Murrue replies acerbically. "It could be worse, I guess."

"I'd hate to see how," Kira notes to Hikaru, who had a bit of a giggle from it.

"When you are ready to test it, Athrun, just give the bridge a call and we'll find something to test it on."

"Roger that, Captain," Athrun says before Murrue salutes the three and leaves, her curiosity attack of the day satisfied.

"So, where do we start?" Kira asks to get their effort back on track.

"We start by assembling the frame. First off, we need to do a detail diagram of the frame points," Athrun says as he flips up a new sheet on the drafting pad. "We'll do it like this..." While Athrun began drawing out the diagram, Hikaru had mounted up her usual cargo exoskeleton and started dragging the needed Endo-Steel 'bones' to the construction area where they were working. By the time Athrun had the details down, Hikaru had actually jigsawed the various pieces necessary into place and butted them together so they could be cross-welded into the needed shape.

The welding was handled in relays, as Athrun or Kira would weld while Hikaru would hold the material in position or run quartermaster to get other pieces that they needed. All in all it took them about an hour to weld together the necessary frame pieces and weld on the lugs necessary for the attachment of the weapons and heat sinks to the frame.

"That's done, let's take a break before we begin attaching the weapons, give everything some time to cool off," Kira requests.

"Sure, I could use some lunch right now. C'mon, Hikaru," Athrun prompts to the junior member of their 'trio'.

"Sure," she says as she follows the two pilots back into the ship proper, headed toward the cafeteria.

The lunchroom was not exceptionally crowded at this time of day, but there were people in there on break. Most of them were the ship's crew, including a leavening of the Clanners that had taken up positions basically everywhere on the ship except the Bridge and the medical ward. There was even an Elemental (sans his armor) standing guard on Flay's brig cell. They had not been officially indoctrinated into the ship just yet, though most figured it only a matter of time now before they were so drawn in. There was also the remnants of several Omnimechs in storage and in crates here and there in the hangars, so if they were indoctrinated into the team then the best of their 'mechwarriors would likely also have 'mechs to use when that time came.

On the central holoprojector was a prerecorded sport event of Soccer, the Tamar Pact team versus the Isle of Skye team. Most of the crowd seemed to be rooting for the Tamar team, though Athrun figured if he asked they would not have a logical reason as to why they were choosing sides. Kira and Hikaru watched this for about thirty seconds and gave up.

"So, Kira, what do you want to do when you get home?" Athrun asks as the first idle question that came to mind, and figured it a good way to start up a mundane conversation between the three.

"Well, besides hang up the uniform and Gundam? Oh, that's simple. I'm going to find the most secluded beach on Onogoro Island, slap down a beach towel and a cooler with sports drinks, lotion myself up and just roast for a week."

"Okay, Kira, I'm going to ignore the ambiguous phrasing there," Athrun says with a hint of humor.

"What about you, Athrun?" Hikaru asks, either having missed the jibe against Kira or completely ignoring it.

"There's more than a few things I'd like to do, but foremost is foremost, and that would have to be ask Lacus to marry me."

"If she'll put up with your rather blunt and tactless ways of phrasing things any more," Yzak says as he grabs a seat next to Athrun.

Athrun almost got pissed off at Yzak's equally-blunt rejoinder, but mastered his initial reaction. "Is it that bad?"

"For what it is worth, you sound a lot more like a mechanic right now than a ZAFT red coat," Yzak says deadpan. "And we all probably sound a lot different from when we left Carpentaria."

"Hmm," Athrun mumbles, considering the course of events. "Well, Hikaru, what about you?"

"Well, I, erm...I'm not really sure if I want to do anything besides just go home," Hikaru notes while picking at the vegetable.

"Interesting take on it," Umi says. "I thought for sure you'd want to go back to Tokyo Tower after we were through here," Umi had seated herself next to Hikaru, who was sitting to the right of Kira.

"Well, yeah, I'd like to go back and see the Tower again, but I'd really say getting home is really all I want to do, for now. What about you, Umi?"

Having her question basically dropped back on her gave her quite a bit of pause. It was almost ten seconds before she even began. "Well, I don't really know what I'd do when I got there, but I think fencing tournaments are out."

"Huh?" Yzak asks, more than a bit shocked by that change of attitude.

"After, well, after all we've done, I can feel it just wouldn't be the same, not to mention it probably wouldn't be much of a challenge," Umi replies in an almost-embarrassed fashion.

"I can second that," Yzak says. "I guess that leaves me, correct?"

"Unless you're going to object?" Athrun replies.

"No, mine is actually simple. Find a decent job and settle down. That is, after I find a way to stop the war," Yzak says.

"Whoa, now that is a change of tune, Yzak," Athrun notes and prompts for an explanation at the same time.

"Strike and I don't agree on jack or shit usually, but this is one that he's got right. The simple fact is, nobody is right if everyone is wrong, and that war is a case study in it. So, I figure, there's gotta be some way to solve it without one of the sides annihilating each other, which by the way won't work. After that, I can spend the rest of my life doing mundane crap in peace. Hopefully."

"Did you hit your head or something? This definitely is not normal for you." Strangely enough the comment was from Umi, not Athrun.

"Yes, three times, once when that assault 'mech punched the head off my Gundam, twice on the way down from the body slam. So? It has not addled my brains. It's just, after seeing what could be, and has been in some places, and thinking about what may be, the war back home is bullshit when stacked against what we've been through, and you'll clearly note that we ain't home yet. I'll bet my Gundam that before this is over, we all will see something that shakes us to the core."

"Not taking that bet, Yzak, I've already been there," Kira says. "Princess Emeraude," was Kira's only needed answer after Yzak raised an eyebrow in question. It was almost heart-wrenching to Hikaru

"No take," Athrun replies to Yzak's backhanded challenge. "So, shall we get back to it, Hikaru, Kira?"

"Yeah, might as well," Kira says after having finished up his ration.

"I'm in," Hikaru says as they all stand to return their trays.

On the way down to the hangar, she was torn by indecision of a question that had come to mind almost at random. Once in the Hangar she shoved the question thoroughly out of mind. Another day would hold the answer, she was sure.

* * *

Author's Chapter Afterword:

Oh man, Yzak got his arse whipped pretty bad for his second major lesson in humility. That was actually a very fun section to write, as it demonstrates the sheer survivability of 'mechs when compared to a Gundam, and there is something just enjoyable about knocking the terminally arrogant down in my opinion.

Also, keep one thing in mind: when I did that battle I did it using the actual Battletech TROs for the units that the Archangel Team shot up, and kept strict track of what damage was taken where to what units. This was done using the initial translation numbers I did for the first full chapter of this section, and yes the said assault 'mech that Tony P was running takes that much abuse to kill. They should just be thankful he was not driving a Dire Wolf, eh?

Now, you will note that I did not once mention the name of Tony P's ride. I did give enough hints both in writing and in the footnotes as to what 'mech this is, if you have read the TROs and references and you know your 'mechs. It is a 'mech that the whole Inner Sphere is afraid of, and even the Clanners show respect for it. Anyone who thinks they know what it is, drop the name in a review, it shouldn't be all that hard.

As to Rayearth's injury, Windam and Fuu saw to that with judicious use of Winds of Healing. I have not seen any data on the Rune God's lifting capabilities, so the fact that Rayearth picked up a 35-ton Striker and slammed it to the ground is a bit of an extrapolation, but a logical one. That sword that Rayearth carries has got to be pretty massive of its own right.

And my apologies to those who wanted to see the liberation of Somerset by the Archangel, but the dice roll wicked and FedCom wants them to tear a chunk out of the Wolves as an attention-getter, see if they could stave off the most powerful of the Clans for a while. Of course, this means that such battles are going to be bigger and louder than what would have happened on Somerset. And where is the FedCom Intelligence Secretariat in all this? They appear to be playing dumb and complacent for a reason, ne?

And now, for the obligatory Review Replies (har har har!) (8):

**TheGreenKnight63 / Bien**: Oi, man, they got it rough enough, and you want it bloodier? You got me beat by an order of magnitude :P And I advise you to be careful what you wish for, they may end up in Operation Bulldog yet. Of course, things will change with the intervention of the Archangel, in that time, but hey, such is the cards one is dealt. And you have my apologies about the complete screwup of the planetary info on Twycross, I just found out some more info on the planet about three days ago. AU, anyone?

**Knives91**: I could do more than a few one-shots on certain elements of the story, I could do one on Dearka's new reality, I could do one on Miriallia and Tolle (Definitely M-rated material there), could do one on Chistu getting spanked by the Khan of the Falcons for getting his arse chopped off and handed to him. If you have ideas or requests, drop them on me. Fan input is always good :P

**Death Knight**: Thanks for the review, tho the Star Trek idea sounds more along the lines of other noted crossover writers; I will readily admit I am not a Trekkie. And I keep coming back to the thought that Gundam vs B5 would actually be a level fight when you get down to it, which would make it a very bloody battle in the end. Well, inasfar it might be level. The Vorlons would have the Archangel for lunch, rest assured. And what do you mean by 'blah back to your cages back' ?

**00Idiot**: Thx for pointing that info about Natarle out, I'll keep it in mind for my closer-to-canon fics, though honestly I thought her issue was with high-horsepower brews, not necessarily lighter stuff. Just keep it coming, comrade, slow or fast is really only a question of how much you can do between the rest of one's life. That's what is up with me, why the past few chappies have taken 3 weeks instead of 2. And do you consider the Archangel smoking Tony P's ride and buying his house and 'mech facilities out to be resolution enough?

**FraserMage**: Do the Wolves need an excuse to deride the Falcons? I thought they did it anyways :P

**Gonging Apples**: Hey, all I can say is that the issue between the Executor and Valkyrie is old-hat stuff in my older works, the great argument between the Gods and the rest of Existence, shall we say. A belated happy new year to ye, and keep in mind that if there are any fireworks-style loud noises in my area, it be me taking a shot at a stray dog. Can't have them harassing my kitty, now can I?

**CHM01**: Well, the differences between the Clans are hard to define without a lot of exposure to the lore of the Clans, shall we say. You can rest assured, though, the Wolves will play a different game against the Archangel Team than the Falcons did, since the Wolves play by the Clan rules more than the Falcons normally dream about. As to Dearka, I take the tact that everything in Existence is interconnected at several levels, and the rather random reappearance of Dearka way the hell off the beaten path is just another instance of the background haunting the main storyline. Stay tuned, you may see more of this kind of haunting in later chapters.

**The Baka Brigade**: If you feel like taking the dive, you can join in on the upcoming forum-based firestorm I will start involving Gundam and Battletech. You'll get a crash-course in how the game actually works as well as some seriously strange ideas and a good look into some of the battle logic that runs through my mind when I write these battles out.

**Etienne of the West Wind**: They ain't slowed down yet, though it goes without saying that Miriallia probably knows that everyone else knows when they're sleeping together. Which leaves her position open to interpretation, as well as the rest of the pilots and bridge staff. Interesting ideas for how to use psionic skills with the ship; that may have to factor into it later. As to Nicol and Fuu being in the same room, that one would definitely be subject to the dice, and it may end up happening sooner or later. About the Steiners, yes they have a distant relation, Adam Steiner is considered a distant cousin to Archon Katrina Steiner (Prince Victor Steiner-Davion's mother).

**nick012000**: Thank you for the review, Eva is an old classic and an old favorite, though I must admit the other suggestion I have never heard of prior. Any locations I can find info on it for review?

**TheGreenKnight63**, Round 2: That's pretty direct an explanation, and I respect that. Yeah, the Archangel has had it somewhat easy (note that I do not think it has had it easy in any fashion, but that is simply my opinion), but think of the Falcons as a sort-of warm-up for the Archangel. The Wolves aren't going to play nice whatsoever, and keep in mind that the way I have written the Archangel TRO is that the only real advantage it would have over a Clan Warship is single-weapon striking power and equivalent or slightly less armor. In just about any other fashion, the Archangel is not going to stack up to, say, a McKenna-class (of which Clan Wolf has one). Also, keep in mind the scaling of the story. This is likely going to run over 100 chapters, Bien, and this is Chapter 15. There is plenty of time for the Archangel to get corn-cobbed several times over, and that is not a 'possible' mind you, it will happen. Additionally, I do not consider the review negative in any fashion, but I also have to consider that this is going to be one very long story full of beat-downs going both ways. Anyone want to take bets on who will die next?

Thank you one and all for the reviews and wit added. As with all my efforts, I am continually trying to improve my writing and plot, so keep the ideas and criticisms coming.

Next Up: The Wolves get the taste of the Archangel and end up breaking teeth on it, but at what cost to the ship and crew? And what's this about the Wolves having an even bigger Warship than the Falcons?

* * *

Footnotes:

(1): Foredeck refers to the front deck of the ship; a little bit of naval terminology.

(2): Battletech to Gundam scaling: Energy weapons cause double damage to the PS Gundam armor. In this case, it still did not punch through, but came awful close...

(3): Unit triptych: the torso area was too small to fit a full twenty-silo launcher array, so in the case of this 'mech, they used a five-silo arrangement with a heavy feeder mechanism that can hock four salvos of five missiles in ten seconds or less. Effectively and by the rules, this is a LRM 20 rack.

(4): The dice don't like Yzak. This was a result of 12 on the critical hits roll, since the punch of this 'mech is 10 points damage and the maximum armor value of a machine's head is 9 in Battletech rules. That meant that one point of internal structure took damage, which requires a critical hit check. Rolling a 12 means 'head blown off / arm blown off / leg blown off / 3 critical hit checks against torso locations' depending on where the internal damage was taken. So yeah, Duel got no head, man.

(5): yes, the fluff of this machine states that it can pick up Medium 'mechs one-handed and throw them to the ground. Using both arms and the Duel having lost the weight of Shiva and its ammo, this is possible for the enemy 'mech to do to Yzak's Gundam.

(6): Here's another little bullshit Saban screwup: if you remember the cartoon, the episode_Enemy of My Enemy_ specifically, when the Falcon's Nest tries intercepting the Jumpship that Malthus had commandeered, they should have been too close to each other to jump clean by the time Chistu began firing. If they were following the rules, both ships would have taken helluva damage to their jump engines and the jump would not have happened at all.

(7): If any of you think that fixing things (ergo being a technician) is a safe, no-injury job, guess again. Even on something as otherwise 'light duty' as being a Computer technician, I routinely get cuts, scrapes, bruises, slams, strains, slices, and very frequently get shocks and static sparks from equipment, and all that before the industrial environs I work in not being very friendly to the unwary. If any of you readers are telecom equipment trained, you probably know what it feels like to have your hand across the pins on a 66 Block as someone goes to ringing voltage. That is a helluva attention getter, trust me :P

(8): Yes, if you are reading this in order, I did footnote the chapter afterword! Anyways, as I see it, if you ppl drop me a review, I at least owe you the courtesy of replying, and more oft than not I would prefer to acknowledge it in public. Nobody has to review, but you do anyways. Hella cool conduct, for which I believe public props are in order. Not to mention there are some that review Anon and I cannot reply to you in private.


	16. Wolves and Demons

(Section 02, Chapter 8: Wolves and Demons)

(Dateline: 8 July 3050)

(Location: In orbit around planet Csesztreg, Clan Wolf Invasion Corridor)

At Romulus, they had come and gone, waiting no longer than to charge their jump drive and be gone. In a week they were headed toward their next system, the Csesztreg system. Several days of high-speed flight was all it took to get to the planet in question.

The mission was to hit the Wolf invasion corridor as hard as possible to draw the heat off the FedCom forces, by which they could double back and help drive the Clans out of the Inner Sphere for good.

_Well, we have already earned a reputation for shit-kicking the Falcons around the Galaxy, shall we see if they will let us play their game by their rules_? Murrue thinks loud enough that she actually telepathically broadcast it, though this was not her intention.

"Damn straight, Captain," Chandratta replies by speaking. Murrue could naught but blush when she realized that she had just put that rather unprofessional thought out without even trying.

"Readying channel now," Kuzzey says as he dials in the frequency band that the Clanners used for general transmissions. After a few moments of considering it (silently) Murrue had come to the thought that the bridge staff (and at least a chunk of the crew) agreed.

"What...the hell?" Sai asks in the strangest tone, which had froze everyone in mid-action that had heard him. "Conn, Sensors, I have a very strange reading here, may be a contact of some kind."

"Sensors, can you classify?" Sai was still working over the controls as fast as possible.

"Oh, shit," Sai says, which was so grossly uncharacteristic of him that both Natarle and Miriallia had to look and see what he was looking at. "Clear the channels, I have enemy contact, lots of enemy contact," Sai says in a rush.

"Sensors! Report!" Murrue demands quickly.

"Enemy fighters, enemy Dropships, enemy Warships, multiple capital ships inbound our vector, intercept course! Eight minutes to contact!"

"All hands, level one battlestations, prepare for anti-ship, anti-capital ship, and anti-fighter combat!" Natarle broadcasts throughout the ship as the klaxons begin blaring their warning.

"Sensors, I want numbers," Murrue orders.

"Reading at least fifty enemy fighters, various sizes from forty to one hundred tons, eight dropships between two different sizes, two warships. The warships are about half the size of the_Falcon's Nest_, one slightly larger than the _Falcon's Nest_."

"Captain, if we go head-on into that, we're asking to get blown to hell and back," Natarle says, and though she was stating the obvious the head-on approach might have seemed a valid option to Murrue. In truth Murrue had already discounted such a plan, the only other option she was seeing was to dive into the atmosphere and hope the enemy couldn't effectively target her on the way down. It would be a forlorn hope, she knew, since those Warships were perfectly capable of shooting at the surface of the planet, much less something in high atmosphere.

"All right, Natarle, any ideas?" Murrue asks after ten seconds.

The first thought that came to mind was a conversation that Hikaru and Natarle had some time prior, in fact before they had left Cephiro. They had not been able to apply that tactic at that time, but now was a good a time as any. "Yes, actually, something I picked up from Hikaru. Reverse course and run for it. If they really want our heads on pikes, they'll follow, and their forces will get strung out. As they do we kill them off one or a few at a time."

"You learned that from Hikaru?" Miriallia asks, rather dumbfounded that such a tactic was in said Magic Knight's repertoire.

"Who learned it from her elder brother," Natarle confirms. "Captain, if we expect to walk away from this, we have to limit how they hit us and how many of them at one time can do so," She tacks on to validate her plan.

"It's our best bet right now. Newman, swing her around and prepare to break orbit, set your speed just barely slower than the mid-range-speed fighters. Chandratta, you have fire authorization on the fighters only for now, Natarle, please deploy all our available mobile forces. All weapons released on ship and mobile forces."

"Conn, Control, I have Blitz and Windam ready for launch at this time," Miriallia reports.

"Launch them as fast as possible, Miriallia, no priority at this time except getting them out there and ready," Murrue orders.

The ship shuddered as the launch catapults fired off the first two of the mobile force, being Blitz and Windam. Thirty seconds later, the Duel was shot out the port side, followed in ten seconds by the Moebius Zero on the starboard side.

"What the hell is Duel carrying?" Murrue asks as the Duel makes a rather lazy turn in front of the ship and comes in for a landing on the rear deck of the ship, where it could stand and take shots at the incoming enemy.

"A whole bunch of different things," Miriallia notes. Yzak had taken to the welding torch with a vengeance, assembling two different hand-held weapons to compliment his already diverse weapons on the Duel. The foremost was a replacement for the LRM box he had assembled and subsequently lost on Romulus, only this one was assembled of two LRM-15 packs instead of the single LRM-20, and had more ammo available to it in an actually armored chassis. The other weapon even Miriallia did not recognize, though from the fact that it resembled a Mp5 submachine gun with something slung under the barrel, she could guess it was a ballistic weapon of some type.

"Well, so long as they work, that's fine with me, I guess," Murrue says warily.

It was almost a minute before anyone else launched, then the Strike and Aegis were out and about, Kira armed with the IWSP Pack as well as one of the two new rifle/laser combination weapons that Athrun, Hikaru and Kira had assembled, and Aegis had its equivalent weapon as well. Thirty seconds later, Rayearth launched and immediately moved to where Kira and Athrun were taking station on the sides of the ship, ready to move forth in pursuit of nearby fighters. Selesce and Buster both launched at the same time, and the hangar bays closed down to prevent lucky shots from entering and killing the deck crew.

"Conn, sensors, the plan is working, the enemy is stringing out in pursuing us. The first fighters should be coming in range here in a few," Sai says.

"Chandratta, give them something to think about, fire all missile tubes with anti-air shrapnel warheads."

"Roger that," Chandratta replies as he dials in a command that he had just set up days prior with Athrun's help. All twenty-four missile launchers rearmed with the requested missiles, though did not fire for two seconds. The forward-facing missile launchers fired first, firing from the rearmost-forward, and after the missiles got two hundred meters forward of the ship they began to arc inward, turning 180 degrees completely around the ship and accelerating hard toward the rear. As they reach predetermined points the rear-facing silos began firing, the forward-most silos firing first, then the rearward silos. What this amounted to was a veritable wall of missiles headed straight toward the onrushing fighters.

"What the—time on target?" Murrue asks as she watches the sensor plots of the missiles headed toward the enemy. "I didn't think our systems were capable of that!"

"Athrun, Kira and I have been tweaking the fire control systems over the past weeks. I've got a lot of dirty tricks up my sleeve now and I intend on using them," Chandratta notes with a bit of humor.

The missiles began splitting open when they reached the vicinity of their determined targets, though for the most part the fighters in the second and third range brackets had time to react and some even managed to dodge the incoming attack outright. Because the enemy was spread out in three dimensions, there was no chance of attack overlap (where missile patterns would hit more than one fighter), but by the same token there was no warhead fratricide as well. On the other hand, some fighters got two missiles all to themselves, and were severely damaged as a result. And, not the least of injuries added to insult in this one attack, several of the fighters also flew into the missile body as it was headed in the opposite direction at several thousand kilometers per hour, engine still burning and all; such a hit was devastating to even the heavier fighters. By the time the fighters blitzed past the fiberglass casing of the missiles they had just been socked by, two of their ranks had fallen prey to the missiles, each hit with two missiles and finished off by one of the missile bodies flying into the nose of the craft and into the innards of the fighter.

- - - - -

"Oh hell yeah, two down already!" Yzak half-shouts as he centers his weapons on the oncoming Visigoth-class fighters, more or less completely ignoring the pathetically small and faster Batu that was so favored by the Falcons, but did not have the striking power to really threaten his Gundam. Besides, trigger-happy (Chandratta) had one very large array of smaller weapons to deal with them.

"Mobile forces, fire at will, fire at will," Miriallia orders the the stead of Natarle. "If you pursue, keep it close to the ship," she tacks on after a moment.

Yzak's left hand nicks a control on a nearby panel, and as his systems give him a lock tone on a rapidly approaching enemy fighter. After a moment he hauls back on both left and right triggers, firing both his shoulder-pack double-fifteen and the beam rifle. Most of his volley hit on one fighter, which was enough to divert its attack away from the ship. "Damn, these suckers take a lot of killin' to kill," Yzak notes as the fighter blazes past, managing to dodge the ship-mounted ERPPC in the rear but not the array of Pulse Lasers; with those hits, the fighter was severely damaged to the point of armor breach.

"Uh, Captain, I think we got the performance envelopes of those enemy Dropships wrong, they appear to be closing now," Tolle notes from his position on the rear deck of the ship.

"Actually, Newman is drawing them in closer at this time. Watch out for the fighters, Tolle," Miriallia warns. "All mobile forces, launch and close with enemy fighters, just don't stop moving whatever you do!"

"Roger that!" Kira shouts as he hammers his jets to leap off the deck and wade into the growing furball against the Wolves. In two seconds he had the anti-ship swords drawn and readied to slice into the oncoming fighters. Two managed to dodge him as he came off the deck, but a third fighter did not, instead realizing a moment too late what he was intending with the 9-meter-plus blades bared and set for the collision. The fighter in question had taken it quite rough from one of Chandratta's missiles and actually had suffered an armor breach to the nose; when the Anti-ship sword struck just to the side of the cockpit, it went straight through the soft fuselage and even had enough striking force to cleave the entire craft roughly in half. The pilot was fortunate enough that the cockpit was more or less undamaged and he ejected less than three seconds later.

"Holy shit, Kira," Kuzzey says as Chandratta worked his controls furiously. A pair of Valiant slugs joined the evolving battle, targeted on a pair of the enemy's heaviest fighters, Kirghiz, on the premise that taking them down at range would be the best move possible for the team as a whole. One missed by a matter of meters, though in space that distance could have easily been kilometers to the same effect: the pilot of that fighter was scared shitless that an enemy Warship had just put a naval gauss rifler slug that close to his fighter. The second slug found its mark, instantly converting a Star Commander's personal ride into a fireball still headed toward the _Archangel_; even at 100 tons, the Kirghiz is still unable to take the abuse of a 500-kilogram nickel-ferrous slug headed in the opposite direction at very high speed.

Nicol had maneuvered to the _Archangel_'s port and wide, ostensibly to get a different angle on the enemy that wanted them clearly dead. This had the effect of drawing them into the ship's broadside arc as well as giving him a different angle, though Chandratta was more focusing on the action to the rear rather than the sides and Nicol got no assist. His maneuvering did not go unseen; a Jagatai outfitted for armor-busting decided to take personal interest in the shadow Gundam, and as they closed they traded shots, the enemy landing a pair of Ultra-20 cannon bursts and Streak-six SRMs on the Blitz, though such attacks had no effect on the Phase Shift armor. Nicol fired three rounds of beam rifle at his fighter, though only one beam landed on the enemy fuselage as it blew by the Gundam real fast.

The Helldart silos spoke next at the incoming fighter groups, Chandratta had the silos broke down into four groups of four for the battle for ease of targeting. As the missiles moved in, two of the targeted fighters fired wildly at the stern of the _Archangel_, and strangely enough for as large a target as the _Archangel_ is, hitting was a totally different story in space combat. One hit with both slugs from an ultra-20 autocannon volley and a flight of Streak SRMs; the other had been seriously damaged by the anti-air missiles prior and had only two Large Pulse Lasers to use on the_Archangel_; both hit. In retort, the Helldarts that slammed into the enemy fighters destroyed the Jagatai that had hammered the ship with the autocannon, had chunked the Visigoth that had laser-raked the arse of the ship, tore two serious rents in another Visigoth, and chunked serious armor off a Jenghiz with two hits (the other two missiles were killed by warhead fratricide again).

"Huh—oh, shit! Conn, sensors, enemy Warship has us locked up!" Sai shouts as he gets a good cut on what was dwelling on the ship with some heavy sensors.

"Newman! Hard to Starboard!" Murrue shouts. It was enough that she was able to get the ship clear of one of the enemy Heavy Naval PPC blasts, but not the forward battery on the enemy ship. The sound of the paired Heavy Naval PPCs hitting translated throughout the hull, though when Murrue checked the damage board it was actually a lot less than she expected.

"Oh CRAP!" Newman half-shouts as the ship turns farther into the dodge than he intended. With some quick maneuvering he had it back on the course he set. "Whew, we're alive!"

"Chandratta, do we have an angle for return fire?" Natarle asks quickly.

"Valiants and missiles only," he replies. "Gottfried turrets are out of range."

"Load Sledgehammers and Valiants, we're going to scratch more of those fighters," Murrue orders.

"Conn, Sensors, incoming!" Sai shouts as four fighters and the other Warship take their liberties on the ship and the Gundams. A Jenghiz with a completely energy weapons struck the rear of the ship with four Large Pulse Lasers, each laser causing an amount of damage to the ship that was less than nominal for the weapon but enough to remove armor overall. A Visigoth came in close to the ship's starboard side, blazing away with the LB-10X autocannon in its nose and the three ER Medium Lasers; all hit since the pilot had the time to line up on the ship properly, though the pilot did not have enough time to dodge the broadside Igelstellungs and Ultra-10 Autocannons and left the attack run far more damaged than the side of the _Archangel_. Another Visigoth followed the same vector in, and even fired on the ship with the same weapons as the prior, but due to severe combat abuse prior he only hit with a Streak SRM4 and a single ER Medium laser, completely missing with the mighty LB-10X and the other lasers (1). Despite the damage, he got away clean off the attack run, having taken no shots from the ship's point-defense grid. In comparison, the shots from the enemy Warship were even less effective than the fighter strikes to point, as the laser strikes at extreme range against a moving target were really a case of luck hitting, and none hit.

A Jenghiz-class fighter had targeted the Strike, having seen that Gundam had chopped the Batu in half the long way, and this Jenghiz was outfitted with straight energy weapons for intercept missions. Kira was fast enough to haul around and block three of the four incoming Large Pulse Lasers from his rear, but not fast enough to get all four; the laser penetrated the right half of his IWSP pack and rendered the right cannon barrel completely useless, but did not penetrate to his Gundam. "Strike's hit! Half my IWSP pack weapons are useless right now!" He puts out on the radio as a pair of large capital missiles streak by his Gundam, headed for the Aegis. At the last moment Athrun jammed his throttle to the max and ducked over the missiles aimed at him, using his beam saber to chop the 50-ton missile in half the long way as it passed under his Gundam. The explosion as his beam saber crossed the mostly-empty fuel tank threw the Aegis for a loop, but Athrun was able to bring it under control rather quickly. The second missile missed completely.

"Damnit Strike, don't let them line up on you!" Yzak shouts angrily.

"Right," Kira replies drolly as he lines his weapons up on a passing Visigoth (2) and unloads, the pilot caught unawares as the 120mm cannon, the 35mm rotary MG, and the beam rifle all hit the fighter as it passed by. He managed to hit with a second beam rifle shot, but not a third as the enemy pilot began maneuvering to avoid it. Kira moved clear of the firing line after that, dodging around the aimpoint of a pair of Jenghiz that were trying to sight him up to continue the damage already dealt to him.

As the ship had shifted course, the enemy ships had crept closer themselves, and the Gundams were even closer still as the pilots had waded in on the enemy fighters, trying to scratch the fighters before the fighters scratched them or the ship. The Dropships were out front of the Warships, and though ill-suited to the vagaries of space combat they had enough defense and offense capabilities that the Wolf Star Admiral had ordered them in first, to help augment the fighters. This they intended on doing, as each ship had a compliment of weapons greater than most the fighters on board and the heat dissipation to use at least some of them. One of the_Union C_-class Dropships had even taken an interest in Athrun, and had fired most of its forward-facing long range compliment at the Aegis, which amounted to three Gauss Rifles, two ER Large Lasers, three Large Pulse Lasers, and two LRM-20 packs with Artemis FCS add-ons. Athrun was wise to the juggernaut that was trying to lock him up and took the hits in stride, blocking the lasers fairly easily and simply absorbing the gauss and missiles with his Phase Shift armor. Athrun's answer was a shot of Large Pulse Laser from his new heavy weapon system, as well as a shot of beam rifle being carried in Aegis' left hand (3). The Large Pulse hit, though the beam rifle missed the port side of the ship by a matter of a meter.

"_Archangel_, brace for it, a pair's incoming from starboard!" Tolle shouts on the main frequency. Buster, Selesce, Rayearth, and Windam were covering the close-in guard detail, the other machines were forward mixing it up with the enemy in close proximity. The two fighters, a Jagatai and a Sabutai, cleared past them with some creative dodging and made a run on the starboard-forward of the _Archangel,_ reefing past the Igelstellungs that had already claimed one of their comrades in a smaller fighter. The two pilots waited until they were almost on top of the ship before they fired all their weapons, which gave them the best aiming profile for their heavy weps. The Sabutai ripple-fired his lasers, four ER Large and six ER Medium, the Jenghiz had an Ultra-20 Autocannon, an ERPPC, and two wing-mounted Streak SRM-6 packs to exercise on the _Archangel_. At point-blank range for a fighter strike, the only weapons that did not hit were the Streak SRMs, which failed to lock properly and never fired to begin with. "_Archangel_!"

"Minor damage to the starboard side, Tolle, don't worry about us," Miriallia replies calmly, knowing what he was worried about intrinsically. "Tolle, you have an enemy Dropship trying to lock you up, dodge it!"

"Oh crap," Tolle says as he traces down what was trying to target him. It was one of the Clan's larger transport Dropships, an _Overlord C_ type. Athrun had drilled Tolle mercilessly on this scenario, where he was being tracked by someone with a lot more guns than him, and Tolle had absorbed the lesson after a full week's training on it. He hammered the main thrusters and one side's verniers, thereby shooting himself off at a strange angle relative to the enemy ship, which normally did weird things to a TTS, especially when their systems were just beginning to lock onto it. It normally worked for human-controlled gunnery systems and basic TTS, but not on an advanced assault ship TTS, which was more than half automatic and the only real man-in-the-loop instance was the actual pulling of the trigger. In this case, it worked enough that most of what hit him from the enemy ship was missile and ballistic, but not all. Tolle took the full of a Clan ERPPC to the dead center of the Buster's thigh, which immediately scorched into the interior of the leg and shattered the leg structure as well as rendering the leg jets unusable in that leg. The rest of what hit him, being missiles from the LRM-20s and a burst of Autocannon, was rather pithy and quite harmless to the Buster. "Buster is hit, my left leg systems aren't responding!"

"Dude, you ain't got no left leg, man," someone says in such a falsetto that Tolle could not recognize who said it. Indeed, what was left of his leg had been sheared clear off and was drifting with him in the general direction of the melee. Tolle eschewed it for now, instead linking his weapons in sniper configuration and returned the favor, the shot striking dead on and calving a significant chunk of armor off the ship, enough that the pilot had second thoughts of the attack run and let the ship fall behind momentarily.

"Kid, keep it moving!" Mu orders to Tolle as he maneuvers the small and incredibly nimble Moebius Zero in behind an enemy Sabutai and hammers on the rear of the enemy machine with the Gunbarrels and Linear Gun. The pilot may have been slightly prepared for a dead-on attack, but was not prepared to dodge fire from five different directions as Mu laid on him. The volley that struck into the enemy was harassing, small flecks of armor on a fighter that carried far more armor than the Moebius Zero, and actually carried more armor than the GINN Mobile Suits, yet it struck in the craft's far weaker rear armor rather than the main fuselage armor or the wing armor. Of what he shot, two volleys from each Gunbarrel and three rounds from his main Linear Gun, he missed only one of the latter, as the enemy pilot became grossly confused as to how one unit was hitting him from five directions at once. The amount of strikes, however, was grossly more than needed, as the fourth volley of Gunbarrel struck into the left wing and penetrated the armor there, burying an otherwise smoking-hot slug into the Sabutai's fuel bunker. What was left of the fighter was turned into a floating fireball headed off and away from the melee.

Mu reeled his gunbarrels in and changed course, hammering it to avoid an incoming streak of Naval PPC that was aimed more at the Archangel but was still not close enough to be a major concern to him or the ship. He lined up next on the Dropship that Tolle had torn an eighth out of after losing a leg to it, and lined up on the general area where Tolle had hit the ship once already. The enemy gunnery officer noticed the incoming contact a moment too late to preempt him, and all the crew of the ship cringed as the fire hammered the ship forward and to the sides. For Mu, it was the next best thing to a turkey shoot, as a Dropship is a whole helluva lot bigger than the GINN units he had trained for and fought over during his career. Mu's effort put all three of the Linear Gun slugs into the nose, each as powerful as Shiva on the Duel and at least as powerful as the Gauss Rifles carried by the Clanners, and most of the Gunbarrel fire into the forward or left side of the ship. The crew of that ship had just received a very harsh lesson: in less than ninety seconds, two enemy Mobile units had shredded a quarter of the nose armor of that one Dropship, and that was not their most powerful assets by far.

"You know, we might actually win this one if we can keep it up," Yzak says after he dodges around a Batu that had traversed real close to his Gundam. He was eying a _Union C_ for some personal attention, but decided against since the fighters were really the greater threat than the slowpoke Dropships. His next 'victim' selected itself as it made a pass at the Duel with three Streak SRM packs and two LB-20X shotgun-style Autocannons. The pilot hit with all the SRMs that Yzak did not intercept with vulcans, but only one of the LBX cannons hit the Assault Shroud, and none of them managed to cause notable damage. Yzak had the answer de rigeur: a volley of LRM-15 and two taps of beam rifle combined with two Shiva slugs. One of the Shiva slugs missed, along with one round of beam rifle, but the remainder impacted the enemy machine square in the fuselage as it was pirouetting away from its attack run. The beam rifle and Shiva slug hit far enough back that it managed to impact the craft's engine nacelles and housing, reducing its ability to move drastically as well as maneuver. A subsequent two beam shots missed as the enemy maneuvered sharply to avoid.

"Alert, all units, _Archangel_ is firing missile volley, repeat, _Archangel_ is firing missile volley," Miriallia cautions to all friendly units, though it would be severely unnecessary as the _Archangel_ FCS knew who were its allies and who were not. The LRM launchers on the starboard side all barked their full volley at nearby enemy fighters, the Helldarts targeted mid-range fighters, and the Sledgehammers sought out the heavier enemy fighters that were starting to get strung out and lagging behind the forward elements of the battle (ergo, Natarle's operational concept was working). A previously untouched Sulla found itself the subject of two LRM volleys, and after the impact the pilot found herself deprived of the ERPPC that was the main gun of her variant of the Sulla. A Batu careened through the three LRM 20 volleys from the rear starboard launchers and came away with a good chunk of its armor gone and missing a Medium Pulse Laser. The Helldarts did not lock on properly to four targets as Chandratta wanted, they locked onto two: a Visigoth that had taken an inordinate amount of abuse prior was reduced to flying chaff as the Helldarts shredded and re-shredded the venerable Clan Aerofighter, and a Kirghiz, the Clan's heaviest fighter in use that had firewalled his engines to get close to the ship, and paid for it with six Helldarts slamming his craft, three of which tore through his right wing and into the 'soft' innards of his craft. That pilot lived to tell the tale, as he punched out before the engine went critical.

The Sledgehammers were designed to take down a GINN unit with one hit, each missile carrying a large shape charge for blowing through the torso armor of the said mobile suit; this would prove to be a prescient feature when the Sledgehammers began striking the enemy fighters, who were heavy armored to the point of being able to take more abuse than a GINN. Of 24 missiles, 15 hit, resulting in another six fighters crippled or killed rather messily, including one that was lining up on Hikaru for a heavy attack run. "Oh hell yeah! Go _Archangel_!" Tolle shouts as the last of the missiles to detonate claims a Sabutai.

What celebration they had was severely short-lived.

- - - - -

"Conn, Sensors! Enemy Warships are splitting up at this time, they appear to be forming two sub-units and trying to flank and surround us, Captain," Sai says as he considers what they might be thinking.

"Concur, Captain," Natarle says as she switches one of her consoles over to the main sensors screen to verify.

"Conn, Helm, cease forward thrust, rotate the ship 180 degrees and center on the enemy smaller Warship. Weps, prepare to fire Gottfrieds, Lohengrins, Valiants, load all missile tubes with Wombats. Small Arms grid at your discretion, Chandratta," Murrue orders.

"Conn, Sensors, thermal bloom from enemy large Warship, she's firing!" Their maneuvering earlier had closed the gap between the ship significantly, and now the enemy Warships had a better shooting profile to the _Archangel_, especially since the enemy ship had momentarily turned broadside-on to the ship to fire most of its weapons arrays at the _Archangel_. 24 Heavy Naval PPC streaks joined 3 Naval Laser '55' and two large capital missiles, the latter targeted on Mobile Suits, the lasers similarly targeted, and the PPCs at the ship. The _Archangel_ was just in the process of turning, so the hits came onto the rear of the ship without much in the way of interference, since Chandratta had not put up an anti-beam depth charge screen due to the interference it would cause with the point-defense weapons.

For the most part, the Laminated Armor did the work it was designed to marvelously. It absorbed the energy hits in stride, converting the thermal component of the attack into waste heat in the ship's coolant circuit and dealing with the rest of the attack effect in nominal fashion. That did not mean, however, that the attacks were soft enough that they caused armor-only damage. "Captain, severe damage to our rear and starboard quarter! Advise we change facing immediately!" Natarle shouts.

"Captain, we're down four of the engine nacelles!" Newman shouts. "Starboard thrusters have been damaged severely!"

"Damn!" Murrue slams her fist down on her console. She was relying on keeping the engines intact. "Newman, complete the hammerhead, Chandratta, weapons status?"

Before he could even answer: "Kira!" Miriallia shouts at her console.

"KIRA!" Athrun shouted on the open frequency. "DAMN THEM!" Murrue did not need to ask what Athrun was intending, his mind had become so bright in the background of the fight that she could sense his surface thoughts immediately. (4)

"Strike! No fucking way!" Yzak had watched as the capital missiles had tracked in on Kira, followed by the three Naval laser shots from the enemy warship. Kira had managed to dodge two, but a malfunction in the IWSP pack from prior damage had prevented him from dodging the third; the IWSP shield was definitely not suited to stopping a capital-grade beam incoming his unit, and the beam literally blitzed through the shield and obliterated his Gundam from mid-torso up. No arms, no head, half the body gone.

"Report!" Murrue orders curtly, her frustration and anger mounting.

"Signal lost to the Strike, Captain," Natarle replies for Miriallia, who was stunned silent.

"No...not Kira...not now..." Murrue says.

"No...wait, Kira's still alive! His cockpit's still intact, just heated up!" Miriallia shouts, then physically calms herself down for one important task: _Fuu, can you recover what's left of the Strike_? She asks telepathically, since Windam was close to the ship.

"Can do," Fuu replies through Windam over the radio channels.

"While you're at it, can you pick up my leg while you're in the area?" Tolle asks in a completely level voice.

"That has got to be the strangest thing I have ever heard over the radio," Sai says.

"I can't believe my boyfriend said that," Miriallia replies drolly.

"Miriallia, can Fuu recover the Strike?" Murrue asks.

"She's doing it right now," Miriallia replies. "As well as the stray leg of interest," she replies with a bit more cheer.

"Have Rayearth, Selesce, and Buster close with the enemy and engage at will," Murrue orders. "Natarle, cooling system status?"

"Almost all the heat from the enemy attacks have been dissipated. We are clear to fire all weps," Natarle replies.

"Chandratta, start doing the Dropships, take them out of the picture, but save the Lohengrins for the enemy Warships," Murrue orders.

"Roger that," Chandratta replies grimly.

Murrue had one of the external cameras slaved to the Strike's position, whereby it was spinning lazily as it drifted generally away from the enemy ship that had destroyed most of it. It was quite the wonder that the reactor in the Strike had not cooked off and destroyed what was left of the Gundam, though Murrue was going to count this blessing, not deride it. Even if the Strike was toast. Windam was just approaching the remnant of the Gundam, already carrying the severed leg of the Buster, and without much in the way of dignity grabbed an exposed armor panel and began hauling it toward the ship.

"Eat me!" Chandratta half-shouts as he slams the console, which fired off the Gottfrieds and Valiants at three separate Dropships.

It had been asked prior, and Murrue could not answer then, but now she could. The Gottfried beams will go through a Dropship the long way. It did reliably on the enemy Dropship that Chandratta had shot through, an _Overlord C_-class that was trying to close up on the _Archangel_ in support of the enemy smaller Warship. The results of such were rather spectacular, as the beams had transited the fuel bunker the long way, converting the Dropship's propellant into a rapidly-expanding fireball that in turn converted the ship into a hail of shards headed radially away from where the fuel bunker was. The starboard turret missed its mark as the enemy pilot realized he was staring down the barrel of a Warship's beam cannons and dodged aside fast enough that the beam missed the starboard side of her ship by a matter of two meters. The Valiants were targeted on a _Union C_-class, the Valiants were more designed with the intent of immolating smaller targets than a Dropship but the 1.1 meter rail gun slugs were more than capable to the task; for that crew, seeing the two Rail Gun slugs slam into their ship and shear almost all their side armor off the ship in one fell stroke was enough to give them second thoughts about this campaign of extermination. The ship was not crippled or destroyed, per se, but it would not take more than a token effort to finish it off.

"Nicol! We're goin' in!" Yzak shouts as the Duel hammers it toward the enemy forces. Nicol knew now was a time to retaliate, since the enemy would be stunned by the immediate loss of one of their Dropships (the _Archangel_ was renown for taking down one of ZAFT's land battleships in one good shot, so could it happen here, he figured), so he joined the advancing units in the assault advance as the _Archangel_ started thrusting to meet the oncoming enemy as well.

"The Strike is recovered. Please, everyone, watch out and don't get caught in the ship's fire," Miriallia relays to the pilots.

Nicol had charged in with the intent of dragging his beam saber down the side of an enemy Dropship. To accomplish this, he had to get past the fighter screen, what the Archangel had not scared stiff with the capital missiles and point defense weapons.

"Aw, crap! Mu's hit!" Mu La Flaga says as he found himself on the wrong end of a Visigoth's lasers. "My weapons are out and my engine's down to damn near zero!"

"Commander, fall back! You're not accomplishing anything in there now!" Natarle orders.

"Roger that, Mu is RTB," Mu says as he feebly brings his craft around and starts back for the ship.

"Nicol, give me a hand covering the Commander," Tolle requests as he takes station in the slightly damaged Buster between the general melee and the Moebius Zero.

"Roger that," Nicol says as he takes station to the starboard, where there were more enemy fighters that appeared to be stacking up for an end-run on the _Archangel_. Some of those fighters broke off, headed back for the Warships, while others appeared to be headed in on their initial attack plan. "Tolle, give me a hand on these guys over here, I think they planning something," Nicol says as the first of them leads off...back toward the Warship as well.

"A piss break or something?" Tolle asks. As he traverses his viewpoint, more than a few of the enemy was headed back toward the ships. "Now I know we didn't scare them that bad, did they do something wrong?" He asks without really considering it.

"They are running out of fuel," Yzak says; "much as we are," he notes after a few moments. "_Archangel_, Duel, I am RTB for gas and ammo," he says with more than a trace of dissatisfied grumble.

"Duel, _Archangel_, bring it in," Miriallia says. "Anyone else low on fuel?"

"I am, now that someone mentions it," Tolle says.

"Ditto," Nicol notes.

"I could stand a pint of bitters right now," Athrun says. "And a few gallons of gas."

"Or is it a few gallons of bitters and a pint of gas?" Yzak asks in retort.

"Tough choice," Athrun replies with mock gravity.

"Hold on," Nicol says as he rattles all three Lancer Darts off at one of the Dropships that was holding position as picket guards for the larger Warships, then turns before he could see what happened with his shots. They headed back to the ship amid a cloud of return fire, before the undeclared cease-fire really took hold and the guns of both sides were silenced, at least temporarily.

"Windam, Rayearth, Selesce, you may land in the hangar deck or on the foredeck of the ship for a few minutes breather."

"Thank you, Captain," Hikaru replies. "I know...we haven't done much today, but—"

"This really isn't a normal battle for you three. Just do what you can and don't get killed. I don't want to explain what went wrong to your parents." Murrue's voice definitely held the hint of worry.

-x-x-x-

The undeclared mutual order to cease fire was short-lived, no more than ten minutes and apparently no longer than it took to maneuver the two Warships to a point where they could fire supporting broadsides on the _Archangel_, with the Dropships dead ahead of the _Archangel_ to 'discourage' the smaller and far faster Warship from trying to blitz through the line and create a crossfire situation between the two Clan Warships. All the mobile forces of both sides had been recovered in that time as well, to take on basic repairs, fuel, ammo, and for the pilots to take a small breather. The Clan fighters would likely not be ready for launch again for another few minutes, but the Hangar Deck on the Archangel was versed in doing these things faster and better, to get the mobile units out and ready for battle as quickly as possible. They had had to do so for the battle with Zagato and Emeraude, lo those many months past, and would do it again when needed.

"They're trying to force the issue by opening the best of their arsenal to us," Natarle says as she watches them move on the sensor plotter.

"Conn, Sensors, thermal bloom in all ships at this time," Sai says, suddenly worried of what was coming down the pipe for them.

"Pay or play time," Murrue says. "Newman, you know how to get us out of this," Murrue says as Newman was already beginning his part of the plan.

With some creative maneuvering, Newman was planning on using the often-overlooked third dimension of space warfare, ducking under the enemy fire and coming up from below their ships, where the average ship had limited fire capabilities. The Dropships would have the ability and speed to counter his actions, though Chandratta had serious plans for the Dropships as soon as they cleared the enemy fire. To execute, he lowered the bow almost to straight vertical compared to the enemy advance and hammered the engines, what was left of them, though when stacked against the ship having lost a third of the engine speed of the _Archangel_ still put it faster than the enemy ships.

"Hangar Deck, CIC, what is the status of the Gundams?"

"Two minutes, Commander, and Duel 'n' Aegis will be good to go," Murdoch replies almost immediately.

"Make it fast," Natarle says before she cringes at the incoming wall of enemy fire. The ship was jarred incredibly violently by the array of hits from the capital arsenals of both ships, but the armor held most of the damage at bay. All told, the_Archangel_ had just calved more than three quarters of its forward armor in one stroke, and taken significant damage to both sides.

"Conn, Weps, we just lost the anti-beam depth charges to starboard fore," Chandratta notes.

"Then favor the starboard side after we fire our first Lohengrin shots," Murrue orders. "Newman, bring the nose up, they can't do much else to us until their guns recharge," What was left of their attacks were little more than capital missiles hardly a serious threat to the _Archangel_. "Chandratta, take down the smaller enemy ship, now," Murrue orders coldly.

"Firing Lohengrins, Gottfrieds, Valiants. Wombats have lock on enemy Dropships," Chandratta notes

"Stay the Wombats, we'll shake them to the core, see if Clanners can have second thoughts when we cut their ship down in one volley," Murrue replies coldly. She was not pleased with the necessity of killing off a whole Warship like this, but such was the necessity of the battle. And she still wanted to go home.

"Solid laser lock now, firing!" Newman had reoriented the ship fast enough that the Gottfrieds took a few moments to finish tracking in, but the Lohengrin cannons were on target almost immediately. The four emerald beams and the two scattering positron beams fired from the ship, immediately driving the cooling system to the max from the PPC hits it had just received, but the reengineered cooling system handled it with alacrity.

Chandratta would later come to regret his semi-bloodlust in this case, for he knew intrinsically that what he had done was bloody in no small fashion, and his hands had ended the lives of hundreds in that single stroke.. The Lohengrin beams swept from stern to bow across the keel of the ship, the Antimatter beams chopping through the solid armor material with far less hesitation than any weapon seen in the Inner Sphere prior (5, 6). One beam chopped through the main engine housing, the other chopped through the mostly-recharged K-F Drive, the positrons reacting with the gross excess of electrons in a hellish reaction that tore the ship into two chunks, the aft half itself detonating as the engines blew from damage themselves. The strikes of the Gottfrieds were pithy in comparison, and only added to the overall damage the ship took that would make it harder to glean anything useful from in salvage.

"Excellent shooting, Chandratta," Natarle says as the two halves of the _Cameron_-class separate violently.

"Yeah," Chandratta replies in rather a bit of a daze.

"Chandratta, it looks like they have blood in their eye, you're going to have to roughhouse the enemy Dropships," Murrue orders.

**WRAAM**. "They beat us to that thought," Natarle notes in a mutter. The Dropships had closed up to a range whereby they could bring their whole arsenals to bear against the ship, though since they were in standard-scale arms the ability of a Dropship to cause significant damage to the _Archangel_ was rather limited. Not for want of trying, of course, as the volleys of Gauss Rifle, Pulse Laser, and LRMs proved.

"Minimal damage," Kuzzey reports; "mostly to the port-side forward, some to port-side rear."

"Armor breaches?"

"None at present, ma'am," Kuzzey immediately replies.

"I'm showing Gottfrieds up and ready, ma'am," Chandratta notes. "All weapons up except Lohengrins," he adds.

_This fast_? Murrue asks within the confines of her own mind; it had been barely more than thirty seconds and they were ready to fire again. "Full volley, knock down some of those Dropships," Murrue orders. "Newman, ease off the throttles, Chandratta put up a wall of Anti-Beam Depth Charges. They should stop PPCs," which appeared to be the main ranged weapon of the surviving enemy warship.

"Roger that," Chandratta replies as he dumps a full volley of Depth Charges to both sides. After those detonated, Chandratta began firing off the various non-beam weapon systems at the enemy Dropships, prioritizing the larger _Overlord C_ ships over the Union ships. At the ever-shortening range between the_Archangel_ and the enemy ships, he missed not once with the capital-scale missiles, though one of the Wombats was still too close to a preceding missile and was destroyed in the blast before it could get to the target. The four surviving _Overlord C_ ships each received six Wombats apiece, two of the _Union C_ ships received eight Helldarts apiece, and Chandratta spread the fire from the Valiants between two of the _Overlords_. After that dust settled (three seconds or thereabouts) he fired off all the ballistic and missile weapons in the point-defense grid that had a solid lock, taking care to barrage one of the _Overlords_ that gave fair to getting in behind the _Archangel_. By the time that dust settled, one of the Union C ships was drifting, uncontrolled and without engine power, as the Gauss Rifles from the bow of the ship had blitzed into the center of the ship and destroyed the main supports around the enemy's engines and fusion reactor.

In ten seconds, the enemy ship lanced out with their weapons, though the energy weapons befell the screen of Anti-Beam Depth Charges and never got to the ship. The ballistic and missile fire raked across the ship as the Dropships all turned a different facing to the Archangel to being upon them fresh arsenal; the range was so grossly short that they could not have missed even firing manually. Two of the enemy ships did grossly miss their fire runs, however, as the Archangel had destroyed enough of their fire control systems that they could not target the _Archangel_ even in manual mode. Most of the missiles and Gauss slugs went forward, on the foredeck and between the 'legs' of the ship, an area that was taking severe damage from the battle.

"Captain, we can't take much more abuse to the front or that's it for the hangar deck," Natarle says.

"I know, but we can't rotate too far or we present the rear of the ship to that battleship," Murrue replies.

Chandratta's arsenal spoke again, singling out two of the Overlord C ships, one each of the units that were now flanking the ship and made the mistake of passing right through the broadside arcs of the fire control system. Each ship got the full workup, including the Igelstellungs that he had more or less left unused except to intercept nearby capital missiles, which they did with fury. A Union C to the fore got the fury of his Gauss Rifles; enough damage to calve several more tons of armor off the ship, not enough to really cripple it further. To each side the ship hammered the enemy with ten LRM 20s, two Ultra-10 Autocannons, four Streak SRM-6 packs, and four Igelstellungs. To starboard, the enemy ship lost part of its weapon array; to port, the enemy ship started breaking up as the Igelstellungs and missiles tore into the frame of the ship and struck somewhat explosive internal components (like oxygen reserves).

"This is a strange time to feel weird," Murrue mutters to herself. "Chandratta, can we pop some rounds off at the enemy Warship?"

"Not yet, Captain," Chandratta replies. "Fifteen seconds," he adds after a moment.

"Conn, Sensors, enemy Warship is tracking us steady!"

"Brace for it!" Murrue shouts as the strange feeling increased a little more. This time, the fire was not all PPCs, it included ballistic autocannons as well. Very big ballistic cannons that hocked over a ton of ordinance in each volley. Thankfully, only one of those cannons actually hit the Archangel, the other two missed by a matter of meters, even through that one cannon—

"Captain, that cannon just chunked serious damage to the port-forward!" Kuzzey half-shouts.

"And those PPCs blitzed right through the Anti-beam Depth Charges," part of which energy had reached the ship and caused ever-increasing damage to the front of the ship.

"Calm down, they can't do anything for a minute, at least. Chandratta, since they relieved us of our port-side energy weapon protection, hit 'em with the Gottfrieds, Valiants, and Wombats. Discourage that Dropship with the Helldarts and rear point weapons. Then put up another Depth Charge screen."

"Captain, Windam and Blitz reporting ready to launch," Miriallia notes.

"Launch them fast," Natarle orders. "Have them focus on the Union dead ahead."

The ship shuddered from the catapult shots, but not from the firing of the main weapons. The sound of the 24 Wombats ripple-firing and the sight as they arced in on the enemy Warship was somewhat satisfying to Murrue, who was beginning to question if she would walk away from this battle; these Wolves had truly torn the_Archangel_ three, four flavors of a new asshole, something that took four of ZAFT's best in her homeworld using four of the best Gundams in the said world to do it. It was slightly reassuring to Murrue to see all 24 missiles hit the enemy ship all across its side, and she could tell that the enemy's forward side was becoming a bit savaged, but the armor still held without issue. Moments later the Helldarts fired, centered on the _Overlord C_ that had succeeded in getting behind the ship with a rough turning profile, and by the time the last missile impacted on it, the enemy ship was no more.

As soon as Nicol was clear of the Ship, he immediately targeted the requested ship off the bow of the Archangel and fired his beam rifle three times, followed by his three Lancer Darts, then he activated the Trikeros beam saber. "Fuu, follow me in and slash into that ship!" Nicol shouts as he charges it down after the last of his Lancer Darts detonates in the nose of the ship.

What happened next would forever be a blur to Fuu, though she did get the luxury of watching it in Tri-vid courtesy of Kira's 'unauthorized' ship mods. The enemy ship had changed target profiles from the _Archangel_ to the Blitz, and opened up on it with everything that had not been destroyed in prior strikes. One of those happened to be a Pulse Laser bay, just the thing needed to hit when the Ship's FCS was three-quarters dead and not getting any better. The three Pulse Lasers all struck the torso of the Gundam and lanced inward, knocking out the coolant loop for the reactor. Without the coolant, the engine shut down as it could no longer generate power to contain the fusion reaction, much less power the rest of the Gundam. "Nicol!" Fuu shouts as she saw the lasers literally blow through the rear of his Gundam, followed by a volley of LRMs that impacted all over his Gundam, shearing the legs, the left arm, and the head clean off the Gundam as well as causing even more damage to the non-phase-shift protected Gundam's torso.

Some would say she was infuriated at how Nicol's Gundam had been violated. Others would say she tried her hardest to take the heat off him. Only Murrue and Miriallia really knew why she charged the ship down with Windam, her mind strangely clear and focused on the ship. Sword set; she ran the blade into the nose of the enemy ship and dragged it clear of the ship by slashing violently outward. This was accompanied by using _**Emerald Typhoon**_, targeted on the gash she had just created, which blew through what was left of the armor in the area an into the 'soft' innards of the ship and combat disabled it by taking out the bridge of the ship. When she came off the attack run, she was panting with exertion from the strike, though Windam had not taken any damage. "Nicol, are you all right?"

_Fuu, he's badly injured. Get him into the hangar deck ASAP_, Miriallia orders telepathically. Fuu could see where some of the missile pattern had struck around the cockpit of the Blitz, and she grabbed what was left of the torso to haul it into the deck as fast as possible.

"Chandratta, Lohengrin status?"

"Another fifty seconds," he replies. "Enemy will be ready to fire in ten, our mains ten after that."

That much was a cold, hard slap to Murrue's face. "Sorry, people, I don't think I was able to get you home." It went without saying that the next volley would decide the fate of the_Archangel_, and the said ship still had ten seconds beyond the enemy's fire turn before they could fire again, due to coolant system overload.

"Can't win 'em all," Natarle notes.

"Well I want to win 'em all and damn the consequences," Miriallia replies. She had no real idea how much that thought changed their fate.

"Thermal bloom, enemy ship is firing!" Sai shouts. They had closed up to a range whereby it was spitting distance for capital weapons, and all that was left was to see who survived after the smoke cleared. The shots were fired; once again, the Archangel got the horror of seeing the Anti-beam depth charges get blitzed through by the PPCs, a good portion of which hit the tail binder and front leg, followed by the pithy NL-55 bay on the enemy ship. What Murrue was really worried about was the Autocannons, and they did just as advertised to the _Archangel_; The three volleys seemed to lanced out and impact solely on the port-side 'leg' of the ship and immediately behind it, blitzing through what was left of the armor and into the internals of the ship behind the hangar deck.

"Damage report!" Murrue shouts. She was almost feeling just plain funky, despite the semi-depression that had come over her moments prior. She may yet live to see the next day...

"All weapons online, still charging! Five seconds!"

"Conn, Damage Control, we have a significant hull breach in the upper corridors just behind the hangar deck. The ZAFT Pilot's quarters are toast."

"FUCK!" Yzak shouts when he realizes what they meant.

"Conn, Hangar Deck, I can see out the port side to broad starlight," Murdoch says. "We lost about ten guys from shrapnel and one of those slugs blitzed in. What's left of the Blitz is gone."

"The pilot?" Natarle asks as Chandratta began typing up the next fire commands.

"He's clear, Fuu had him partway to the medbay before they shot," Murdoch replies with a hint of relief to voice.

"Chandratta, nail them."

"Gotcha, suckas," Chandratta says as he hits the 'execute' button. He was holding off on firing the missiles due to their heat flash compared to the Gottfrieds, and he wanted to save the heat available for the Lohengrins.

"All hangar crew take cover, they appear to be launching fighters again," Murrue orders, since the inside of the hangar was vulnerable she did not want them exposed. "Chandratta, Lohengrins?"

"Right now," Chandratta says. "Newman, give me an angle," he requests.

"Damn straight," Newman says as he uses the engines and the verniers to reposition the ship for a shot. It took just the time to deploy the cannons and finish charging to get lined up.

"Say hello to my little friends," Chandratta says as he finished entering the commands; though he had shoved it aside, even he was beginning to feel strange about his whole being. His hand hovered over the fire button for a moment, then he stabbed it.

The last thing any of the _Archangel_ crew remembered was a sensation that combined being pulled in two directions with weightlessness with a bright white flash of some kind, similar to what one would see in the presence of a Flashbang..

-x-x-x-

"Aww shit, what the hell happened?" Murrue asks after she began stirring. She looked around and saw she was still in her seat on the bridge of the Archangel, as was everyone else. "Hey, Kuzzey, wake up," she says as she shakes his back. He was still warm to the touch, which meant he was not dead.

"Unh, I didn't do it, I swear," he replies blearily as he begins stirring.

"Holy crap, is this what a hangover feels like?" Miriallia asks as she begins levering herself out of her chair.

"Give me thirty more minutes," Natarle requests.

"Are we still alive?" Chandratta asks nobody in particular.

"If we're dead, I'm not objecting too loud," Kuzzey replies. "So long as the scenery improves."

"Uh, what the hell is that thing?" Murrue asks. Something was covering the forward window.

"It appears to be an octopus trying to suck on the window," Sai says as he gets a good look at it.

"We're underwater?" Murrue asks, then looks past the arms and body to see that they likely were underwater since it was almost pitch-black out there.

"Conn, Aegis, the hangar deck is flooded out right now, we may have lost more personnel. What's going on?"

"Aegis, Conn, we have an issue that we need taken care of if you can," Murrue requests.

"Go for Aegis," Athrun replies.

"We have an octopus trying to chew on the front window, can you clear him off?"

"Roger that, I'll just walk out the hole in the side of the ship," Athrun says. "Just what I need, scrape an octopus off the ship that's trying to give it a hickie. Where, oh where did my life go drastically wrong?"

"Deja Moo," Miriallia replies.

"Oh yes, we've all heard this bullshit before," Yzak replies. "Sort of."

* * *

Author's Chapter Afterword:

This is the destruction inherent to Battletech. Be afraid, kiddies, because it is possible that we'll be doing it again, only against worse foes.

I think I have little to say else about this battle, as the aftermath on the Wolves' side will be explained in a different fashion, but let us simply say that the Archangel just earned itself the 'badass' reputation for both space and ground battle. They tore serious chunk out of a _McKenna_-class ship and chopped a _Cameron_-class in half, not to mention immolated the Dropships and fighters, using only one ship and a scratch-up combination of mobile forces. If part of this sounded a bit mechanical, it was because I was actually using most of the Aerotech rules except the actual map tracking of locations. Random results are so much fun to work with.

The fate of the Strike and Blitz will be covered in the next chapter. Sorry, you'll have to wait to see if those Gundams survive.

All right, it's time for y'all to guess as to where

All righty, then, it's Review Reply Time:

**TheGreenKnight63**: Does this qualify as enough of a beat-down?

**Chm01**: Flay will get out of jail soon enough...then it's going to get real interesting real fast. As to Armored Core, I keep hearing about it but I am not versed in it. Sry.

**Death Knight**: Strangely enough, all those you just mentioned are on the list. And thank you for the compliment, comrade.

**Arian**: Thanks for the info, That I did not know.

**FraserMage**: You got that one right. Sorry about roasting up some Wolf, but they gave better than they got, it's just the Archangel really is hard to kill :P. Any word on my idea I messaged you?

**Drakensis**: You got that one right. I am a sniper/camper respecter IRL, so I'm always willing to throw the sharpshooters a bone.

**The Baka Brigade**: Macross is an old favorite, rest assured. That is a very strong possible at this time.

**Knives91**: Thanks for the review and cookie; does this count as more?

**Gonging Apples**: Okay that kinda weirded me out for a moment, but it does make sense...sort of. Yes, some people can do unexpected things when they try, Hikaru has a bad habit of that.

**Archaon83**: Warhammer 40K is not one I am familiar with. I may need to look into that. Thank you for the review, comrade.

**Etienneofthewestwind**: You know, that is a rather optimistic way to look at Yzak's fate, whom I should mention got away from this battle rather clean. It was Kira and Nicol that got beat down, not to mention the ship as a whole.

That's that, people. Keep them reviews coming, I look forward to the crazy ideas and commentary.

Next Up: Where the hell are we? Finding that out is going to be one big challenge, not to mention patching up the ship.

* * *

Footnotes:

(1): This fighter took severe damage to its Fire control system; he was basically dead-firing his weapons on manual in a beat-up fighter.

(2): If you are wondering why the Visigoth is taking so much abuse, this fighter is incredibly popular among the Clans; some of the Clans have as many as 1 in 4 of their fighter compliment as Visigoths.

(3): It is unlisted but assumed that the Gundams have a set of interface plugs in each hand, so this is a possible for the Aegis.

(4): This is my guess at what the act of going SEED would look like to a psionic.

(5): As there is no defense against Antimatter known except to **not** be hit by it, I am listing the damage of the Lohengrin and the ZAFT-equivalent Tannhauser as doubled against any target it hits, with some exceptions that will be declared and illustrated in story far later chapters.

(6): Official hit locations: aft, aft-left.

* * *

Archangel TRO (At this point in the story):

Class/Model/Name:

LCAM-01XA Archangel Class Mod 1

**Tech:**

Mixed Tech / 3067

**Vessel Type:**

Monitor (Non Transportable)

**Rules:**

Level 3, Standard design

**Mass:**

375,000 tons

**Length:**

440 meters

**Power Plant:**

Standard (C)

**Safe Thrust: **6

**Maximum Thrust: **9

**Armor Type: **Laminated Armor

**Armament:**  
2 Lohengrin Cannon  
4 Gauss Rifle  
5 ER PPC  
4 Gottfried Mark 71  
24 MP Missile Tube  
10 Medium Pulse Laser  
20 LRM 20  
18 Screen Launcher  
2 Valiant Mark 8  
8 Igelstellung  
4 Ultra AC/10  
8 Streak SRM 6  
9 Large Pulse Laser  
16 Helldart  
2 ER Medium Laser

**Overview:**

This is the present status of the Archangel as of this chapter of the story. Granted it is going to need a paintjob and a shitload of screen doors after that battle, but such are simple details. To see the special rules for the Archangel equipment, please review the 'stock' Archangel TRO listed in Chapter 20, Flight of the Jokers Wild

* * *

Class/Model/Name: 

LCAM-01XA Archangel Class Mod 1

**Mass: **375,000 tons

Equipment (Mass)

**Power Plant:**

Standard (135,000.00)

**Structural Integrity:**

131 (49,125.00)

**Safe Thrust: **6

**Maximum Thrust: **9

**Heat Sinks:**

2,500 Double (1,936.00)

**Fuel & Fuel Pumps:**

7,500.00

**Bridge & Controls:**

938.00

**Fire Control Computers:**

91.00

**Food & Water:**

(150 days supply) (144.75)

**Armor Factor:**

1,552 Laminated Armor (C)

982.50

* * *

Armor Value 

**(Capital Scale)**

**Fore: **288

**Fore Left / Right: **258 / 258

**Aft Left / Right: **258 / 258

**Aft: **232

* * *

Equipment & Options: 

**Cargo:**

Bay 1:

Mobile Suits (1 1) (12) with 2 doors (2,400.00)

Bay 2:

Fighters (2) with 2 doors (300.00)

Bay 3:

Light Vehicles (to 50T) (5) with 1 door (250.00)

Bay 4:

Cargo (1) (15,292.75)

**Grav Decks:**

Grav Deck #1: 150-meter diameter (100)

**Life Boats:**

10 (7 tons each) (70)

**Escape Pods:**

2 (7 tons each) (14)

**Crew and Passengers:**

30 Officers (35 minimum)

50 Crew (90 minimum)

50 Gunners (78 minimum)

10 Steerage Passengers

53 Bay Personnel

* * *

Weapons & Equipment:  
Loc, SRV, MRV, LRV, ERV  
Heat, Mass 

1 Lohengrin Cannon  
Nose, 65, 65, 65, 65  
1,000, 25,000.00

1 Lohengrin Cannon  
Nose, 65, 65, 65, 65  
1,000, 25,000.00

2 Gauss Rifle (C)(128 rounds)  
Nose, 3(30), 3(30), 3(30), --  
2, 40.00

2 Gauss Rifle (C)(128 rounds)  
Nose, 3(30), 3(30), 3(30), --  
2, 40.00

3 ER PPC (C)  
Nose, 5(45), 5(45), 5(45), --  
45, 18.00

2 Gottfried Mark 71 (C)  
FL/R, 60, 60, 60, --  
1,600, 20,000.00

6 MP Missile Tube (C)(60 msls)  
FL/R, 30, 30, 30, 30  
300, 3,000.00

4 Medium Pulse Laser (C)  
FL/R, 3(28), 3(28), --, --  
32, 16.00

2 LRM 20 (C)(72 rounds)  
FL/R, 2(24), 2(24), 2(24), --  
24, 44.00

2 LRM 20 (C)(72 rounds)  
FL/R, 2(24), 2(24), 2(24), --  
24, 44.00

4 Screen Launcher (IS)(60 scrns)  
FL/R, --, --, --, --  
80, 1,520.00

1 Valiant Mark 8 (C)(30 rounds)  
L/RBS, 20, 20, 20, 20  
30, 15,030.00

2 Igelstellung (C)(200 rounds)  
L/RBS, 4(40), 4(40), 4(40)--  
24, 60.00

4 Screen Launcher (IS)(60 scrns)  
L/RBS, --, --, --, --  
80, 1,520.00

1 Ultra AC/10 (C)(100 rounds)  
L/RBS, 2(15), 2(15), --, --  
12, 40.00

1 Ultra AC/10 (C)(100 rounds)  
L/RBS, 2(15), 2(15), --, --  
12, 40.00

4 Streak SRM 6 (C)(120 rounds)  
L/RBS, 5(48), 5(48), --, --  
32, 40.00

2 Igelstellung (C)(200 rounds)  
AL/R, 4(40), 4(40), 4(40), --  
24, 60.00

6 MP Missile Tube (C)(60 msls)  
AL/R, 30, 30, 30, 30  
300, 3,000.00

2 Large Pulse Laser (C)  
AL/R, 2(20), 2(20), 2(20), --  
40, 24.00

2 Large Pulse Laser (C)  
AL/R, 2(20), 2(20), 2(20), --  
40, 24.00

3 LRM 20 (C)(150 rounds)  
AL/R, 4(36), 4(36), 4(36), --  
36, 80.00

3 LRM 20 (C)(150 rounds)  
AL/R, 4(36), 4(36), 4(36), --  
36, 80.00

16 Helldart (C)(266 msls)  
Aft, 40, 40, --, --  
160, 1,332.00

2 Screen Launcher (IS)(30 scrns)  
Aft, --, --, --, --  
20, 380.00

2 ER PPC (C)  
Aft, 3(30), 3(30), 3(30), --  
30, 12.00

2 ER Medium Laser (C)  
Aft, 1(14), 1(14), --, --  
10, 2.00

1 Large Pulse Laser (C)  
Aft, 2(24), 2(24), 1(10), --  
10, 6.00  
2 Medium Pulse Laser (C)  
8, 4.00

1 Lot Spare Parts (5.00 percent), (18,750.00)

1 Levitator System  
37,500.00

2 Turret Assemblies, Valiant  
1,000.00

2 Turret Assemblies, Gottfried  
2,000.00

1 Artificial Gravity Systems  
3,750.00

1 Hot Springs  
200.00

**TOTALS:**  
Heat by weapons: 5,013

Total Ship Mass:** 375,000.00**

**Tons Left: **.00

* * *

Calculated Factors: 

**Total Cost: **1,485,460,000 C-Bills

**Battle Value: **179,861

**Cost per BV: **8,258.93

**Weapon Value: **99,383 (Ratio .55)

**Damage Factors: **SRDmg 4,844; MRDmg 4,694; LRDmg 3,331; ERDmg 1,034

**Maintenance Point Value: **MPV 629,880 (200,123 Structure, 279,650 Life Support, 150,107 Weapons)

**Support Points: **SP 483,100 (77 of MPV)

**BattleForce2: **(Not applicable)


	17. Repairing Things Big And Small

(Chapter 17: Repairing Things Big And Small)

"Thirty meters to the surface...twenty-five meters...twenty meters...fifteen meters...ten meters..." At this point, the bridge crew could see sunlight through the waves above the conning tower of the _Archangel_. "Five meters...surface."

They were not deceived by that appearance. It was a bright, sunny morning they had come upon, provided that on this world the sun rose in the east. Time would tell that much. Murrue was at the windows, watching the hangar bay drain out almost explosively of the water that had accumulated in it from their new location. Athrun had put a triple layer of cargo nets in place over the hole to prevent equipment and supplies from being swept out into the waves, as he had done over the hole that had become his quarters, and it did not take long for that net to bulge with tool carts and spare armor plating that was following the movement of the water.

"Captain, we appear to have lost all the ballast from seawater, or enough of it that I can resume normal levitator functions," Newman says as the ship begins lifting from the waves faster than it had been lifting underwater. "We're still down forty percent of the engines at this time, however."

"Thank you, mister Newman. Sai, contacts?"

"Negative, Captain, scope and sonar are clear," Sai replies.

"All right, activate the long-weave sensor mode, try and find us some land to park the ship on, Sai."

"Aye, Captain, beginning search now," Sai replies. Long-wave sensors would bounce off certain layers of the atmosphere and gave the ship beyond-visual-range sensor capability, at the expense of crystal-clear returns. "Conn, Sensors, I have a return, possible surface naval contact bearing 2-6-5, range minimum eighty-five kilometers."

"Designate contact Sierra-1, track steady while continuing your search."

"Aye," Sai locks that contact into the sensor controls as something to be tracked continually while expanding the land-search another five kilometers at a time. He continues expanding the contacts until there was no room left for sensors at his altitude. "Conn, Sensors, I show no land in sensor range at this time, my only contact is Sierra-one bearing 2-6-6, range eighty-seven kilometers, target ship's heading 0-4-5."

"Roger that, thank you, Sai. Newman, plot us a course to come up behind Sierra-1 and keep a respectable distance from her. If anyone in the area knows where they are going, it is likely to be that ship."

"Easy enough," Newman notes as he breaks out the laser pen on his console while Mina took over the task of keeping the ship steady in the increasing winds. "Here, we'll head course 2-2-5 for forty kilometers, then 3-1-5 until intersect his stern bearing, then on course 0-4-5 or whatever he would be running at that time. Sai, with the keel at sea level, how close to you have to be to get a direct-path sensor cut on him?"

"Uh, hold on a second," Sai says as he checks his reference info on his control panel. "Forty kilos, sir," Sai replies.

"Which puts us well out of visual range," Natarle notes.

"Excellent," Murrue notes. "Make it happen, Newman, Mina."

"Aye," both reply as Murrue resumes her seat, now through watching the hangar deck empty of seawater.

"Attention all hands, this is the Captain. Please begin all repairs possible to execute that do not require the ship to be landed. As soon as we find a good parking spot we shall begin the full court press for ship repairs. All pilots please report to the main briefing room for debrief at this time. Thank you."

- - - - -

"All right, people, we're back to square one again. No clue where we are and no clue what to do about it. Before we get caught in a situation that could be called bad or worse, I need to know who's up and on what at this time," Murrue requests.

"Aegis is up," Athrun replies.

"Strike is down, likely dead," Kira replies. "If I have to, I can use a Skygrasper with the Launcher pack."

"Buster is missing a leg, as soon as that is fixed I'm good to go," Tolle notes.

"Blitz doesn't exist any more except in memory," Nicol notes slightly sourly. It had been quite literally blitzed by an incoming shell of Naval Autocannon 40 as it blew through the armor on the side of the hangar and eliminated four of the deck crew at the same time.

"Duel is up, I took some minor damage from fighters but nothing crippling."

"Moebius Zero is down for repairs, not that it matters down here. I can go out in a Skygrasper as needed," Mu notes.

"Can the Buster use the Trikeros shield?" Tolle asks.

"I don't see why not," Nicol replies. "Any of the Gundams should be able to use it."

"Granted, Tolle," Murrue says. "And the Rune Gods?"

Hikaru, Fuu, and Umi look amongst themselves. "We can go out as needed," Umi notes.

"All right, people, I'm going to tell you first. As soon as we get the ship parked and critical repairs are completed, the whole crew is getting a 'steel beach' day. After the battle today...err, yesterday...whenever, I think we all could use a breather."

"Does the Earth Alliance issue vacation time?" Nicol asks.

"Not enough to talk about," Murrue replies drolly. "The Archangel Team, however, is a different story. Now, physically or equipment-wise aside, how are you doing?"

Surprisingly, it was Yzak with the most direct and rapid response: "Stressed out, 'cause unless we landed in the waters off Aube, we're in yet another dimension and another chance to get blown to hell by someone we probably can't even pronounce their names right."

"Strangely, he's right," Umi tacks on. "We're probably all gonna spend the next hours or days worrying until we figure out how bad it is around here."

"She's right," Athrun notes. "Since this started, we've been at each other's throats, we've faced down the next best thing to a goddess and her high priest, and rampaged across several worlds of the Inner Sphere fighting the Clans to a standstill. What's next?"

"So, do we park it here and give up?" Mu asks in rather sharp retort. "Not to make it sound like I am enjoying this, but half the fun is the unknown, never knowing what next you're going to walk into when you get there."

"And I still want to go home, even after all the battles we've been through, not that I have much of a home to go back to since **someone** blew it up," Kira notes with a rather sharp look at Yzak, Athrun, and Nicol.

"Hey Strike, just think of it as an opportunity to redecorate," Yzak notes, earning him a few 'disgusting attempt at a joke' groans from the others in the room.

"All right, 'Dearka'," and Athrun said this with such emphasis as to cause Yzak to flush bright red; "stop trying to embarrass yourself. Anyways, I'm going to keep on keepin' on, since I don't really see any value in stopping anywhere except home."

"Right," Hikaru and Nicol both reply.

"Aube or bust!" Tolle says as he slams the table lightly with his right fist.

"I would like to say I don't really care, because I am not looking forward to going back to the Earth Alliance, but I don't think It'd be right to park it for good if the rest of you want to go home," Mu says.

"Getting home is the big part; what we do after that is the great question," Kira notes with a bit of gravity.

"Yeah, I agree, let's just figure out how to get home first, then worry about what to do when we get there," Yzak accedes in a level voice.

"All right, that's what we're going to do. The ship moves on, regardless; it is possible that some of the crew may want off after that beating we just got from the Wolves," Murrue cautions to those of the command-rank in the room.

-x-x-x-

"Off the ship? Hell no! I don't want off the ship, I want vengeance!" Murdoch replies rather testily to the Captain's question as to whether he or any of the rest of the Deck Crew wanted off at the first possible civil location to do so. "And I don't think any of the rest of the deck crew want out either, we want some Wolf asses on pikes for grillin', if we ever get a chance to kick their asses again, that is. I lost nine of my best as well as four of the more promising Falcon bondsmen," he notes, putting an official number to what Murrue was silently dreading. "We may also have lost more down in engineering when that big sum-bitch corncobbed us."

"We did," Murrue replies, now understanding the totality of why people were complaining about Athrun's revised speech patterns. If Athrun ended up this bad... "Twelve down in Engineering, including another three of the Falcons."

"Want me to send some of the boys down that way to help shore up personnel count in the engine room?" Murdoch asks, quite stunned by the amount of personnel killed in that one barrage.

"Anyone you can spare, Murdoch. Now, what's the word on the Gundams and Skygraspers?"

"Well, we've got problems. Big problems."

"Machine by machine, if you have to."

"Well, Captain, first off, the Moebius Zero we're working on rebuilding now. The Commander took about four Medium Pulse hits, he's lucky he got enough of his machine home to repair. Second, Blitz got blitzed. All that's left worth mentioning of it is embedded in the port-side bulkhead with what's left of that half-meter ballistic slug that tore into us."

"Can you dig that thing out relatively intact, Murdoch? It'd make a rather interesting keepsake for the Stateroom." _Not to mention, I want to present that thing as evidence to the board of inquiry that we aren't completely crazy here, if it ever comes down to that,_ Murrue thinks wryly.

"Well, yeah, I think I can get that thing out," Murdoch replies after thinking about it. "As for the rest of the Blitz, it got swept out to sea while we were unconscious from that last disappearing act. Aegis is actually relatively intact, Athrun didn't do anything crazy to get it banged up. Duel is intact but the Assault Shroud took a helluva beating. I'm going to have to patch it up and repaint the whole monster, unless Yzak has no objections to going into battle with blast marks and primer on his machine."

"No, I think it'd be better if you had it looking proper. At the least, we want to give any possible foes our Sunday best before we boot them upside the head," Murrue orders.

"Uh, right, can do Cap'n. And that brings us to the Strike. You can see what's left of it in berth four."

It only took Murrue five seconds to deliver her appraisal. "Might as well sign the BER (1) paperwork and the death certificate on it, I guess."

"I'd hate to chuck it, Cap'n, but in all fairness to what it took, it basically got blown in in half. Repairing it is going to cost us more parts than we have, period." By which he did not mean parts they had, per se, he meant parts that could be spared for a basic complete MS overhaul.

"Yeah, I know, the Strike is just too flexible to willingly give up, but in the end we have a choice between three functional Gundams for a long period or four for a shorter period." She sighs. "Break it down for spare parts, what's left of it."

"That's 'bout the size of it, Cap'n. I'll get it broke down."

"Skygraspers?"

"Ready to go any time, both of 'em. Thinking about putting Kira and Mu up in the sky if needed?"

"Mu for certain and either Kira or Nicol, whichever wants to use a dinky air-only fighter."

"No telling, if either," Murdoch replies.

"All right, Murdoch, what's the damage to the ship's hull?" Murrue asks, silently dreading the final number. His crew had had an hour to give the ship a good once-over for damage, and it went without saying that there would be a lot of it. After all, the only other time someone had put a notable hole in the ship had been on the starboard-side catapult doors, not in the actual heavy-armor side of the ship.

"Eh, it just needs a paint job and a shitload of screen doors." (2)

Murrue tried to not laugh at the fashion he had delivered that crass comment. Tried, and failed miserably. She ended up giggling for a few seconds after she managed to master most of the louder reaction.

After Murdoch figured he had rescued the captain from her self-imposed depression, he continued: "Seriously? We're going to have to expend most of our spare armor composite to repair the ship. Let's hope there is somewhere here that we can get replacement armor, or the locals can't damage us, or both. Both would be good."

"Both would be good, but I—" Murrue was interrupted by the intercom.

"Captain to the bridge, Captain to the bridge."

- - - - -

"Report, Natarle," Murrue orders.

"Captain, contact Sierra-1 is thirty-five kilometers off our port bow at this time, but in closing up we appear to have found some form of land mass that may be continental."

"Excellent," Murrue replies. "Now all we need is somewhere to put the ship down. Only question is, who do we send to check?"

"May I suggest we use Windam for the task?" Natarle requests.

"You may, and I'd like to know why not Aegis or Duel?" Murrue asks as she leans up against the arm of her chair.

"Hold them in reserve in case the residents of this planet really don't like us, for starters. Second, outside of Athrun, Fuu is both the most flexible of our personnel and the most tactful," Natarle notes.

_How about she's the most tactful person in the crew hands down_, Murrue thinks out loud...

...loud enough to broadcast, which elicited the inevitable comment: "She's right, Fuu_is_ the nicest person I've met in a long time," Miriallia replies.

Natarle plows on: "I also request Windam because of Windam's speed, in case she has to break away from a battle, and due to Windam's defensive capabilities that are basically unmatched in the unit. This is recon, not recon-in-force, Captain."

"All right, message received." Some part of Murrue's soul still considered the Rune Gods not part of the Mobile Contingent of the ship, but she chided herself for that. After all was said and done they were still here and were active in every battle the ship took place in, and all that by choice, not military orders. She reaches onto her console and picks up the phone, then jabs the same hand's thumb into the 'all call' switch. "Fuu Hououji, please report to the bridge at first possible, Fuu Hououji to the bridge. Thank you."

It only took two minutes. "You called, Captain Ramius?" Fuu asked as soon as she entered the bridge.

"Thank you for coming so fast, Fuu," Murrue replies. "I have a request for Windam and yourself. We need someone to scout around for clear land to park the ship on to conduct repairs. Are you willing?"

"Readily, Captain," Fuu replies instantly.

"Thank you, Fuu. Also, there are two things you need to watch out for while conducting the search: towns, military forces or bases. Avoid all of the above if possible. And avoid fighting if possible; if you have to cut your way out of a situation, do it, but if you can run, do that first."

"So, basically I'm just doing a search, nothing violent, and I need to avoid people. Correct, Captain?"

"Correct." Murrue was still feeling a bit guilty about this, but...

"All right, I can do this. When do I go?" Fuu asks.

"Immediately. Miriallia will give you course instructions after you launch."

"Thank you, Captain," Fuu says.

"No, thank you, Fuu, for the help." Within moments, Fuu was off the bridge.

"You're still not thinking of them as part of the ship's pilot compliment," not a question, but a comment from Natarle.

"I still can't make that leap of imagination. I mean, the Gundam pilots are sixteen, seventeen, they're fourteen and not trained as soldiers."

"Not to sound cruel about it, but somewhere in Existence there's probably soldiers as young as twelve," strangely enough, the comment was from Miriallia. "And the Knights are doing a lot better at it than I know I would. I keep freezing up every time I have to kill someone."

"That means you are human first, soldier second, Crewman Haw," Natarle replies. "Probably the best way to be."

- - - - -

Fuu was fast to move out to the catapult on the starboard side; from the time she left the bridge to the time she was in position was about three minutes. "Windam requesting launch at this time," she requests on the main radio band.

"Roger that, Windam, opening catapult doors at this time for launch. After launch, head north-east for the nearest known land area and begin your recon. Be advised, Sensors sees only one ship in the area dead ahead of us at this time."

"Understood, Miriallia. Launch when ready," Fuu replies.

It was not the first time she had been cat-shot, nor would it be the last in her estimation. Even so, it was still unsettling to have your whole body pressed in weird fashions that was strangely stimulating, combined with the instant adrenaline rush as she went from standing still to hundreds of kilometers of speed in a matter of moments.

When Windam snapped his wings open, they were immediately in control and moving fast; moments later, they were headed in the requested direction. For Fuu, it was an incredible feeling each time she got it, not to mention the incredible view from inside Windam as they soared across the skies of yet another planet. "It's amazing..."

_No two planets, no two dimensions are ever exactly alike, Fuu. It is the nature of dimensional travel_.

"But, why do we keep slipping between dimensions like this, and not where we intend to go?"

_There may be someone in Existence that understands the 'why' of this matter, Fuu. I do not, unfortunately; all I can guess to this is that something within our midst is causing the problems where we go from location to location at random_.

"Is it possible for us to go through Dimensions how we want?" She asks after a pause of a minute.

_There are others in Existence that have mastered travel between dimensions, by both technology and magic. It should be possible for us to do the same, should we acquire the necessary skills or devices_. Windam was silent for a period of time, which was not grossly unsettling to Fuu; the Rune Gods were not the most talkative beings on the ship, for sure. What did have her worried was that he was slowing his airspeed down, to the point that he came to a hover over the ocean, with the land mass just barely in sight in the distance.

"Windam, Control, what is your status?" Miriallia asks about five seconds after Windam had come to a hover.

"I do not know, Control. Windam?"

_Be wary, Magic Knight. I sense power, magical power, and a lot of it. This is a most unusual land_, Windam notes telepathically. _We are approaching a town. Best we double back for several miles and then head northwest_.

"Control, Windam," Fuu begins, then hesitates. "Windam says we are approaching a town on this heading. He recommends we double back for several miles and then head northwest."

"Windam, Control, I roger your last. Will relay to the captain." Ten seconds passed as minutes in Fuu's perception, as her heart and mind raced on a heading of nowhere fast with a speed unmeasurable. In situations like this, the paranoia curve went sharply upwards and it affected everyone, even the most docile of persons on the ship. "Windam, Control, come due south until you intercept the ship, then northwest for continued scouting, over. Be advised we are deploying Selesce and Duel at this time for close-proximity guard in case something happens."

"Thank you, Control," Windam was all too happy to double back and head toward the ship. Something about that power appeared to be creeping Windam out, and what creeped a Rune God out was cause for concern for the whole ship, in Fuu's opinion.

When Windam arrived at the ship, Fuu gave it a fly-by before she headed off in the course perpendicular to what she had started on. The view was still spectacular, either direction she headed, and by increasing her altitude incrementally she was able to get a look at where she was heading.

A wall of mountains rested slightly to the right of dead ahead of her, crags that came literally up to the shoreline by her view. To the right and left were relatively low lands with beaches here and there, the rest was grassland against small cliff faces that an athletic person would have little issue climbing. A forest or something to that effect appeared to be farther south on that area, which gave Fuu an excellent idea. "Sir Windam, can we land the ship between those crags and the forest?"

_The ship should have no issue with that, Magic Knight. There is a small town southwest of where you are looking, though they should be unable to see the ship as they are on the other side of the land mass_. Windam meant that the land itself crested at a height of probably 800 meters ASL, compared to the beach Fuu intended being a mere five meters or less ASL (3). Any village in that direction would literally be on the other side of an otherwise impressive hill.

"Control, Windam, I have a landing spot."

"Roger that, Windam, lead us in," Miriallia replies.

Fuu continued onward, looking back and forth down the shoreline for human activity. "Junior High was so much simpler than this," she laments more to herself than to anyone else.

"But a lot more boring, you have to admit," Miriallia replies.

"Yes, though it is quite a bit more hazardous than Junior High," Fuu replies back in kind.

"I don't know, the Junior High schools in Aube weren't all that bad, but some of the Atlantic Federation schools, oi, not pleasant," Chandratta replies. "I'd as soon take detail on this ship on a cruise through hell before I go back to some of those schools," he tacks on for amplification.

"I'm not sure if I should laugh or cry," Murrue says in a droll tone.

"Oh, wow," Fuu says. "Control, on my present flight path, we're moving straight toward a flat plain next to an inland bay, with the mountains to our east and the hill toward the south. On the plains above, it's incredibly flat, very good area to rest the ship."

"Understood, move into the recommended area and verify no local presence," Natarle says.

"I will be there in two minutes," Fuu replies. As Windam glided effortlessly over the bay, she reveled in the beauty of the lands and seas, for such beauty was all too rare on her home planet to properly enjoy, especially when all she could really remember of nature was a few short nature hikes in grade school. She got more exposure to nature from her favorite role-playing games than she did in her backyard, such as it was.

_I can sense no human presence in the area, Magic Knight. We shall go up now onto the plains_. Within moments, Windam had ascended and was now cruising several hundred meters over the ground. They cleared the cliff edge and were sailing over a sea of green and white-green grasses with little effort, Fuu stunned by the beauty of the lands she had come to.

"This...is amazing...it's as if nobody lives on this planet except in a few small towns, I guess. Land this expansive would at least be farm fields on my world," Fuu says almost breathlessly.

"Windam, Control, Commander Badgiruel says you have moved far enough forward for the ship. Confirm no presence in the area, over,"

"Understood," Fuu brings Windam to a graceful landing in the middle of an almost completely flat expanse of grasses. "Windam reports no contact except...some form of yellow bird, maybe?" Fuu says as she squints at the said flock of birds. They were not moving, just staring at Windam, as Windam was staring at them. "Windam, do you know what form of bird they are?" Fuu asks, wondering why big yellow birds was ringing a bell in the back of her mind...

_Never have I crossed paths with such, Magic Knight. I can sense they are no threat to the ship or crew unless riled; live and let live, in other parlance_, Windam replies.

"Report, Fuu," Natarle requests in a level voice.

"Windam believes they are not a threat, Commander. They...look too cute to be a threat," Fuu replies, wondering again why a cute yellow bird was ringing some form of bell with her.

"Roger that," Natarle replies in a tired tone. "We will be up there in about five minutes," she tacks on.

-x-x-x-

"This is chicken shit. Literally."

"No shit, Yzak," Athrun replies testily.

The whole crew was operating at this time, even the second and third-shift personnel, as there was a lot of the ship that needed to be repaired. Athrun had set up a boom crane on the port side of the ship, almost parallel with the conning tower, using some of the components he had purchased on Twycross and some acquired from other venues. Thee crane was being used to remove damaged armor plate sections, so that they could be chopped down and used to fill in damage elsewhere. The Gundams were still undergoing repairs at the time, the pilots tasked to cleaning up a rather unexpected and rather disheartening mess:

The Chicken Coop.

First, the hangar had been vented to space, which had instantly killed all the chickens, as they could no better survive without air than could a human. If that was not bad enough, part of them had been further mutilated by shrapnel, spall kicked up from the transit of the Naval Autocannon slugs. Third, and probably the most grotesque happening of all, when the bay of the _Archangel_ had flooded from being over one kilometer underwater, the inherent water pressure difference given from going from zero external pressure to over a hundred times the pressure of the atmosphere had literally crushed their forms into insanely gross and messy twists of bone and skin. The same instantaneous pressure differential was what necessitated the repairs to the Gundams that were being conducted as well, which meant the pilots were left cleaning up this mess.

The one saving grace of their death and further mutilation was that at least part of their remains had been swept out to sea. As to the remainder, they were still tangled in the cages and needed to be removed. Along with the remains of the remains, such as it was. And yes, this did include the remains of bird crap and other rather nasty matter.

"Ugh, I think I'm gonna be sick," Nicol says weakly.

"Don't think about it," Tolle cautions. "It'll all be over soon, it'll all be over soon, it'll—oh shit—" Tolle had even begun to look green at the utterance of his chant, but apparently he could no longer bear it. Tolle did have the courtesy to try to move away from the group, though it was a courtesy in vain as the whole group was within earshot of his wretching and it started a chain reaction of such magnitude that it even disgusted a few of the mechanics, who were smart enough to be at the far end of the bay from the rotting, stinking mess of chicken remains.

"God, this sucks major portions of ass," Athrun says after he was sure he was through puking his guts out.

"This ain't the first time this has happened to us on this road trip," Nicol says with a wearied, weak tone.

"Don't remind me, damnit," Yzak growls out between ragged breaths.

"Hey, it can be worse," Nicol says as he begins to lever himself up to standing.

"How? No, wait, don't answer that, I don't think my stomach could handle it," Tolle notes.

"That's it;" Yzak says as he pulls himself up to standing and grabs the radio he had set aside for himself. With a flick of the selector, he had it on the maintenance frequency. "Murdoch from Yzak, come back," he begins.

"Go for Murdoch," the senior mechanic replies after a moment.

"Are the fire suppression hoses in the hangar attached to the ship fire alarm system?"

"Yes, you turn one of those on and it'll activate the fire panel and the deluge system for that quadrant of the hangar. Don't do it," Murdoch cautions rather forcefully.

"Fuck this sideways!" Yzak shouts loud enough that Murdoch could hear it, even without having heard it through the radio.

**WHAP**.

"My only regret is I didn't have a video camera to record that," Nicol notes in the stunned silence following what had happened.

"Yeah, no shit," Athrun says, slightly awestruck at the conduct of the Magic Knight.

"You want one too?" Umi asks as her head whips around and centers on Athrun. Despite flexing her hand after the very loud face slap, Athrun immediately realizes that he had made the exact same mistake that Yzak had, only he did so even after being forewarned in a very direct fashion.

"Uhm, no, thank you," Athrun replies very meekly, despite the inner physical torment of the past few minutes.

Yzak took a moment to pop his jaw, which was not the most pleasant of sounds. "What the fuck was that—" **WHAP**.

"And still, no video camera," Nicol says dejectedly.

"Screw this, I'm outta here," Yzak says as he starts walking toward one of the access hatches to the inside.

"Oh hell no you ain't, Yzak," Athrun says sharply. "Get your sorry ass back here, apologize to Umi, and help us figure out a way to finish cleaning this shit up;" **WHAP**. After about three seconds, Athrun sighs as he rubs where Umi's hand had very speedily conflicted with his face. "That's an attention-getter. I gotta get out of this habit before she starts using nearby objects."

"Or what, Zala?" Yzak asks in clear defiance of Athrun's implicit order to remain. "What're you going to do if I walk out of here, huh?"

"You do that, you won't have to worry about Umi slapping your jaw off, I'll just kick your ass up between your shoulders," Athrun retorts very directly.

"You know, I don't think any local potential enemies have anything to worry about, all they have to do is wait a week and we'll be through killing each other off from plain frustration," Nicol says to Kira, who was just dragging himself up from the floor from an extended session of ralfing.

"No kidding," Kira replies weakly. "Hikaru, you all right?" He asks as he pokes at her shoulder.

"I'll...be all right..." she groans out between gasps for air.

"What's it going to be, Yzak?" Athrun asks coldly.

"This is bullshit! I am not cleaning any more of that crap manually!" Yzak shouts as he waves his arm at the cages.

"Nobody said anything about cleaning it manually, dumbass, we're all trying to think of a way to get rid of it without doing it the hard way!" Athrun shouted back and well past loud enough to be heard by the mechanics.

"Uh," Yzak begins, then looks around at the assembled crowd of pilots that were staring at him. The only one not present was Mu, who was overseeing repairs to the rear exterior of the ship. "All right, all right, I'll do it, I'll do it, just...stop staring at me like you're gonna tear me to shreds, all right?"

"Wimp out, and I may do that," Umi says, still very frustrated of tone.

_Is there something else going on with her_? Athrun asks himself, referencing her sudden outlash at Yzak. Umi was normally a lot more calm than this, in his judgment. "Yzak, you were asking about the hoses earlier, right?" Athrun asks.

"That's it!" Kira says, suddenly in a far better mood. "The power washer we use on the Gundams! That would be perfect!"

"No, I can think of one even better: Umi's Water Dragon spell," Yzak says as he approaches the group again. Athrun noted he was keeping his distance, but making it look like he was not necessarily keeping his distance from said Magic Knight.

"Would a spell like that damage the ship's bulkheads?" Fuu asks.

"No, not likely," Athrun replies. "This wall is almost a meter of laminated armor. It would take a lot more than water to cause serious damage to it." Athrun does some mental calculations as to what he figured would be needed. "Kira, go wrangle up the power washer, we're going to need it for finishing up. Hikaru, I need you to go over there by the hole in the wall and get those crew to pack up and move for five minutes while we clean this up. Fuu, Nicol, Yzak, we're going to need mops and buckets, load them up with the strongest cleaning agent the ship has. Umi, I intend on having you blast your spell aiming in this direction, so the pressure wave reflects off the rear wall and takes it downhill toward the hole in the wall."

"Got it," she replies in almost an amused tone.

"After we get most of the debris out, we go through and clean the remainder out with the power washer, then we mop the whole area thoroughly with disinfectant to prevent spreading any nasty crap around the ship." The last thing the ship needed was a disease wave, Athrun knew, or worse problems brought by such nasty remnants.

- - - - -

Murrue was standing at the front window, watching the crews on the front and side decks begin the laborious task of fitting new armor plate to the ship or patching up the minor dings caused by lesser weapons. Miriallia was standing up there as well, looking out the front-left windows, and Chandratta was looking front-right, as a combination observer and spotter for any visual contacts that the sensors would not pick up.

"Huh?" Miriallia begins, then apparently freezes up. "Oh, okay," Murrue looked down in time to see the crew moving away from the hole in the port forward of the ship.

"What is it, Miriallia?" Murrue asks.

"Umi is going to blast the remnants of the cages and birds out of the hangar with a water spell."

"Well, that is certainly creative," Natarle says as she steps up to the window.

"Did you feel that a few minutes ago?" Murrue asks.

"I did, Umi was pretty pissed off," Miriallia notes with a giggle. "And Yzak finally got what was coming to him, twice!"

"Finally," Natarle echoes.

"Should I take issue with that, or just let it be?" Murrue muses to herself, figuring that one crewmember slapping another should be dealt with, but in this case it only took her two seconds to receive an answer.

"Nah, better Umi than someone else," Natarle notes. "She's been foremost in complaining about Yzak's language, so..."

"Foremost and loudest," Miriallia amplifies Commander Badgiruel's comment.

"Best leave this one for them to sort out, I guess," Murrue says as the last of the port-side armor workers backs off from the hole and rappels herself up to the deck area behind the Gottfried. Even at range, Murrue could tell the person in question was Kristen Redmond, the highest-ranking of the Bondsmen on the ship.

"Wait for it..." Miriallia says. "Now," she says as the spell began in the confines of the hangar below; after three seconds, the remnant of the all-too-familiar chicken coops were rather explosively evacuated through the hole in the side of the ship, and continued to travel with the flow of the water for some distance away from the ship.

"Very efficient," Natarle notes with something of a tone of humor. "I wonder which one thought that up?"

"Actually, Yzak did," Miriallia notes, having paid attention to their conversation and thoughts after Umi's mind went bright from slapping Yzak's face.

"That?" Murrue points to where most of the cages had come to rest.

"Surprising, actually, that Yzak would give her the time of day after she just left a big red hand-print on his face," Natarle notes.

"Actually, I think his preference for not having to do it by hand overrode what was left of his pride at that point," Miriallia throws in to qualify Yzak's involvement in the fix. "They are going over the area with the power washer and mops right now."

"Well, looks like everything is stable right now, so I'm going to disappear for a few. Natarle has the conn."

"Aye, Captain, I have the conn," Natarle says as Murrue heads for the door.

Murrue's intended destination was the cafeteria, since she had nothing to eat prior to the battle with the Wolves and had nothing since that battle, on the premise that seeing to the ship was her first priority. The cafeteria had only a handful of personnel in there, mostly from the environmental techs (who were not overly concerned about their prospects right now, since the ship was in a friendly environment). All of them came to attention as Murrue entered; she gave them the obligatory salute and released them back to their prior devices.

"May I, Captain?"

"Please," Captain Ramius replies to the Helmswoman's gestured request to take a seat across from her. "If you don't mind my asking, how are you feeling?"

Mina's answer was immediate and decisive: "A lot better today than the day before the ship showed up on Twycross."

"I know it was bad, but..." The look in Mina's eyes was telling enough to Murrue.

"It's over. We're no longer on Twycross, my stalking ex is dead, and I can even put up with being on a ship that gets shot at frequently. All in all, I'd say it is far better here than there, ma'am, even if...well...where are we?" Mina asks plaintively.

"None of us know." Murrue begins cutting into the turkey that was served for lunch this day. "The closest we have to a clue is some creepy, fuzzy feeling that Fuu has about the yellow birds around the area. So far none of them are brave enough to approach the ship, but they seem to absolutely love Windam." Murrue had watched as the Rune God was literally flocked by dozens of the amazingly cute, large birds.

"Is this how it was like when you came from where you were before to the Inner Sphere?" Mina had learned that much of the ship's short and violent history already, just from talking with the bridge crew.

"Yes...and no. We seem to never get the forewarning when this happens, though when we came from Cephiro to Dustball we had the advantage of knowing something of where we were just by listening to radio and satellite transmissions." ComInt (4) was a good way to learn of your surroundings, and Murrue had no compunctions about playing dirty to get home. In fact, Sai was still on the ESM equipment at this time, though nobody was talking right now in the area and the _Archangel_ wasn't hearing it for obvious reasons.

_Or we are standing somewhere where there is no radio usage...which might make the task all that much easier_, Murrue considers in the confines of her mind. Within three seconds she dismissed it; the Rune Gods were the blaring exception from Cephiro, the enemy had not used radio and the locals did not have the capability, but Murrue had little doubt that Zagato could have destroyed the ship if he unloaded on it the day they found the Rune God Selesce, he had it practically disabled and could have finished it if he tried, but he did not. Oops. Though it still tore at her heart, Murrue had come to the conclusion that battle was fated to them, for at least one reason, likely more.

"But nothing today, Captain?" Mina had mostly taken to the military decorum of addressing other personnel, but still had a ways to go. For her as much as else, this was a crash-course on-the-job training program in something other than busing and waiting tables. Newman had reported that the determination and the sharp wits were there, and so far she was capitalizing on all of the above. Murrue was thus far not regretting indoctrinating her into the crew.

"Nothing. That means one of two things: either the locals are not a technological group, or they rely entirely on land-line systems."

"Or the use of radio is restricted to military and special purpose, Captain," Sai says as he sits down with a lunch next to Mina. "Or they use some form of remote communication that our ESM systems cannot see. Any way you dial it they are not talking where we can hear it."

"Anything, Sai?" Murrue asks. "Anything at all?"

"Just this," and Sai presents her a computerized note tablet that had some readings on it. "At random intervals, we see these readings, a spike followed by a continuous energy reading that distorts out to unrecognizable. Athrun thinks this is analogous to a ICE car starter and the engine itself running, but on something that uses a lot more power than just a car. The bearing on these is scattered, but never more west than 0-1-5 and never farther south than 1-1-0, and none of them are close. Best guess, one hundred fifty kilometers minimum."

"Power spikes...can you tell anything else about them?"

"No, Captain, just this. Athrun's made a couple floor-figure guesses and came to the conclusion that whatever they are has as much power as a Battlemech medium laser, and we've seen them in action. He did admit, though, it was basically a WAG with very thin numeric evidence behind it, though I don't know what he meant by that." Sai had stopped trying to saw into the turkey long enough to remove his glasses and clean them.

"WAG, W-A-G, Wild Ass Guess. Another name for an intelligence estimate, basically," Murrue says with a dose of mirthless humor. "We Earth Alliance front-liners did not like pitching a battle on intelligence estimates, basically because it takes a few disparate facts and comes to a conclusion...usually the wrong conclusion. Wrong conclusions cost lives. Keep an eye on these spikes and trails, Sai, if any of them come close to us I want to know it well in advance."

"And that's what this is for," Sai says as he hauls out a medium-size device that was physically smaller than the computerized note tablet but not as small as most hand-held devices. "Athrun and Kira set this up weeks ago and then 'volunteered' me to test it out for them. God, how did you let a pair like them loose on the Ship?"

"Athrun and Kira? I doubt I could stop them from coming up with any form of conspiracy, Sai. Just be thankful it is not a bad conspiracy," Murrue notes sardonically. Murrue had seen time and time again where those two coming up with a plan had gotten things done—albeit things that did not necessarily need to be done, but were beneficial nonetheless. Like the holoprojector in the center of the cafeteria that was displaying some form of drama movie that Murrue was ignoring since it seemed incredibly sappy in the wrong direction for her tastes.

"Anyway, I just started playing with it today, it is pretty handy. I can use this to basically control my entire console from this device, audio headset and all. And with the modular framework that Kira set up and loaded on all the consoles, I have control of just about all the CIC functions except weapons, which requires the key to be in place."

"Could you use that to, say, control and fire the weapons if the key was locked in?" Murrue asks, now a bit intrigued about it.

"I guess, I have not tried yet. It's just the same as my console, which can change functions to the weapons console as well."

"Interesting. I think I need to discuss this with Kira and Athrun," Murrue notes. Such an advantage would be incredibly useful in cases where the bridge would best be evacuated, such as in the case of a hole knocked in the glass while out in space, the ship could still be fought without the necessity of wearing a bulky and very limiting encounter suit. Simply detach the remote modules, evacuate the bridge, and head further into the ship where there was far more armor to protect oneself from external abuse.

"Captain, I have something strange about the ship I think you should know," Kuzzey says as he stands to attention next to the table.

"Strange? What's going on, crewman Buskirk?" Murrue asks.

"I was wandering around the gravity deck a few minutes ago, when I realized that making one rotation was taking too many steps. So I counted it, and I think the gravity deck has about forty more personnel bunks than before."

"That...well, I should not say that is impossible, because it sure as hell is not after half of what has happened. Still, how would we get forty more personnel bunks?" Murrue asks nobody in particular. "Thank you, Kuzzey, I'll do an inspection on this issue after I've had my lunch. Report back here in fifteen minutes."

"Aye, ma'am."

"And now, for the turkey," Murrue says more to herself before anything else could interrupt her attempt to eat.

-x-x-x-

"It's over. It's finally over," Yzak laments as the group moves into the shower and hot springs room. All of them were intent on taking a fast shower, than a good, long soak for the various injuries and cleansing of the soul. Even after themselves cleaning up using a fairly powerful disinfectant, they still felt grimy.

"Oh hell no it ain't over, Yzak. After this, we still gotta fix the starboard-side anti-beam depth charges, the armor damage to the whole ship, the engines, and anything else that got busted when we screwed the Wolves up. This was just chicken shit compared to the real issues."

"Don't remind me," Kira replies to Athrun's reply as he heads into the shower assigned for his storage cubicle.

"Did they ever officially declare your Gundam as KIA, Kira?" Yzak asks.

"Yeah, it's toast. Last I saw, Murdoch was breaking it down for parts for the three surviving machines."

"Damn," Nicol, Athrun, and Yzak all say at once.

"Hey, cold hard logic here, fix the Strike and run out of parts for them all sooner, or break the Strike down and run out of parts later. It's that simple," Kira notes rather coldly. "Anyways, as I see it, I can always take on the Warhawk we have in storage and use that to stomp on some enemies for now, that is, if we have to actually fight."

"Don't bet on life turning all pink and fuzzy and frilly and roses and similar shit on us, Kira. We thought we had it made until you blew the arm off Le Creuset's CGUE. You guys probably thought you were clear of ZAFT after leaving the desert, until the Morassim Team caught up with you...then so did we," Yzak says. "And then there was the Crystal Palace in Cephiro, we thought we had it done when we wiped Zagato out, until...well, you get the picture. All I am saying is, don't trust the peace, because tomorrow definitely ain't going to be peaceful."

"Has the Doc checked his blood pressure lately?" Tolle asks.

"Not since the last time he was banged up and laid up in the hospital," Athrun says from the shower stall farthest away from the Hot Springs.

"You wusses don't worry enough," Yzak replies sarcastically.

"The...anger..." Nicol replies sarcastically, which was good enough for a few chuckles from Tolle and Athrun.

"Relationship frustration?" Athrun asks plaintively.

"This may be. It requires further investigation," Kira replies.

"Investigate what nonexistent personal life I have, and you'll be wearing what's left of your Gundam up your ass, Strike," Yzak cautions very forcefully.

"The prosecution rests, your honor," Nicol replies, which garnered a few more laughs from the assembled pilots.

"Now, how do we go about solving this problem, Kira?" Athrun asks.

"You two shouldn't be pilots, you need to be technicians," Yzak says crassly.

"It's what I was training to be before Heliopolis blew up," Kira said.

"It's a hobby for me, but I was thinking about becoming a mechanical engineer before Junius Seven," Athrun notes on the heels of Kira's comment.

"No. Really. You two really should be techs, well, that is if we ever get home."

Yzak's obvious comment was largely ignored by the others. "So, how would we solve this?" Kira asks.

"I keep coming back to the thought that Umi is at least part of the solution here. So far, I've not seen anyone stand up to him except her, and maybe Natarle, but I don't think she'd work out, y'know?"

"Yzak...and Natarle...I don't know whether to die laughing or run away screaming," Tolle says.

"If you died laughing, Miriallia would flay your dead hide for it," Athrun notes with mock gravity. "Run away screaming from where you are right now, and Natarle would flay your hide for streaking. Lose-lose situation, buddy."

"Oh, right," Tolle replies thoughtfully. "Either way, I'm screwed. Don't do that Yzak, I'd like to keep my hide intact."

"Piss me off much more and that won't be an option," Yzak says deadpan.

"Anger management course?" Kira opines.

"Nah, those things are engineered to piss the attendees off. Wrong result," Athrun notes. "I still say my original idea would be best."

"Don't think so," Yzak says.

"I agree, I don't think so, Yzak and Umi goes out on date, only Umi comes back. Yzak found later in bloody chunks. Umi professes no knowledge as to incident. End of story." Strangely enough, the clinically precise rundown on such a scenario came from Nicol. And not one person within thought it would be wrong.

"You know, I don't think I've ever looked forward to a run through the hot springs this much before," Commander La Flaga notes out loud, which was an instant attention-getter to everyone in the showers at the time. Athrun figured it a move to take the heat off Yzak.

"How goes it, Commander?" Athrun asks in a level tone, regardless of his inner conclusions about the Commander's prior statement.

"Good. We should have the damaged engines working again within the next three hours. Your side?"

"Murdoch's found enough duct tape for the hole in the ship, so that'll be fixed fast enough. It's going to take at least two days, though. The rest is small stuff when you boil it down."

"The Gundams?" Mu asks for verification.

"Should be done already," Athrun says as he steps out. "Shower clear," he notes as he trudges off toward the hot springs. It was not long before an engine Mechanic had taken up the cleared shower.

-x-x-x-

"This...is amazing," Murrue notes.

Kuzzey had been right: not only were there more crew bunks, but there were also more bunks for ship's passengers. Total, the amount of personnel and passengers on the ship had increased by fifty, which given that the rest of the ship was probably slowly evolving meant that those personnel would likely be needed to man the additional systems, panels, and weapons.

"How...why does the ship keep evolving like this, if we are not in Cephiro?" Murrue asks nobody in particular.

"Maybe...because we were once there?" Kuzzey replies to the Captain's question.

"You mean like some kind of leftover energy or something?" Murrue requests for clarification.

"I dunno, just a random thought, ma'am," Kuzzey replies. "Any way you cut it, though, it's probably saved our bacon more than once in the past, so I'm not complaining."

"That is an incredibly practical way to think about it, Crewman Buskirk." Kuzzey shrugs, having nothing really to say about it.

"Does this mean that there are also more officer's quarters?" Kuzzey asks.

"Haven't checked that?"

"No, ma'am," Kuzzey replies quickly.

"C'mon, then," she gestures for Kuzzey to follow as they head away from the gravity deck and toward the officer's individual quarters. Within a minute the two were at the officer's quarters area and took tally of the number there. When the final verdict was in, there was an extra five quarters in place, all empty and apparently awaiting the new personnel, wherever Murrue could scratch them up. If she could scratch them up.

"Captain, something from Murdoch. I think you need to see this," one of 'Murdoch's Madmen' (a mechanic) notes as he hands off a computerized note-tablet that they had purchased several hundred of them on Twycross to help with running the ship and maintaining records. "Also, I was digging around in Charlie-12 for parts for the Aegis when I noticed that the back wall has a three meter gap from the cargo, and when I stacked that room I know I had it all the way against the rear bulkhead."

"Charlie-12?" Murrue receives a nod in confirmation. "If you're saying that thing has another three meters in depth, and that hold is a wider one, then it probably means we've gained another two hundred tons capacity or so in that room. Check Alpha, Bravo, Delta-12 as well, see if they have expanded as well," she orders.

"Aye, ma'am," Murrue reads over the report she had been handed. After a few moments she grimaces at it.

"Something wrong, Captain?"

"No, just wondering why the ship's cooling grid would jump in size and dispersion like this lists," Murrue wonders aloud. "Our amount of heat dispersion plates (5) went up ten percent. Last I checked, after we added the Double Heat Sinks we've salvaged, we were doing good for armor and weapon heat dispersion. Wonder why the ship chose to make that modification."

"Captain from Maintenance Team Lima, come back," Her radio chirps.

"Go for Captain," Murrue replies into the radio.

"Captain, I'm out on the port-side deck below the conning tower, and, well, no easy way to say this. We have another Igelstellung turret on both the upper and lower broadside array on this sside, and it is probably safe to say the same thing about the other side of the ship as well."

"Check it. Whose team is on port-rear duty?"

Before the lead on Lima could reply, he was preempted by the lead on a team in that area: "Maint Team Oscar reporting, we have the same thing back here, Captain. Three turrets on both the upper and lower arrays, and I can see the lower array on the starboard side from where I am standing, with the same number of guns. By extrapolation, we should now have 24 Igelstellung guns."

"Thank you, Oscar, Lima. As you were," Murrue puts out on the radio.

"Oscar, out."

"Lima is clear."

"Part of me thinks this is something on the wrong side of a dream. The rest of me thinks this is some form of physical impossibility. Yet, there is just is no arguing with the evidence here. The ship **is** evolving. I just hope this doesn't mean we are going to end up in deeper and deeper troubles before the affair is done and we get home."

"Or is it that the ship is evolving because it knows that the threats will get more and more powerful as we go along?" Kuzzey asks. "I hope we don't get into major trouble if that's true..."

"We've survived this long, Kuzzey. We will make it home, hell, high water, and dimensional jumping included," Murrue says.

**Wark**. Murrue looked aft to where the strange sound had come from, and had bare moments to see as one of those yellow birds from the local area came running down the hall. As it passed her and Kuzzey, Murrue figured the bird was no taller than her hips and probably weighed less than she did when she was six. It was fast; within five seconds it had run over thirty meters and turned left, now headed port-side down one of the officer's quarters rows.

Five seconds later, four winded mechanics with cargo nets came down the hall and stopped, looking back and forth for the bird. "DAMNIT!" one of them shouted. "Little yellow shit-stain is gone again!"

"That way, Tech, turn left," Kuzzey replies, pointing at the intersection in question.

"Thanks, kid," one of their ranks replies as they sprint past, hoping against hope to catch it before it causes damage to the ship.

"I'd almost call that insanely random, too random for reality, but strangely enough I don't doubt it happened. Does that mean I am going crazy or something?"

Kuzzey squats down and picks up a lemon colored feather. "It happened. No comment on the latter, Captain."

-x-x-x-

"I don't know who declared our quarters to be 'toast' but they had to be smoking some serious shit."

"Yeah, right, this ain't all that bad," Athrun notes. "Check this thing out," Athrun says as he steps up to the Naval Autocannon slug that had been embedded in the far wall of their room from the door.

"This will be a helluva keepsake," Yzak says. "Give me a hand pulling it out, Athrun?"

"Keep your feet clear," Athrun cautions as he takes position on the side of the slug nearest him. It was one of a six-round burst, and this one had found a chink in the armor and followed it in, to punch through the door and into the room. When that happened, it began sucking air out, which had grabbed a blanket from Dearka's bunk and sucked it through the hole to the point that the blanket completely sealed the hole and was not coming out without the help of a blowtorch. That blanket had also prevented the room from flooding out because it had made such a powerful seal when the vacuum pressure had closed it up. All in all, Athrun was very thankful to that one blanket.

"On three, one, two, three," Though they tried, ti did not come loose. "Pry bars, looks like," Yzak notes after a few moments.

"I came prepared," Athrun says as he holds one up. "Don't put too much pressure on it, don't want to damage our memento."

"Right," Yzak replies as he places the pry bar and starts prying.

**CLANG**; the slug hit the ground and promptly rolled right, onto Athrun's steel-toed boot. "Agh, shit, it's on my foot, help me roll it off."

"Here," Yzak gives it one good kick away from Athrun, though it does not budge. "Jeez, how heavy is this thing?"

"Probably over two hundred kilos, Yzak." Like a more intelligent bunch, the two lever the slug off his foot. "Okay, let's set this monster up and scoot it into the corner over here," Athrun plots out.

"Right, sounds good," Yzak says. With a rope and serious pulling and grunting, the two pilots managed to get the slug up onto its explosively hollowed base. This done, they saw the totality of the metal-jacketed lead slug as it had literally flattened its nose on the walls it slammed through until it was mushroomed and rounded down above the body of the slug itself. "Man, this thing is going to be a helluva treasure someday," Yzak says.

"Yeah, tell me about it," Athrun notes. "Hey, where'd Nicol go?"

"I thought he was right behind you after the cafeteria," Yzak notes.

"He was," Athrun says, then shrugs. "C'mon, let's get this thing over to the corner."

- - - - -

Nicol had stopped off in the pilot's lounge, thoroughly dissuaded from trying to make sense of what was left of their quarters. He had taken a seat in the corner, whereby he was hidden from view of the room by the coffee vending machine, with a cup of mocha to calm his nerves. After a few minutes of sipping Mocha, he almost had attained a state whereby he had tuned out everything on the ship except the mocha and his inner feelings.

The mocha was standard mocha, not the military grade stuff that tasted slightly worse but had four times the normal caffeine amount in it. This was nothing unexpected to Nicol, since Murrue had personally overseen the restocking of the vending machine and had ensured copious resupply was available for it. That much was soothing to his soul, that he had mocha available and would not likely run out any time soon. Lunch had been better than average; one thing Nicol was not going to complain about was the ship's mess crew. He had to silently admit that the cook was better than the cook on the Gammow had been, and a whole helluva lot better than the cook on the Vosgulov-class they had been assigned to in the Pacific and Indian Oceans.

It was his inner feelings that had almost his complete attention. Feelings of dread, as they were once again in a new dimension, with new potential hazards, and if the curve was anything like their jump from Cephiro to Dustball, likely they would not survive. Feelings of despair and loss, as they had buried Dearka on Romulus, one of ZAFT's elite had been unable to stand against the Clans and walk away alive for it. Feelings of temerity, as his heart gravitated between matters that he would rather leave buried yet could never walk away from; namely, his feelings for the _Archangel_ and her extended crew, and his feelings for one person in particular, against the fact that he was ZAFT and a Coordinator.

"May I?" Nicol jolts and almost drops his cup of Mocha at the sound of her voice. He had been so lost in throught that he had not noticed as she used the vending machine and then stood in front of him.

"Oh, sure," Nicol replies almost automatically to her.

"You were...lost in thought, were you not?" She asks after a few moments.

"Yeah, I was," Nicol replies.

"...talk about it?" Part of what she had said was almost mumbled; Nicol missed it.

"What did you ask?"

"Oh, I had always been told...it helps to talk about it with someone you can trust. I don't know if you trust me that much, but...do you want to talk about it?"

Nicol's heart did not so much as jolt as it did stop temporarily, or so it seemed. His answer was almost a minute in the coming: "I do. I do trust you, despite everything else that has gone on, where I came from, I do trust you."_Probably more than I do trust Yzak_, a quiet part of his mind added.

"Then, we'll do this: you tell me one thing that is bothering you, and I'll tell you one thing that is bothering me, and we'll come up with the answers together. How does that sound?"

Nicol had to admit, looking into her green eyes through her large-frame round glasses, that there was a sense of mystique to her that was absolutely lovely to him.

- - - - -

Tolle was just settling in to watch a holo-conversion of an older movie in his quarters when the door slid open again, accompanied by the alert chime that Kira had set up on his door panel that signaled Miriallia had just entered her code to enter the room.

"Hey Tolle, off duty finally?"

"Yeah, Buster's still down and Murdoch ran out of small crap for us pilots to fix, so..." his sentence trailed off deliberately. "You?"

"No sense having an operator on duty when there are no units active to control," Miriallia says by way of quoting Commander Badgiruel. "So, what're you watching?"

"Old movie, _Akira_, supposed to be a great flick. Care to join me, my dear?" Tolle says with a wink.

"Actually, dear, I had a different idea, **if** you're willing," the way she enunciated 'if' made it almost into a challenge to the fighter pilot-turned-Gundam pilot.

"Man, Mir, when you get an idea in your head, you don't let go, do you?" Tolle says as she pulls him closer to her.

"Definitely not," she replies before she initiates the first kiss of the day between them.

"I take it that since we're still doing this, either two things are happening here: one, you like it, or two, it really is helping with your hearing other people's minds."

They kiss again, this time more deeply and for a little over a minute. "Both, Tolle," Miriallia replies after a moment.

"Dang, I must be doing something right, then," Tolle replies. Not a full moment thereafter, Miriallia had him fiercely embraced.

"Tolle, I want to tell you something. I...I hate it when you...go out there," Miriallia says. "Every time, I'm afraid you'll not come back to me."

"We have to do it, Mir. We can't just hope for the best, we have to do the best, or we ain't getting home."

"But...what do I do if you don't come back?" Miriallia asks.

"I will come back, Mir. I will always come back." For that, Tolle got the longest and deepest kiss he had ever had from Miriallia.

They were not the only persons on the ship kissing at that time, either.

* * *

Author's Chapter Afterword: 

If you will, consider this one a 'breather' or 'bridge' between the Battletech Ops and the next set of Ops for the ship. No fighting here, sorry, but not always is the ship arse-deep in combat, or its personnel.

Any fan of a certain series of games should have a fairly good guess as to what fain of Existence the Archangel is now camped in. Of course, I have been grossly ambiguous as to which game they are in, unless any of you are skilled at terrain analysis from the clues I have given already. As to the remainder, the full force of the nightmare they have just been inflicted on shall come to your attention in the next chapter, as they find out what the source of those electromagnetic readings are. My only request is that any of you who do know exactly where they are, please do not wreck it for anyone else by giving your thoughts away, clear? I have thrown curveballs before, so expect that while you may even be able to guess exactly where they are parked now, do not expect all to be as it seems, or all that one can estimate. I have dire, dire plans in store for this one: the words 'double-crossover' come to mind, literally.

The ship took a beating in the prior chapter; fixing it is going to cost a lot of spares and plating, and needless to say where they are now is not going to be a friendly environ either. You can expect they will take some beatings in coming chapters as their erstwhile foes take the measure of the Archangel and the ship's crew continues to try to enact repairs to the beating it received from the Wolves. The ship is still evolving, yes, but it cannot evolve itself to a repaired state and damage incurred remains even after the latest slew of upgrades. Not that such damage is insurmountable; on the contrary, the Archangel crew can have the ship painted, waxed, and ready to go in short order, that is if fate keeps the wolves at bay for a few days.

On clarification of the face slap incident above, Yzak was not retreating from Umi when he said he was leaving, he was leaving because he did not want to clean the cages out manually. And he did not slap back because at heart Yzak is a civil person, and he knew at a level that he had earned what he received. His continually foul mouth is not helping his standing with the remainder of the crew, but for the most part it is not hurting, either. Everyone is frustrated to the point of profanity, though most are not expressing it.

As to the rest, I leave it to your discretion.

And now, for the Review Replies!

**FraserMage**: Well, sometimes there just is no repairing something in the grand scheme of things.

**Knives91**: Yes, I do enjoy writing stories with lots of destruction. It is the least I can do to honor the Gundam Franchise, which has been blowing stuff up since before I was born.

**Gonging Apples**: No this is not crossed over to POTC or One Piece, sorry. Dropping out in the ocean was more or less incidental.

**Etienne Of The West Wind**: Well, that is an incredibly accurate way of looking at Yzak's combination misfortune and luck. As to the jump itself, I think I'll need to drop a vignette in the next chapter to explain what the hell happened to them; 'expert analysis' shall we say. Unfortunately none of the Wolf fighters were close enough to get dragged along for the ride, since the disturbance was limited to a handful of kilometers centered on the ship. Thanks for the detailed review, comrade.

**The Green Knight / 63**: Thank you for the review, Bien. When you get down to it, though, I have not been handing them anything on a platter, the Archangel has had to work for it, harder in some cases than else. This past chapter was the culmination of it, and actually I had it planned out like that for a while; the execution was all that remained, and that was grossly fun in and of itself. I think the next major battle of the Archangel is going to be just as much fun in its own way :P

**CHM01**: Call it a draw battle if you will. The _Werewolf_ took a helluva beating, but was not destroyed, though the _Cameron_-class ended up chunked by the end of the battle. All heil antimatter weapons :P Fear not, if Athrun can scratch up some resources, he will be making some haros, though this may cause him serious angst in the long run.

**Death Zealot**: It is against my policy to reveal which Gundams will make an appearance down the road, sorry. That is just too big a plot bunny to let loose before its time is right, ne? As to the Elementals, know that the Archangel has two Points worth of the armor in storage and enough remaining Bondsmen to take advantage of them; the Elementals will ride again, rest assured. Stay tuned, comrade. The fun is not over yet.

* * *

Footnotes: 

(1): BER means Beyond Economical Repair

(2): Props to Die Hard (movie) for this line. Murdoch is a classic action movie fan, as is the rest of the deck crew and some others on the ship.

(3): ASL means Above Sea Level

(4): ComInt roughly translates to COMmunications INTelligence. Basically, gathering intelligence (Spying) by way of listening to the other side's radio, phone, or other electronic transmissions.

(5): Heat Dispersion Plates are the ship's equivalent to Double Heat Sinks, and in fact the two systems are considered compatible (for Battletech purposes, they are the same thing).


	18. Empirical Air Warfare

(Section 3, Chapter 2: Empirical Air Warfare)

Three days had passed without incident from the nearby town; Murrue had no doubt that their luck was holding, but that would change soon enough, she knew. Stealth only lasted so long, and the _Archangel_ was by no means a small ship and rather incapable of hiding in plain sight; it had actually grown a little in length and beam, to the point that the ship itself was now 450 meters long, up from the original draft plans of 440 meters. On the other hand, there appeared to be very little to hide from in the area. Not one person had been spotted by lookouts, though the Rune Gods had all reported through their respective Magic Knights that there was serious Magic powers about the land and someone had to be controlling those powers.

In three days, the armor damage to the ship had been fixed. That was something on the left side of a miracle in Murrue's estimate, as she figured on the task of getting all the armor patched being no less than a week, likely more than ten days. Yet, on walkaround inspection she could not identify any damage to the ship that had not been sufficiently repaired to bring it back up to functional or proper status (more of the latter than the former).

This being done, Murrue considered herself more than justified in what she had said she would do. After all, an exemplary crew deserved a break from the grind and tear of continual operations. Within five minutes of her announcement on the 1MC for all personnel to assemble in the hangar, the unit was lined up and standing at attention.

"At ease, people," Murrue begins as she surveys their ranks. There was over 110 persons on the ship, including one official recruit and her daughter, three Magic Knights, three ZAFT elites, twenty Bondsmen, and the ship's original compliment of Earth Alliance personnel, less those that had been killed in combat or in the abortive coup d'etat against the officers on Cephiro. And the ship was now set to be staffed by 185 plus twenty steerage passengers; finding that much crew would be rough on a good day in the Earth Alliance, since posting to the Archangel was almost assuredly a suicide op. ZAFT knew well of said ship and would go out of its way to kill it off. Now, it would be a nightmare of epic proportions, since the ship was nowhere near friendly lines.

"You know, I just realized that we have a few weeks before we have to let Flay loose," Mu notes to Natarle as Murrue was surveying the assembled. That disparate fact created an instant lead knot in her stomach, since Flay would either play it calm or take another stab at Kira; betting was heavily on the latter and Murrue agreed with them.

Murrue mastered the lead knot in her stomach and decided to press onward. "Attention to orders: due to exemplary service to the ship and surviving through odds that no professional bookie would quote us on, and due mostly to a lack of enemies in the area, I am hereby instituting a Steel Beach Day at this time (1). As of right now, minimal watches will be posted, and all personnel not on duty at any given time are authorized to partake of what entertainment the ship has and of the beaches in the area at this time. My one restriction is that no personnel are to move beyond 1 kilometer from the ship in any direction, as a defensive measure in case anybody unfriendly shows up."

Murrue continues on after most the hubbub died down. "As soon as the ship is repositioned to the edge of the inland bay, we will go to stand-down status and the Steel Beach Day begins. Enjoy it, people. Today we rest; tomorrow we go exploring." And that meant at least a half watch, everyone knew. "Mess crew please remain; personnel will be informed when the Steel Beach Day begins officially. Dismissed."

The Crazy Cook and his bunch had moved forward as all the remainder of the personnel filtered back toward their stations, though the rumor had gotten around everyone was fearing that there would be no Steel Beach. On the other hand, this was not going to be like it was out in the Pacific, the ship was not planning on going anywhere and there was no known threat in the area, so the ship would be really basically a steel beach for those who did not want to partake of the real beaches in the area.

"What gives, Captain?" The Crazy Cook asks.

"Do we have the appropriate supplies to do a beach-side cookout for lunch? Say, burgers, hot dogs, bratwurst, typical cookout foods basically," Murrue asks, herself still forming the plan in her mind. Most of what she was planning was spur-of-the-moment, but she had a few ideas...

"Easily, Captain," the Crazy Cook replies. "I'll need to draw upon a few other volunteers to do that properly, though, I'm going to need a few men guarding the grills, such as they are, and I will need personnel to gather wood for the fires."

"Might I suggest a pair of pilots see to that?" Mu says offhand from Murrue's left and slightly behind her.

"And that would be?" Murrue asks in counter.

"Hikaru and Kira. Rayearth can very easily carry trees that Kira cuts down." Rayearth had already proven that

"Granted, provided they want to give up some of their day to do so. If you would ask?" Murrue prompts.

"Sure," Mu replies as he heads off toward the ship's interior.

"Natarle, please have the ship moved due east to some available beach area. Once we land, I want a skeleton crew of infantry-trained personnel to stand guard on and in the ship, and two in the bridge, one officer, one enlisted. Make sure they keep an eye on the ESM gear, Sai has been tracking some weird readings that Athrun thinks is some kind of engine or electrical system that is more powerful than a medium laser on a 'mech. Anything else is discretionary, Commander."

"Understood. We will be underway momentarily." Natarle was fast to move onward toward the bridge.

"Well, assemble your crew and stand by at the port-side personnel entrance. When we have landed, the flood gates open," Murrue notes sardonically.

"Understood, Captain, we'll be ready in three," the Cook, a Warrant Officer by rank, salutes her. "All right, grill geeks, let's get the mobile kitchen equipment out of stores and get ready to party!"

"HELL YES SIR!" They all reply. When they moved, they moved with a purpose; in less than two minutes, the first of them had come out of the Delta corridor carrying a portable grill surface.

Murrue could only wonder:_are they all Spec Forces and nobody told me_?

-x-x-x-

If not for the very large warship parked just off the beach area, one would have thought the throng of beach-goers, volleyball players, sunbathers, and various grilling and cooking personnel were just another group out on a beach for a party. As it stood, anybody that saw it would have known it for a military group due to the big warship and the way in which they even moved logically at times, not just as would a fairly disorganized party-goer would be moving.

"Line!" Commander La Flaga shouts. "Point to Team Red!" Team Red right now included Hikaru, Kira, and Athrun, the former two after they had garnered four large trees for the fires.

The challenge had been doing so in a way that they were not seen; it had turned out that the town was on the near side of the peninsula land mass and hill; Rayearth had to circle around the hill to a smaller forest with a profusion of the yellow birds (and a stable for them as well, though they avoided the stable) to pull four trees and take them, roots and all, back toward the ship. Rayearth said they had been unnoticed in transit or operation, but Kira was not as sure as the Rune God on that issue. With that accomplished, magic weapons and a chainsaw was all that was needed to prep the logs for the fire.

Team Green consisted of Miriallia, Nicol and Fuu, though Commander La Flaga was being counted on their side unfairly (he was linked to Fuu and Windam, but was being an honest referee of the matches, unlike standing opinion). After a moment, Miriallia deflated with a huge sigh. "This is bull. Can't you give us the benefit of the doubt, Commander?" Miriallia asks, knowing before she finished the sentence it was a forlorn hope.

"What? And have those three do screwy things to the plumbing or electrical in my room? Not a chance in hell, Miriallia, sorry," Mu replies without a hint of shame to voice. "Serve it," Mu orders as he makes a scoring notation on his 'tournament table'. The ball went up and down, as Fuu bumped it back up; Nicol set the shot up for Miriallia, who spiked it right down onto a waiting Athrun, who cleared it up to Kira, who set it up to Hikaru, who rather than spiking it to a waiting Nicol faked it to Miriallia's left; Mir was just barely fast enough to get her hand under it, though not fast enough to get it back up in the air. "Point, Red Team. Game point, serve it!"

The observers gave the obligatory cheer as the match-deciding serve came their way. Nicol had to dive for it to keep it from becoming a no-return shot, though his angle was bad and the ball sailed under the net and into Hikaru's shin. The cheering continued as Murrue read off the Green Team's obituary for this tournament: "8-3, Red Team wins!"

"Kickass game, Nicol," Athrun says as the Red Team ducks under the net to exchange the obligatory handshakes and condolences.

"You three are murder, how do you guys do it?" Nicol asks. "Is one of you a telepath and haven't told anyone yet?"

"Uh, no..." Kira says after stopping to think about it.

"Very good game, Fuu," Hikaru says.

"An excellent match, Hikaru. You had me beat severely," Fuu said, having been winded by the match.

"Next up: Murdoch's Madmen and Hot Springs NGs! (1) Teams report to the field now!"

"Hey, c'mon, let's get something to eat!" Hikaru says as she starts dragging Kira toward the grills.

_I don't envy him trying to keep up with her_, Athrun thinks sardonically. Athrun had taken to using his memories of Lacus as something of a cross to ward off any possible thinking about Hikaru, and it was working...mostly. Hikaru was the kind of person that could capture any guy's attention just by her personality, energy, and actions, never mind her physical charm, in Athrun's estimate. While Flay counted as voluptuous when stacked against Hikaru, she also had the kind of personality that could bend Phase Shift armor plate, and apparently also had some form of fratricidal tendencies to go along with her very manipulative ways. From the word 'go' Athrun did not trust her; she had only proved herself more untrustworthy as the ops in Cephiro and on Dustball continued, and culminated on Romulus.

"Uh, sure," Kira replies, clearly unsure of what tack he should take. He did let himself get dragged along to the grills, though, and Athrun could not help but notice the closeness between Nicol and Fuu as they went in the same direction.

"Makes you wonder, doesn't it?" Athrun was not completely spooked by the voice of the Captain nearby him. On check, he noticed that she was watching the same thing as he was. "What was all the hatred for?"

"Shits and giggles, looks like," Athrun replies, causing Murrue to gag on her drink to the point of coughing and sputtering. "You all right, Cap'n?"

"Yeah, I'll be all right." She coughs again. "Just don't let Umi catch you talking like that, or—"

"I'll get my jaw involuntarily loosened. I hear she's also 'reeducated' Yzak three more times since the incident at the Chicken Cages."

"Is it working?" Murrue asks after a moment of considering it, and came up with a blank answer.

"Hell no," Athrun replies immediately. "It's going to take more than a few face slaps to realign his foul mouth, much less his attitude."

"Like?"

"Well, Umi kicking his ass, hard, for starters. That is, if she is willing to. She may just completely give up on him after a while."

The two watched as Kira and Hikaru headed down to the beaches with loaded plates. Nicol and Fuu went in the opposite direction, toward the ship. With them cleared, it did not take either Athrun or Murrue more than ten seconds to notice that Yzak and Umi were both hanging around the grills but facing exactly away from each other at five meters. At range, Athrun could detect a hint of redness on Yzak's left cheek where Umi must have hammered him again recently for some form of infraction. Umi was talking to Mina about something, and Mina was nodding with rapt attention; Yzak was chatting with the Crazy Cook, though it was Yzak doing the listening and throwing in a tidbit here and there.

"Ten c-bills on Umi," Murrue notes.

"I don't know, Yzak's been improving steadily and rapidly. It's only a matter of time,"_if he lives long enough_, Athrun thinks to himself...

...loud enough that Murrue picked up on it. "Well, for what it's worth, I don't intend on letting anyone on the ship die, regardless of prior affiliation," Murrue notes. "If we don't all get home, none of us ever completely go home."

"I know," Athrun mumbles, thinking of Dearka, buried on Romulus. At the hands of a group that was just as vile as the hate groups of his own world.

"It helps that we're both good and lucky," Commander La Flaga notes. "And that our ship doesn't want to die, either."

"True, true," Murrue replies. "I somehow get the feeling that a pair of crowbars would be needed to separate them," Murrue says, nodding toward Hikaru and Kira.

"Well, I kept getting the feeling that Hikaru's wanted to ask Kira out on a date since Flay rather abruptly destroyed her chance with Kira. I guess this qualifies...sort of," Athrun tacks on after a moment. This was about as private as a pool hall, but in her judgment it would probably be a starting place, Athrun figured.

"And you?"

"I am still engaged and I am staying that way," Athrun replies, though both the Captain and Commander could sense the falter in his voice. "You?" He realizes his mistake after a moment; "oops, I don't think I'm allowed to ask that of a superior, I rescind that question with an apology."

"Technically, no, you're not supposed to, but we're all off duty right now and I don't really care for that regulation. And as far as I am concerned, the day is still young..." Murrue deliberately let the sentence trail, to leave both Athrun and Mu wondering what her intentions were...

-x-x-x-

Not all the crew that could be partying, was partying. Murdoch actually had most of his personnel working on a project in the hangar, though he did have DJ Tall's (Tolle Koenig) feed coming into the hangar, much to the annoyance to the Bondsmen that were also working on this project.

The project was simple: the Warhawk that had been captured in battle needed to be reassembled and readied for possible upcoming battles. No simple task, that; the Warhawk weighed in at 85 tons of combat-engineered metal and was as unyielding as Clan hardware got. Though there were larger chassis on both the Inner Sphere and Clan sides, the Warhawk staked up to just about anything on the ground and hammered it flat on pure damage potential and lethal accuracy. Without a doubt, in the hands of Kira or Nicol this machine would only prove to be even more damaging than the Clanners could dream of; said pilots were by the numbers the best shots of the unit.

The only thing that would cause both of them angst would be the slow ground speed and lack of jump jets, both of which were things that they could overcome, but were grossly used to the opposite, being mobility lovers; in this monster, they would literally have to take the hits, since dodging was more or less out of the question. On the other hand, 13 tons and change of the unit was armor, and that of a type that resisted ballistic and energy damage, not just ballistic.

"Sir, what weps are we loading into this thing?" one of the Mechanics asks.

"We'll use Weps Config Charlie," Murdoch notes. "That'll give them good long-range, good mid-range, a flamer for starting fires, and no dependency on ammo whatsoever," Murdoch notes. In point of fact, they were limited on ammo in the long run for the ballistic and missile weapons on the ship now, and Murdoch was thinking that far ahead as a matter of course since there was no telling if or when they would receive new supplies—or obtain ways to manufacture their own.

"Gotcha," he says as he looks through the omni pod chapter of the Warhawk IMM. "Ah, Charlie, two ER PPCs, two Large Pulse Lasers, one Flamer, five targeting computer modules. Three extra heat sinks."

"No shit, Gomer, get the parts out of storage so we can put them in the arms and torso," Murdoch replies a bit testily. The chastised mechanic was quick to take the heavy cargo exoframe into the cargo storage area and begin pulling the ER PPC for the right arm out.

"Shall we begin pulling the Large Pulse Lasers out for the machine as well?" Kristen Redmond asks Murdoch in English, since her Japanese was still almost nonexistent, though she was learning.

"Yeah, get a team on it, Kristen. The Lasers should be in storage 3-Charlie," Murdoch replies in the same language.

"Understood, sir," she replies. "Pytor, Natalya, form up two points to pull the Large Pulse Lasers out of storage. They are in 3-Charlie." Kristen followed Natalya to aid in pulling one of them out as well.

"Aff," Pytor replies immediately as he begins pulling bondsmen personnel off less essential taskings to draw the weapons out. Most of the actual assembly work was being handled by the mechanics, the bondsmen were either seeing to maintenance tasks around the ship or testing the parts of the Warhawk.

A clucking sound similar to that of the old chicken coop comes to Murdoch's mind, though when he looked to where thye had the chicken coop, all he saw was a clinically clean suit cubicle, no chickens.

"Ready and waiting, sir!" 'Gomer' half-shouts as he flips open the PPC storage crate. It had been the same crate that they found the PPC in the belly of one of the Clan Dropships on Romulus that the Archangel more or less nuked with the Positron cannons, and really it could be a crate found on just about any military base.

"Excellent work, Gomer, we may make a mechanic out of you yet," Everyone in hearing range could tell that Murdoch was getting frustrated. Tony, Nick! Let's get those other two cargo frames over here and put this monster in!"

"Right, boss," Nick replies as he mounts up and buckles into the cargo frame in question.

Murdoch took a few moments to inspect the bay and the goings-on at this time. He had techs out the wah-zoo working on connecting the torso to the legs and verifying the power and data feeds to the legs in question. He had two teams on each arm, including the Bondsmen that were now hauling the Large Pulse Lasers down the cargo elevator from the 3-Charlie storage bay, which was actually set behind the legs of the Duel right now. All in all, everything was going very well and would be done with enough time for his men to have some party to themselves.

Again, Murdoch heard the clucking sound of chickens, though this time he totally dismissed it; the chickens had been killed by depressurization, not one of them had survived.

"Lasers are here," 'Gomer' notes dourly. He had taken about four minutes to pull one ERPPC out with a heavy cargo frame, whereby six of them had taken the same time to pull one Large Pulse Laser out with a light frame and a pair of pallet jacks. They still had him beat, but he _knew_ how machines worked, they just blew things up.

"Excellent, now we can get these things in and get the arms in place," Murdoch notes as the lasers arrive. The two devices, the ERPPC and the Large Pulse Laser, both physically weighed the same and took up roughly the same amount of space (the laser was smaller by twenty kilos and a few cubic centimeters) but they both caused a lot of havoc when used right. The ERPPC technically had more power and range, but the Large Pulse Laser was favored for its accuracy, faster fire rate, and less heat generated per shot.

"What? Murdoch, on your six!" Kristen shouts as she grabs his left wrist and roughly hauls him forward and aside, away from something.

"What are these stravag things?" Pytor asks as he looks forward toward the cargo and vehicle access door. A veritable sea of the clucking, scrabbling creatures were in the hangar bay, well over sixty of them. "Someone close the forward doors!"

"Jesus, is that thing a cross between a chicken and a monitor lizard?" 'Gomer' asks as one of them surges forward and toward Murdoch. "Oh hell no, short shit, you ain't takin' a chunk outta my boss!" Gomer was still inside the heavy cargo exoframe and used it to stop the onrushing tango. He grabbed it by the neck, picked it up off the ground as it made a loud squawking sound, and proceeded to close the gripper manipulator. Tighter and tighter it went, until the pressure on the right manipulator went just barely into the red, before 200 kilos of pressure broke its neck with a very audible snap. Gomer dropped it onto the ground and accentuated the injury by stepping forward onto where he had been gripping it. Under the 2000 kilos of weight of the cargo frame, its demise was sealed as a 50-centimeter strip of its neck was compressed to the thinckness of a 3/8" bolt (not counting the threads).

"We need security in here!" someone shouts.

"Fuck security, we can take these shits out ourselves," a Mechanic says as he picks up a 9cm wrench that weighed a good three kilos.

"Howie, trip the goddamned doors! We don't need their reinforcements!" Murdoch says as he picks up a tire iron for use on one of the small wheeled jeeps.

"They're closed!" Howie shouts as he dashes madly for the door controls near one of the personnel hatches. The button had to be held positively to close the doors, which he began the minute-long process of.

"Stravag filth!" Pytor shouts as he roughly kicks the nearest of the tangos. The creature was light, and his high kick sent it soaring into the air; on the way down, he slammed it on the back to hammer it into the deck harder. After it landed it was temporarily dazed; Pytor took that moment to stomp on it hard enough to break its skull and scramble the brains.

"Ow! Fucker!" One of the mechanics shouts as he shoves a large toolbox off a table and onto one of the monsters. The heavy toolbox was enough to crush and trap the squealing monster.

**Crack Crack**. Someone had a pistol of their own, shoved it down the open beak of one of the tangos, and pulled the trigger twice. After the first shot, the monster collapsed and started twitching, nothing threatening from it. His victory was short-lived, however, as two had stepped up to take its place, and shots to the exterior proved ineffective against it. In moments he was on the ground, struggling to keep two beaks away from his face, before an elemental stepped in and pulled both the monsters off him and promptly rammed their heads together. Several times. When he was through with that, he dropped them on the ground and crushed their skulls with his boots. "Thanks, man," the Tech replies as he stands up and starts examining the scratches he had acquired from the monster. "Damn those hurt," he says.

Kristen had picked up a sledgehammer for use in 'adjusting' troublesome components, and stepped toward them with intent. As one darted forward, she swung overhead and down onto it, a glancing blow that frightened it and caused it to retreat. Another darted forward, and this time Kristen did not glance it. The monster made the most terrible racket as it dragged itself along with only its front paws, until Kristen hammered it between the forward 'shoulders' in such a fashion that all it could do was writhe in place. Judicious application of her boot to the head silenced it for good. Another had closed on her rear as she was finishing her first kill off, and bites her in the left calf. The shout she let out was immense in both volume and pitch, though before she could begin to react it involuntarily released its bite as Murdoch hammered on its body with the tire iron.

Natalya had waded in unarmed, and had an idea based on what she had seen of their anatomy. As she crouched low, one of the monsters had charged her down, and she struck as fast as a cobra would have. With a feral shout she had a grip on its neck, at the cost of having her free right arm scratched up by its fore claws. She holds its neck down to the deck, and with another feral roar she drove her right hand down as she yanked up with her left hand, breaking its neck savagely by hand. With this accomplished, she stood up straight and gripped it by the broken neck with both hands, and proceeds to use the tango as a club to beat down the other tangos in the vicinity, shouting and hollering all the time.

"Jesus," Murdoch swears as he watches Natalya go to work on the whole group. After ten seconds, he noticed that they were trying to herd away from her and from the other elementals and mechanics. "Natalya! Herd them toward the port-side Launch Bay!" he shouts before he starts swinging his tire iron at them, with the same intent. "Everybody, herd them to port and down the launch bay!"

"Herd them toward the Port-side Launch Bay!" the call came up from several Technicians and Bondsmen, even as Natalya continued smacking the enemies with her dead chicken-lizard.

"Herding, sir!" Gomer shouts as he starts driving a dozen of them toward the said edifice with the cargo Exoframe. He had killed a half-dozen of them himself just by stomping on them and crushing them with the manipulators.

Murdoch hauls his radio out. "Commander Badgiruel from Murdoch, I need four Marines down here in the port side of the bay with assault rifles and grenades, pronto!"

"What?" Natarle asks increduously.

"I need them NOW!" Murdoch shouts as he clicks off his radio and cracks a tango in the head with the tire iron. As it open its beak to snap at him, Murdoch fed it the handheld radio to jam its mouth open. "Hold this, asshole," he say as the tango wonders what the strange object in its mouth was. With a wind back and a tremendous swing, Murdoch shattered its head and the radio all at once in one blow. "Fuck it, didn't like that thing anyways," he mutters as he kicks another in the general direction of the herding effort.

Natalya had picked up a second dead tango and was now using two to flail any that would dare approach her, the serpentine bodies made great whipping instruments that had enough mass behind them to cause actual injury as well. It was this scene that Natarle entered the hangar to see, armed with four grenades and a Rorynex SMG and leading five Marines carrying the new 30-caliber assault rifles and four hand grenades apiece. One even had a 'willy pete', a White Phosphorous grenade in case they had to signal to the rest of the crew.

Natarle had done a double take when she saw what was happening, and she also saw the handful of crewmen and bondsmen that had been lamed by the tangos biting their legs and rendering them unable to walk due to torn muscles. "Get down there and help them herd into the port-side, then 'nade them to death," Natarle orders as she takes stock of the amount of casualties. As she vaulted down the personnel stairs to the lower floor, she happened across one of the tangos that had escaped the herding process. After it snapped at her twice and advanced a meter, Natarle centered the SMG on the tango and unloaded five rounds on it. The explosive-tipped ammo shredded through the hide and literally blew it in half from the inside out; after ten seconds, even the halves stopped major squirming, and were just twitching.

She looked up and around, to see the Marines herding the tangos with short bursts and shouts, and combined with Natalya's antics and the rest of the mechanics swinging their tools, the whole gaggle of creatures were forced down the launch bay and farther down, with only a stray here or there that Murdoch and Pytor were seeing to with sledgehammers. After basically an off-and-on volley fire from the Marines, combined with more savage shouting and swinging of the dead critters from Natalya, the tangos were forced down the catapult path far enough that using a grenade on them was feasible, those that had survived the automatic rifle fire (about two dozen of them).

"Pets of yours, Murdoch?" Natarle asks as the Marines form a firing line and start advancing on the remnant.

"Fuck no, they just walked in the front door and started trying to bite our asses!" Murdoch shouts.

"All right, have your men see to the wounded right now. Call Nicol and Fuu in if necessary."

"Aye, Commander," he replies.

"Bondsman Natalya, I take it you know how to use one of these?" Natarle asks as she holds up a standard baseball-type grenade.

"Aff, Commander Badgiruel," Natalya replies.

"Drop the dead lizards and flip 'em a pair," Natarle orders as she pulls a second grenade off her sling harness.

"Aff, ma'am," she says as she drops aside the dead tango flails and receives the grenades.

"Don't throw just yet," Natarle says as she walks up to the Marines. "Marines check fire," she says on the tactical radio circuit; within three seconds, all fire had stopped; the remaining twenty or so chicken-lizard tangos were standing at the far end of the launch bay, easily over twenty meters away from them and quite afraid to move. "Marines, deploy one 'nade apiece and haul ass back up the pipe and clear left. Natalya, two nades. On my mark," and throughout the port-side launch bay the sound of safety clips being removed and pins being pulled echoed up and down the hall. "Ready, throw NOW!" Natarle shouts as she throws hers as well. Eight grenades sailed down the way and landed among or in front of their ranks; before the first grenade even hit they were running up the pipe, a bare ten meters to safety around a corner.

All eight of the grenades detonated within two seconds, amid the final shrieks of the tangos as hot steel fragments and explosive propellant sundered their bodies into chunks that came sailing up the pipe for several meters. By the time the random fragments stopped zinging around the bay (and caused an additional two minor wounds), the blood and dust had settled and none of the chicken-lizards lived to tell the tale to their comrades.

Natarle bent over and picked up one of the tangos that Natalya had used as an impromptu beating device. "Uh, Commander, I think that is the one she broke its neck by hand so she could use it to flail the others," Murdoch says as he looks at it more closely. Without a doubt it was dead, therefore it was no threat and could be so examined.

"Oh, wow. Remind me not to piss her off."

Murrue was next to enter the bay from one of the personnel entrances on the lower deck, followed by Yzak, Nicol, Fuu, and Miriallia, and all had their magic weapons out and readied. "Commander, are you all right?"

"We have injured, Nicol, Fuu, can you help them?" Natarle says before anything else, pointing to the personnel that had been injured in battle with the creatures. "I don't know what the hell these things are, but they invaded the bay and starting taking bites at the crew. So the crew bit back. We got them all, but..." Natarle's gesture encompassed the injured personnel, and there was no shortage of injuries.

"Understood," Murrue says, not really understanding the situation in its totality but rather what needed to be done.

-x-x-x-

"See, this is where I think we're going wrong here," and the Electrician counted off the numbers of the data harnesses. "Why are the harnesses here numbered 25, 26? We only have 24 missile tubes."

"I dunno, why are we trying to run the cables for the spy cam in the girl's hot spring through the missile tube relay harnesses?"

"Because, if we ran them along the standard electrical conduits for the holos, they would know almost immediately. I checked; they have security indicators along those conduits for new cable runs. The guys who set those up are not pussies, man, they were both electrical and system engineers before they were Mobile Suit pilots, and they both coordinators. They know their shit, here or on the battlefield, backwards and forwards."

"So, by running them along the data harness for the VMS tubes, we can power and feed the camera without alerting them?"

"Hopefully," the senior electrician notes.

The spy cam was actually not—they intended on connecting the holo record feature from one of the unused projectors (each room needed only two active, though they installed four) to do this. In theory it would be a simple task, just connect the wire, run it to a loopback splitter, and pipe the feed along any one of a hundred unused data circuits to whatever terminal they wanted it on. The catch was, they could not physically enter the room, they had to accomplish this by way of making the wire connection using a remote camera and gimmick, the same way they did so on some of the less user-friendly electrical connection points in the Gundams.

"Trivial question: if we get caught, how badly are we going to get busted for this?" the junior Electrician notes.

"Oh, pretty bad," a separate voice from the pair of electricians notes.

"Oh, shit," the Senior Electrician notes as he clearly recognized the voice of the Duel pilot.

"F'kin perverts. Get lost," Yzak orders calmly.

"Hey, man, you're still single—" The Senior Electrician notes as a possible dodge.

"I said get lost. Don't make me enforce it."

"I'm outta here," the lower-seniority Electrician said as he picked up his toolbox and starts walking.

"Wuss," the Senior Electrician notes. "Well then, since this op is blown, might as well figure out why these harnesses are numbered incorrectly," the said electrician begins checking the test points on the wires for info with a scanalyzer computer that he bought on Twycross and reprogrammed for use on the ship.

"Fine, play innocent, but keep in mind I'll have the equipment audited and if I find bogus data streams coming out of them, your ass will get mulched as well as any other guilty parties," Yzak notes testily before he fairly stomps away.

The electrician actually took the lesson to heart: he did not interfere with the cameras...today. He figured he would wait for about ten days to two weeks before he would try again.

As far as Yzak was concerned, the blood-curdling threat should have been enough to dissuade them, though he figured on checking the equipment personally every few days to make sure they didn't go behind his back and attach a connection to it anyways.

-x-x-x-

"Ah, Commander, got a strange one here," Sai notes.

"What is it?" Natarle asks from where she was standing at the bridge window. She alternately did and did not want to be down there with the rest of the unit. She did because she did like the party scene, much as her stiff exterior would hint otherwise. She did not because she thought that the way the Captain was going about this was a big mistake: mobility was more of a defense than armor, and by parking it on a beach any ships that transit this area would have a clear view to the ship. Not to mention they had open field more or less in every direction that was not sea, which made approaching the ship very easy, though what they did when they got to the ship was another story entirely. For all that Natarle knew of the ship, she did not relish the thought of trying to storm it, even with a skeleton crew as they had on hand right now.

"I just got a large number of those power-ups in one small area, at least eighty. No movement yet, ma'am." Sai says as he was modding his controls the whole time.

"Bearing and range?"

"0-2-5, range 100 kilometers minimum."

"Great, that's pretty close." Natarle goes over the numbers mentally.

"Commander, second group of contacts, this one is at 0-7-0 and 300 kilos. These contacts are moving, fast, heading will put them close to us but not directly over top of us."

"How close?" Natarle asks.

"Definitely close enough to see us," Sai says.

"Well, we just got compromised."

"Corncobbed?"

"No, Sai, 'corncobbed' is a different matter. Please don't make me explain it," Natarle replies in a wearied tone. "Captain from CIC, come back," Natarle puts out on the radio frequency as she puts the radar plot on the main viewscreen. None of the contacts were on it until Sai superimposed the ESM reading bearing lines onto the radar screen.

"Go ahead, Natarle," Murrue replies.

"Captain, the party is about to be crashed, we have multiple contacts at 100 kilometers that appear to have a slow move rate and multiple contacts at 300 meters that appear to be airborne, both headed in our general direction."

"Roger that, party's over, unfortunately," Murrue notes in a dejected voice. "Fire up the klaxon, might as well make it official."

The alarm buzzer went off as soon as she tripped it. "All hands, level one battlestations, unknown contacts incoming our location! Available bondsmen personnel are to fill in for crewmen injured in the hangar incident!"

Though Natarle did not relish cutting some much-needed crew rest short, better inside the hull of probably the baddest warship she had ever known than outside on the beach when those things came screaming by. Whatever they were. Within three minutes, the party area had been cleared of all essential items and all personnel had been accounted for; nobody had really strayed far from the ship due to their uncertain locale. That made the deploy all that much faster; within five solid minutes, the ship was manned and ready to go.

"Status?"

"Air contacts bearing 0-6-5 range 270 kilometers, close rate six kilometers a minute. Ground contacts bearing 0-1-0, range 95 kilometers, appear to be running more westward than south at this time."

"Double-punch assault, ground and air, looks like," Natarle notes. "Question is, are they targeting us or the town nearby? Miriallia?" Natarle asks as the controller sits down at her station and enables her console for flight control.

"One moment," Miriallia says. "Oh, okay, if I'm reading their intention right, they intend on taking the nearby town, Maranda is its name, by land and air assault to overwhelm the town guards." She hesitates a second, her eyes closed shut tight to help her concentrate on the distance. "Eeeggg, that is disgusting," she says after a few moments.

"What?"

"The soldier I was listening in on, he wanted to find a lady in town and rape her," Miriallia says, holding her head.

"Rape and plunder. Definitely not a modern military force, unless you count them in with Blue Cosmos," Natarle notes, citing the fact that Blue Cosmos was off-and-on known for raping their victims when they had the opportunity; they considered Coordinators less than human, which had validated that MO in their own little twisted minds and instantly turned Natarle off to the Blue Cosmos ethos. She knew the other person on the far side of her sights was human in the end and treated them as such, even if she was going to kill them in the end; the attitude and influence of Blue Cosmos had less than endeared her to the command structure, but she was a military officer and only recently had seen the light of day.

"This requires the question, do we get involved or not?" Murrue asks in a level fashion. "Or worse yet, do we not get involved and listen to our consciences for it?"

Natarle looks to the Captain for about ten seconds, then blinks; apparently she had to consider the same mental quandary as the Captain. "Miriallia, how many of them are considering rape or plunder, or both?" Natarle asks.

_Good to see I don't have to argue with her over a humanity concept like defending civilians from vile aggressors like these_, Murrue thinks, recalling a time in which Natarle would have sought the safety of the ship over such a concern. In fact, not too long a time ago, really.

"Uh, give me a minute here," Miriallia concentrates on the ground force again. "Okay, about a third of them are not thinking about that, a third are worried about getting to the riches first, and a third of them a combination of riches and other forms of amusement." By which the latter meant rape or gang rape.

"How many of them are there?" Natarle asks next.

"A lot. I can't really see the whole force, a lot of dust in the air from their armored units, but I'd say 3000 or more, easy. Mix of some kind of armored troopers and ground troopers."

"Captain, pay or play time," Natarle notes. "If we wait here too long, we won't have a choice."

"Conn, ESM, ground force is now showing no bearing change, they are headed almost straight at us at this time, Captain," Sai notes after verifying the readings twice.

"Roger that. Helm, take us south-west at this time, let's find a good place to hole up and prepare to stop an advancing wall of enemies." Murrue picks up her growler phone and dials in the hangar. "Deck Crew, is the Warhawk ready to go?"

"Negative, Captain, she's still missing an arm and a decent system test. I can't certify it for combat at this time," Murdoch notes. "Damn those chicken-lizard-shits! I'd've had it done if they hadn't mulched half the mechanics, and good as the Bondsmen are, they're better at blowing stuff up than fixing it, sorry to say."

"Roger that, Kira will have to deploy in a Skygrasper, then, as well as Nicol." Murrue did not like the thought of those two having to fight in dinky Skygraspers, even if they did have an insane amount of firepower with the Launcher Strike Pack, but anything was better than nothing in this case.

"What's the situation, Captain?" Mu asks on the pilot's channel.

"We're standing between a town and an army that wants to conquer, pillage, and rape it. Answer enough?" Murrue replies with a bit of vehemence.

"Answer enough," Mu replies as he crams on his neurohelmet and connects it to the Timber Wolf's central computer array. "I think I can play the knight in shining armor, even if we are hopelessly outnumbered at present. Uh, we are outnumbered, right?"

"A thousand of 'em, ten thousand of 'em, they ain't getting past me," Yzak growls on the same radio channel. "I'll bend 'em all over and—" Natarle gasps sharply, thinking what he was going to say was incredibly vulgar. "ah—boot their asses up between their shoulders," he says, though his correction was rather evident to anyone listening.

"All right, Yzak, give me the line back," Athrun notes drolly.

"Hey, it's a classic, not like you can really accomplish it as well as Duel can," Yzak says as the Duel hefts the Twin-15 LRM pack over its left shoulder.

"Right, we'll see which one of us smokes more enemies in a shorter time span," Athrun says as Aegis picks up the autocannon-laser combo weapon he had engineered with Kira and Hikaru.

"The amount of testosterone on this frequency just tripled without any real good reason," Mu notes drolly.

"No kidding," Natarle replies just as drolly.

"Did rutting season open and nobody warn us?" Nicol asks. His rather innocent question engendered laughs from just about everyone who heard it, since it was not often that Nicol got digs on anyone.

"Okay, I walked right into that one," Athrun notes drolly.

"I surrender," Yzak adds to Athrun's admission of defeat.

"Good, finish surrendering and prepare to deploy. We're about to get the air part of their forces on top of us in about thirty-five minutes," Natarle orders from her seat in the CIC.

"Conn, Helm, I have a possible here," Newman notes as he was looking forward using the terrain radars while Mina took the ship southwest. "Looks like a classic flat-plain choke point about twenty kilometers across, eleven o'clock. It'll be tough, Captain, but I think we can park the ship in that choke and just let them come to us," he says as he finishes isolating on it.

"Thank you, mister Newman, Helm park us there facing north-northeast and stand by for move orders. CIC, have the pilots deploy their machines, have Aegis, have Buster range along the shore to the east for aerial intercept. Skygraspers are also to prioritize enemy air for now. Magic Knights, Duel, Timber Wolf forward of the ship for ground intercept."

-x-x-x-

"Well, there they are," Nicol says as the first of the enemy shows up on their radar over a hundred kilometers away. "Control, Grasper One, I have contacts, a lot of them, on radar in the expected position, heading, and speed. Targets are at angels nine at this time." (2)

"Roger that, Graspers are cleared to engage at this time, over. Attempt to draw them into a crossfire with the ship and the ground forces, over; and keep in mind that if they are too hot, you are ordered to pull back, over," Natarle commands.

"Grasper team rogers your last, over and out." Nicol says. "Follow me in, Kira," Nicol says.

"Two," Kira replies in the fashion of fighter pilots, since he was the second Grasper pilot his radio callsign was Grasper Two, or simply Two in shorthand.

Nicol pirouetted the fighter down to 200 meters and fired his engines up to high power but not up to the afterburner mark yet. He checked his weapons capacitors and all showed green, full charge and ready to do battle. His ammo and guns were all ready, a pair of machine cannons, four machine guns, and the two missile bays under the wings with one reload each were all showing green. The weapons on the Launcher Striker pack were all green and charged as well. All in all, he was ready to do his job, armaments and mentally. "Two, arsenal check," Nicol orders.

"Two showing green across the board," Kira replies. They were both armed with Launcher Striker packs, the last two Launcher packs of the fabled Strike Gundam that itself got smoked by a warship-grade laser. The laser in question may not have been as powerful as Agni, but it did not need that much power to slag down a Gundam. "How are we gonna do this?" Kira asks.

"Hit and run, use our maneuverability to keep them harried. Plan B, in case that doesn't work, is get out of Dodge real fast," Nicol muses.

"Two rogers that," Kira replies. "Goin' down to the deck at this time," he says after a few more moments of flying at 200 meters. At twenty meters, his plane threw up a rooster trail of seawater that would be awe-shaking to an enemy coming their way in slower and less-capable craft. Kira could only hope that the enemy wasn't all that good, or had low-tech units to use, because they were badly outnumbered by as much as 100 to 1, possibly more.

"We'll blow under them unless they dive down to engage us. If we get under, we loop back and hammer on their backs," Nicol notes.

"Roger that. One minute to contact," Kira estimates.

"I have visual on enemies...what the hell are those things?"

"They look like something attempting to be a helicopter with dual side-by-side blade assemblies," Kira says, running some numbers through his head fast. "Those things shouldn't be able to fly, except by dint of really fast and hazardous propellers."

"Hazardous is right, the pilot is exposed barely a mater in front of his propellers," Nicol notes. "I don't see any external weapons assemblies, maybe they have a few internal weapons?"

"I see one that might be a laser emitter, but it is small, very small," Kira notes.

"They made us," Nicol notes as some of them begin diving down. "Fire two beams, take it up to 200 and break right, we'll reengage from their left flank," Nicol orders. He was running on some form of demonic autopilot, calling upon everything he learned about aerial warfare from his academy days (which was not a lot). He felt grossly out of place in a fighter, even one as insanely fast and powerful as a Skygrasper, for in the end his home was a Gundam that no longer existed except as a collection of leftover metallic shards in a box next to Dearka's ZAFT flag box in the hallway outside of the Hot Springs. On a warship that he had tried to sink numerous times and was now serving on. _Reality is a strange place_, he muses, then quickly shoves the thought out of his mind.

Kira and Nicol fire two shots as they bring their fighters up to the 200 meter mark and break sharply right. Nicol saw at least one of the enemy craft had gone down in flames from the transit of his beam, likely more, before he turned to starboard and applied a little more power. "How many did that look like to you?" Kira asks after he puts on power to hold pace with Nicol.

"Over 200, closer to 300 of them, and those lasers of theirs are too short-range to catch us," Nicol notes as he watched their return fire miss him by as much as a full kilometer in several cases "Control, Grasper One, they headed straight for Athrun at this time, those that aren't chasing us," Nicol notes with a dose of irony.

"Roger that, Grasper," Natarle replies.

"One, check left," Nicol notes as he starts swing his fighter around to reengage.

"Two," Kira replies as he begins the turn himself.

"Engage with Agni at this time," Nicol orders as they center on the bulk of the fighters that were still headed toward the land mass that was now coming into sight. "Fire two and break off, we need to keep the in-out-in action going to keep them off us," Nicol orders.

"You don't have a clue how perverted that sounded from over here," Yzak notes on their frequency.

"Clear this channel, airhead," Nicol orders testily as he fires his first of two...maybe three Agni shots. The last thing he wanted to deal with was Yzak's acid tongue. Kira's first shot lanced out at the mass of enemy craft spread across a kilometer vertically and two wide and deep, and his shot claimed three and a partial, the latter turning to return to base ASAP since the pilot took some frag from a craft that blew up nearby in a blue-green fireball. Nicol's second shot also claimed three, though the enemy was beginning to maneuver and jink by the time Nicol fired a third shot, and his blast only caught one. "Break off, Kira, it's getting' too hot for us to do this alone."

"Control, Grasper Two, we appear to have their attention at this time," Kira notes with a hint of worry.

"Grasper Team, Control, roger that. Be advised the ship and ground forces are waiting for you to lure them toward, over," Natarle notes.

"Works for me. Kira, let's hit and run twice more, headed right each time for the breakoff, and then draw them straight to the _Archangel_ and our ground teams."

"Got it," Kira says as they begin another pirouette in to attack again. This time, the little pang of worry in his stomach blossomed into a lead knot as he circled in and saw that the whole enemy force was basically gunning for the two fighters. "All weps?"

"Roger that!" Nicol says as enemy laser blasts from the forward rank start impacting the ocean around him. As they closed on the enemy, each fighter brought more of its arsenal to bear on the target, as the longest ranged weapon they had was Agni and the closest was the quad of 20mm machineguns on the nose of each craft, each machinegun having less than 10 percent of the maximum firing range of the Agni. It would turn out to be the 40mm wing root cannons that caused the most havoc in the enemy ranks, as a single of the slugs of 40mm was capable of causing tremendous trauma to the enemy rotor craft and even had the potential of killing two craft with one slug.

"What the...are they using manual targeting systems or something?" Kira asks. "We got up in their faces and not one of them hit us—" A laser punches through the starboard wing surface and leaves a four centimeter scorch that someone could see straight through. "I stand corrected." He had, though, observed as more than two dozen of the lasers hit the water's surface around him, scattered as far away as 200 meters over a full kilometer's distance.

"It's not bad, Kira, just don't get shot in anything important," Nicol says as he does a damage check on his comrade's craft.

"Roger that," Kira notes. "Ready for the last dance before we run home to mama?"

Silence from Nicol for almost ten seconds. "I can't believe you just said...aw, what ever, Kira. Well, erm, I can think of worse places to run to right now. Follow me in," and Nicol begins the last pirouette on his attack run as he fires up his engines to afterburner.

Again, the two fighters fired their whole arsenals except for their missile launchers and broke off to the right again, now literally headed toward the_Archangel_ at high speed. The beams and 40mm wing root cannons turned out to be the real crowd-pleaser weapons on their craft, as with those three they each racked up seven kills, combined with three from Agni and another two with the four lighter machine guns. Nicol took two hits to the wing surface on the way out, much as Kira did, with little chance of his craft taking major damage from that, and one hit to the fuselage that knocked out his port-side cannon ammo feed but did not cook off the ammo in the feed. Several of the beams that had missed were far larger than the blue lasers and colored yellow, though Nicol had little doubt that whatever produced those were in the formation.

On the way out they hauled back on their close speed with the _Archangel_ to effectively lead them into the ground ambush. On check, the enemy was indeed following them straight to the _Archangel_ with the proverbial blood in the eye and little along the way of restraint.

That part of the plan was indeed working.

-x-x-x-

"Conn, Sensors, I show the Skygraspers burning in at a slow pace right for us, followed by what the computer thinks is about three hundred forty enemy contacts. Margin of error two percent," Sai notes with a hint of amusement. He had never been in a battle whereby the computer had a margin of error on counting the amount of enemies before.

"Sensors, Conn, Aye. CIC, status of the ship?"

"All hands at level one battlestations, Captain. All weapons, major systems, armor sections show green across the board. All engines at idle power at this time. Sensors, TTS, FCS all green and awaiting fire commands. ECM and ECCM systems green and awaiting activation. We are good to go," Natarle reports of the 'thousand-meter view' of the ship.

"Wait a second...something ain't right here, Captain," Chandratta says. "I know the Igelstellung control grid has changed, I expect that, but not the MP missile tubes," he muses out loud.

"What? Are the missile tubes malfunctioning?"

"No, the computer thinks we now have thirty-two missile tubes, Commander Badgiruel," Chandratta notes.

"Uh, what?" Natarle and Murrue both ask at the same time.

"No joke, Captain, check it out," Chandratta slaves the main view screen to his control panel, which showed the missile grid control panel. The panel indeed showed he had thirty two silos to choose from, plus sixteen Helldarts, twenty LRM Launchers, and eight Streak SRM 6 Launchers.

"Okay, then we do a dummy check. Pop open silos twenty-five to thirty-two," and Murrue clears the main screen and switches it to an external observation camera in the area.

"Opening silos now," Chandratta replies as he enters the appropriate commands. After a few moments, four access hatches open up on the outer side of the starboard tail binder, and the Camera was staring down four pairs of missile tubes, empty but ready.

"God, I'm really beginning to love this ship," Murrue notes out loud. "All right, we'll assume all the silos are live and act as such. Begin pre-plotting your fire runs, Mister Chandratta. Start with an absolute hammer attack, see if we can minimize the amount of them we have to kill by giving them plenty of reason to go away," Murrue orders, her humanity overriding her first desire to kill 'em all and let whatever crazy God was in the area sort the remnants out.

"Roger that, loading one through sixteen with anti-air shrapnel. Seventeen through thirty-two loaded with Korinthos. Helldarts slaved in pairs, LRM launchers on the starboard side set to single salvo at best range. Deploying Valiant, Ultra Autocannons, Large and Medium Pulse Lasers, Gottfrieds and Igelstellungs. We are ready to go."

"Control, Grasper One, requesting fly-by," Nicol asks.

"Grasper Team, Control, you are authorized. Finish sucking them in and we'll do the rest, over," Natarle orders.

The two Skygraspers pass forward of the ship, the roar of their passage something of a lift to Murrue's spirits, that the two pilots had survived the initial engagement with very little in the way of damage to their craft.

"Conn, Sensors, targets are now within Captail weapons bracket three," Sai notes.

"Sensors, Conn, aye," Murrue replies. "As soon as they are within 2000 meters, fire all weapons."

"Aye aye," Chandratta replies.

"Call it out, Sai," Natarle orders.

"Thirty-four hundred...thirty-one hundred...twenty-eight hundred...twenty-five hundred...twenty-four hundred...twenty-two...twenty-one...two thousand!"

"Valid solutions! Firing!" Chandratta says as he stabs the fire command out on his control panel.

Where the ship was almost eerily quiet moments prior, the sound of all the weapons firing almost at the same time was a loud roar like few others that Murrue had heard before. Chandratta had planned a specific tactic into his fire commands: using the direct-fire weapons, he intended on forcing the enemy to debauch in two directions, specifically forward and behind the Archangel since their direction of approach was starboard broadside-on. With that accomplished, the Korinthos and AAS missiles would target eight of each to the forward and eight of each to the rear groups; the Gottfrieds would fire at the forward group, while the Helldarts fire toward the rear. If they broke away and made for their base like good little whirlies, so much the better, in his opinion. He did have a complete fire-plan B set and ready, and that would not be to their liking whatsoever.

As the ship's direct fire weapons came in on their ranks the whole mass did something that Chandratta had not even considered: they as a unit brought their entire formation to a screeching halt, hovering a mere 800 meters off the ground at 1600 meters distance to the ship, basically staring at the wall of fire they just walked into. Never mind the two dozen or more of their ranks just turned into yellow-green fireballs or headed downward courtesy of gravity and smoking engines. The targeting mainframe on the _Archangel_, which doubled as the ship's movie server when not in combat, compensated for this unexpected twist of the battle plan by redirecting the missile flight paths into the enemy formation, where they would cause the most damage possible in a single stroke. Thus, the enemy was simply hovering in place when the sixteen Korinthos and sixteen AAS warheads entered their formation and detonated.

"Stupid, if they had kept moving more of them would have survived," Murrue notes rather resignedly.

"Conn, sensors, enemy force is reengaging with one eighty, they headed right at us!" Sai shouts over the surprised murmurs on the bridge.

"Chandratta?"

"Already on it," he says as he trips plan B and hits the immediate-execute command.

"Conn, Control, Forward guard reports they have sighting of unknown units and some guy riding one of the yellow birds! He's being chased!"

"Deal with it, Controller," Murrue orders tersely. The name of the game had just changed drastically and she still did not know the full extent of the enemy forces' abilities. And what she did not know made her very testy.

"Windam, close and engage, close and engage," Miriallia orders quickly. "Aegis, Buster, return to ship, we're about to get hammered by their air forces."

"Aegis is airborne, will be there in thirty seconds," Athrun replies.

"Skygraspers are reengaging at this time," Kira notes.

"Here they come," Sai notes as the lead wave of the enemy begins firing at the ship.

Unlike the Skygraspers, the _Archangel_ itself was a very large and stationary target. Even as the Igelstellungs, the Autocannons, the Large Pulse Lasers picked fighters off one or two at a time, and the Valiants and Gottfrieds cleared whole swaths of the enemy at once, they kept coming, firing more and more as their whole rank made fit to close to four hundred meters, the optimum kill range for their weapons.

"Damn, it's like killing flies with an icepick," Chandratta notes. "Oh, great, they're spreading out and around us," he notes as he watches their actions through the boresight cameras of the Igelstellungs.

"Conn, Sensors, we're down to 140 of them," Sai notes.

"Control, where's our support?" Murrue asks as the ship takes several hits from beam weapons that were red, blue, or yellow, and even one from some kind of missile launcher in the enemy ranks.

"Captain, we're losing weapons," Chandratta notes as first the Large Pulse Lasers blink red, then one of the Igelstellungs on the upper broadside array, then another Igelstellung.

**WRAAM**.

"What the hell was that?" Natarle asks.

"Some crazy mother just flew his craft into our Valiant! System malfunction!"

"Aegis is on site," Athrun reports on the open channel as he begins firing all his weapons into the enemies that were targeting the _Archangel_. In mere seconds, he had massacred over a dozen of their ranks with the autocannon, the beam rifle, and his Igelstellungs, and his efforts had drawn some of the heat off the ship.

**WRAAM**.

"Captain! Starboard Streak SRMs are down! They cooked the ammo off with one of those red beams!" Chandratta was starting to sound rather worried

"Deploy anti-beam depth charges along the Starboard side, immediately," Murrue orders; within moments the whole starboard side lit up with blue-gray bursts of the beam-absorbing and deflecting particulate. The effects were immediate and rather drastic, as the amount of beams that actually got to the ship amounted to basically nothing, though this had the downside of annulling the beam weapons on the Archangel, for which it was prepared for using missile and ballistic weapons.

-x-x-x-

"Aegis, Control, get up close and personal with these things if you have to, We need them taken down ASAP," Natarle orders. "Skygraspers, where are you?" Fuu hears from the radio chatter in the area.

"Firing now," Kira notes. He was firing all but his beam weapons sensibly, and raking his fire laterally across the enemy ranks to take down as many as possible. From where Fuu was approaching the ship, she could count off the enemies that Sir Kira was knocking dopwn, either with catastrophic kills or by injuring their craft enough to force them to crash or land.

The enemy was getting smarter, though, they were now maneuvering in random patterns in hope of spoofing the well-armed fortress they had come across into shooting where they were, not where they are. Fuu figured she could gauge their movements herself, but she had a mercy mission first to deal with, this despite the bloodied blade covered in both grease and blood of the six persons and two mecha units she killed in a single stroke of Windam's sword. "Control, Windam, I have an injured civilian rider needs medical ASAP, requesting permission to—NICOL!" she shouts in a half-mad panic.

"NICOL!" Athrun shouts immediately thereafter.

"Oh my god," Miriallia gasps.

Nicol's fighter had literally blown up from the inside out. In one of those little-heralded engineering screwups of the prototype Skygraspers, later corrected in the Earth Alliance mass production Skygrasper models, the ammo feed on the 40mm Wing Root cannons could literally cook off a shell in the feeder if it was jammed down the line from the feeding mechanism. The feed motor on the prototype was never constructed with a decoupler for when it should jam down the line, and the motor itself was a very powerful device to fast-feed the ammo-hungry cannons. When the cannon jammed from the laser scorching the feed belt, the feeder continued to attempt to push a shell down the way, and the feeder's mechanical finger twisted into and cut through a shell, releasing its propellant and bending the feed pipe. The mechanical finger then glanced off the feed pipe and caused a spark, setting the propellant off in a very confined space. The pressure blast caused a chain reaction of exploding ammo that cascaded into the 160 remaining 40mm shells, an ever-expanding explosion that literally tore the left wing off Nicol's craft and soon thereafter converted the fuselage of his craft into a hail of steel shards headed mostly away from him.

_The pilot yet lives_, Windam reports to Fuu. As Fuu began frantically searching the skies, she did indeed catch sight of a parachute.

"He's still alive!" Fuu shouts as she could distinctly see his head twisting back and forth.

Nicol had been saved by one of the things the engineers did right, an automatic eject system that kicked the pilot out of the plane as soon as it detected an imminent ammo explosion. When the sensor for that event was tripped, the computer in the plane immediately ceased all functions except one set of instructions, designed to prepare the plane for the imminent ejection of the pilot, and finally kick him out. First, his harness immediately drew back and brought his whole body inline with the seat, should he be slightly forward against his belts. Second, a draw-string connected to his helmet pulled his neck back so that his entire being was inline and in the safest position for ejection. Third, a series of explosive bolts and linear shape charges removed the canopy of the craft and exposed him to open air as the wind dragged the plexiglass canopy backwards and away from the pilot. A series of powerful explosive bolts detonated under his seat, giving it an initial escape velocity from the craft, followed a quarter-second later by a rocket motor that propelled his command couch over 100 meters clear of the now-shredding Skygrasper. The last action of the computer itself was to detonate a series of shape charges built into the main computer control components to protect confidential systems and data by destroying it; this confidentiality feature would later be removed in the production models of the Skygrasper, as most pilots are leery of piloting a craft that has rather destructive security measures on something that might as well not be classified.

"Holy shit, he's alive!" Tolle shouts. "Thank you, PMP!"

Natarle breathes an audible sigh of relief. "Fuu, recover Nicol immediately and bring both wounded to the ship. I will have medical personnel waiting on deck. Aegis, Buster, Skygrasper Two, cover her recov and retreat, now!"

"Aye, Commander!" Athrun shouts. "Kira, Tolle, concentrated barrage to the ship's two o'clock, do not use explosive weapons! Go!"

The three said machines put up a solid wall of fire in the area that Athrun assigned, to prevent them from drawing a decent bead on Nicol before Fuu could catch and cradle him back to the ship. Fuu immediately diverted and headed straight for the pilot of the Skygrasper as he drifted to the ground riding a parachute with the Earth Alliance globe on it. She was not really shot at until she got close to Nicol, at which point she had to circle around him to interpose Windam's back between Nicol and the Rune God. With little effort, Windam was able to catch the drifting pilot and sever his parachute cords; with a simple reflex action, she had Nicol shifted to the hand where she was carrying the local rider as well, which freed her sword up if absolutely necessary.

"Windam to Control, I'm coming in now, request immediate landing," Fuu says tersely; she had a mission now and knew it.

"Fuu! On your six! MOVE IT!" Yzak shouts.

"Fuu! Break hard right and get low! We'll smoke the bandits on your tail!"

Fuu did just as ordered quite quickly; the beams transited the airspace behind her from three different directions, not to mention autocannon and Igelstellung ammo, though they did not get them all—three remained, and Fuu need only look over her left shoulder to see them.

What happened next would forever be a blur to the Magic Knight of Windam, even despite the fact that she could watch it as it was recorded in Tri-Vid by the_Archangel_'s battle computers. She took Windam down to ground level and slowed, which temporarily gave the enemy a better targeting profile, but not for long as Fuu literally landed at the same time she brought her sword up above her head. Those foolish enough to tailgate her had to pull up to avoid colliding with Windam, and one of them cut himself in half vertically as his craft tried flying through Windam's sword. The two halves of the craft fell to the ground a hundred meters forward and catastrophically blew apart as the energy source within cooked off from the impact.

From this position, Windam spun around sharply as it brought the sword down into a horizontal slash at the foes hovering behind it and shooting Windam's back. Two took hits, both high enough to decapitate the pilots and sever the propellers from the craft; one of the propellers even flew up two hundred meters to impale another craft and render it combat ineffective. With a massive leap and a single downstroke of wings, the Rune God was airborne again, and this time the sword took four swings at four separate tailing craft; each craft was struck in some fashion lethal to the craft, be it a slice or a flat-blade impact that drove it into the ground.

From her leap, Fuu twisted onto course and resumed her flight to the Archangel, covered by the Buster and Aegis for what it was worth; few of the enemy ranks were dumb enough to challenge Windam any further, after finding their weapons ineffective and her weapon instantly fatal to those she swung at.

"Nicol, hang in there, we're almost to the ship now," Fuu says audibly. The starboard-side catapult had opened as Fuu approached, giving Windam a clear flight into the hangar.

-x-x-x-

(Vignette: Cosmic Accidents Happen)

(Location: Deep Space between galaxies)

(Date: 30 June 3305)

The Executor was once again examining an anomaly that seemed to have either occurred or been subject to the _Archangel_ that was drifting between Dimensions with no real bearing except a fervent desire to get home. Despite being one of those interesting occurrences that invariably drew attention wherever it went, the _Archangel_ in question was on a mission: get home. Such missions the Executor could relate to: more than once he had been forced from his rightful home, and had to retake it by force.

"A big sucker if ever I have felt one," a second Executor notes to the one of the white armor. This one wore the same physical style of armor as the one in white, though his armor was forest green and enchanted not for protection and stealth, but protection and manipulation of time itself.

"Aff, old comrade, I think this is by far the largest spatial distortion I have encountered in one place," the Executor of the White Armor notes.

"I have seen one bigger, though it came of nothing in the end. This one, however, has a history. Care to hear?"

"Aff, go for it," the Command Executor replies to the Executor in green.

"This spatial distortion was once in the primary galaxy, and even passed through what we know as the old Inner Sphere. You know that _Archangel_-class you have been studying? The one I told you not to interfere with in any drastic fashion?" The Executor of Time requests.

"Aff, I know the ship well," the Executor of White replies.

"It was fighting in the presence of this anomaly, which is literally larger than several hundred star systems and the space between. The ship itself is becoming a flying spatial distortion as well as a flying relic, and when the two interacted, combined with the mental overdrive of the crew in battle, and then add one major particle event from the attempted firing of an antimatter weapon, oops, they punched their own hole through space and time, to land on yet another world. With another set of hazards and possibles."

"So, basically, they got sucked through a self-initiated random spatial anomaly into another dimension...again."

"Aff, comrade."

"Gods, Odysseus rides again, reincarnated as Murrue Ramius and the present crew of the_Archangel_. And you say all we Executors are allowed to do is watch," the Executor of White notes sourly.

"Neg, we will aid them in their quest, though for several major events to be altered on our side, their quest must go unhindered or unsolved by our hands until the last," the Executor of Time replies.

"You never miss a chance to plot and operate at several levels, quiaff?"

"Aff, boss-man, aff. And before you ask, neg, I do not enjoy watching the _Archangel_ get the crap kicked out of themselves time and time again, yet this must come to pass. By all of Fate itself, I would love to introduce myself to the Captain and crew, and offer them a free Gate home, but such cannot be. You said it yourself: it is the voices, hopes of many that shall sway the outcome of the final battle Ragnarök, not the elitism of a few. Thus, what we examine must be allowed to continue apace lest all of Existence befall the Fimbulwinter and all life worth mentioning be extinguished."

"This is just one variable among your immense calculation of Ragnarök, I daresay," the Executor of White notes.

"One among too many, when you get down to it." For a moment, the Executor of Time's voice betrayed his age and his weariness. "For five hundred thousand years, I have done everything in my power to prevent the utter destruction of Existence. The battle is grossly close to the front gates; we in the know can see the Barbarians preparing their rams and catapults, the engines of the final destruction. I find as the battles approach I must fall more and more upon contingencies and even blind luck to solve the variables, as the amount of issues to be seen to expands at a far larger pace than the Executors. And even my own vaunted control of time cannot solve all the tasks I need to accomplish."

"You run the ragged edge, as does your wife and the others that are in the know," the Executor of White notes. "Is it worth it? Shall we win against the forces arrayed against our gates?" he was speaking in metaphor, of course, since no one gate would be the battle ground to decide the outcome of Existence itself..._or would it_? He mused to himself. Even having known the Executor of Time for countless eons of their mutual existence, he could never claim to have known the complete breadth of his comrade's incessant scheming. The old saw about 'never taking a piss without a plan and a contingency' applied thoroughly to the Executor of Time, as his many broken and slain foes could attest.

"Not even I hold that answer. The best I can do is give us every advantage possible; the battles of the future shall be the true matchmakers of our fates."

"And this Warship, strayed from its natural history, holds an answer to our fates?" The Executor of White requests for clarification.

"It holds answers that shall prove to be fate-altering to many parties, here, elsewhere, our sphere of influence, never before known to us. Their shared beliefs will shake the heavens and the lands of many worlds to come and many more that they have visited. And when all is said and done, they will get their chance."

"A chance of what?" The Executor of White asks.

"You have taken a personal interest in their tale, comrade. For now, observe; in time, I will have subtle ways for you to aid their quest to return home. In due time, the significance of their fate and their actions shall become manifest as few other tales in Existence have ever been." For a bare moment, the Executor of White could have sworn that his ancient comrade (and technically a subordinate) was enjoying stringing his 'boss' along.

The Executor of White decided he would bite this time around, instead of pulling rank and forcing the issue. The last time he had done so, he had definitely**not** liked the answer he had been provided, nor the cruel necessity of such an answer. "Aff. I will heed your advice on this matter. I will record what will transpire as I have recorded that which transpired prior."

"Theirs shall be a tale that will make its way into the Remebrance of Existence, the one record we pass unto the generation that will survive Ragnarök. Make sure you record all that you can, boss-man, that those who come long after we are dead and gone know what has transpired here. Many lessons are to be understood here."

* * *

Author's Chapter Afterword:

Final Fantasy VI.

Prior to my picking up the Suikoden series of RPGs, Final Fantasy VI was by far my longest RPG, routinely clocking in at 65 hours to whoop Kefka up at the last, including recovering all the characters and killing off all the optional bosses (the dragons, mostly). Since then, the longest I have now is Suikoden III, which I can do in as little as 65, but usually take up to 110 hours at a round because I like using different combinations of characters for effect. Suikoden IV was good, but a bit faster than any of the above.

Even given this being a FF game crossover now, do **NOT** expect this to get cutesie, kitchy, campy, or easy for the Archangel. Especially given as the Magitek armor systems are built better and better on the enemy side, they will give more and more hell to the Archangel before all is said and done. There is even a few chances for casualties coming up, despite the measures the Archangel is planning to increase their flexibility and firepower...

And while I am on the subject of the Final Fantasy games, I saw not one reference to Final Fantasy IV, V, VI, or Tactics in all the guesses that people dropped in reviews. Have you no respect for the classics? Any of you? ARRRGGG!!! Of course I am not ruling out the use of any other series at this time, on another section...

The air battle as shown here is an extrapolation and a little modification on my part. The fact that only your characters had the ability to use the three elemental beams made no sense to me back when I first picked this game up over a decade ago, and it makes less sense now. I highly doubt that the Empire would engineer their armor not to take advantage of those powerful weapons, thus you see them in use here. I am using a tiered deploy system on them, however, which will come of more evidence in the next chapter. So, in short, expect to see the ground forces take a chunk out of the Gundams, Rune Gods, and Battlemechs in short order, not to mention the strips they already tore out of the ship.

And you can expect to see the advanced special attack armor that Terra used as well, which can tear even more sizable chunks out of the ship in more ways than one.

And now, for the review or PM replies, whichever applies at this time:

**Alkard**: Check. Unfortunately, in the average war you don't walk away with straight victories and no losses.

**FraserMage**: Indeed, they had radio in both, but this is not FF7 or FF8.

**Knives91**: Murdoch will be screaming more than just that in time to come.

**Gonging Apples**: See comment above about people not guessing the classics of the FF series.

**Tremerid**: This one was not all that easy to write, since the party scenes are a little on the strange side for me, but once I got going there was no stopping. And the battle, oi, that was fun to write. Thank you for the first review, comrade.

**The Baka Brigade**: So close, yet so far, comrade. And once again, the use of Gundams is classified TS/SAR. You will know the answer soon enough.

**DeathZealot**: At least one of those series listed is on the list of possibles, maybe more. And my plans are always flexible for new ideas, since the prose has not been written yet, I can do quite a bit of maneuvering as necessary.

**Etienne of the West Wind**: Continuing from your last, it would appear that the creators and staff of GS did a lot on the arbitrary side without fully back-checking their work. Oops. Like the resistance by GENESIS to the Lohengrin, which is an impossible feat as far as I can muse. Still, the information on their ages is useful, as I can work with that. And the expert analysis above is a precursor to far darker things that the ship shall befall and be subject to, in due time :P (on this, I pull no punches. Lives will be altered in the strangest of ways in the course of their transit.)

As always, thank you all for the reviews, and keep the thoughts coming, your dreams are but a drop of fuel for the Archangel's evolving nightmares.

Next up: The battle for Maranda heats up and leads to a very unexpected twist in the evolving campaign of the Empire.

* * *

Footnotes:

(1): NG is a web abbreviation of Engies, which is short for Engineers.

(2): Fighter pilot lexicon: 'Angels' means altitude, in thousands of feet; Angels Five means five thousand feet, Angels Twelve means twelve thousand feet, and so on. In this case, they are slightly under 3000 meters ASL.


	19. When Good Plans Go Bad

(Section 3, Chapter 3: When Good Plans Go Bad)

"Nicol is safe," Athrun notes as the Rune God Windam ducks into the launch catapult of the _Archangel_. After a few moments the bay shut, sensibly to prevent the deck crew from getting uninvited company.

There was little doubt in Athrun's mind that these things, despite being very easy to kill, were a significant threat nonetheless. The air forces had torn several good strips out of the starboard side of the _Archangel_, knocked several weapons out, and there were still a good gross (twelve dozen) of them hanging around, maybe a few less. Now, it was down to the real 'icepick versus fly' detail work, whereby he was only really getting one shot one kill instead of the several kills per shot he had started out with. At the least, the Buster was still getting several per shot, though the drawback here was that Tolle's spreads were few and far between, whereas Athrun was pulling a consistent result with the one-shots.

The enemy air forces were down to what he defined as the 'basic' units: the units with strap-on missiles that were not a major threat to a Phase-shift Gundam and the lasers that were inaccurate if he kept his machine moving. As to the enemies with the strange, multi-colored beams that caused a helluva lot of damage to just about anything they hit, be it terrain, ship, or Gundam, Athrun had made sure that they went in the soup first, since he had seen one of those red beams literally cook off the Streak SRM launchers on the starboard side of the ship. Despite the loss of their heavy hitters, they were still a threat: in volume, those lasers were scoring hits, and Athrun had already taken a number of hits to the right side of his machine though nothing that had caused serious internal damage...yet. He definitely was not tanking on walking away from the battle with armor-only damage.

Tolle actually had an advantage in this case, he had parked it on the foredeck of the _Archangel_ and was using both the Trikeros and the combined Buster weapons to keep the fire pressure on the enemy and keep it steady. What was left of the _Archangel_'s arsenal was helping keep the helicopter wannabes at distances where their lasers were losing accuracy, but Athrun knew that if they got enough nerve up to rush in close, they could disable almost all of the direct-fire weapons grid and that was that, stick a fork in the ship with that much of its weapons shot to hell.

Kira came in over the shoulder of the Buster, what few of his weapons with ammo remaining blazing hard in concert with Agni and the beam cannon on the Skygrasper. On one pass he managed to cook off four and hammer one into a catastrophic detonation with the last of his 20mm gun ammo; he had nothing but the energy weapons left, and that dicey since his power capacitor was not being charged by the engine APU as fast as he was using it.

"Skygrasper, Control, I show all your munitions expended, Natarle wants you to bring it in at this time for reload and refuel," Miriallia orders.

"Control, Skygrasper, roger that," Kira replies as he reefs the Skygrasper into a turn to come in for a landing. "Huh? Oh, crap, Control, I have eyes on some form of mechanical ground units that looks sorta like their air units, running down the ocean shore at about ten kilometers out from the ship, over,"

"Don't expose your ass to hostile action, Kira, get your craft home now," Miriallia orders tersely. She would not stand for having Kira shot down today, especially after listening to Fuu's panicked screech when Nicol's craft exploded. Recovering the flight recorder would be one of their priorities, to see what went wrong, but not in the middle of a battle.

"Control, Skygrasper, I roger that. Please have the deck crew waiting with ammo reloads as soon as I touch down, over," Kira requests.

"Murdoch is already assembling the reloads as we speak," Miriallia had made sure that was being prepared, as the Skygrasper was too powerful a weapon to leave parked, and most of all because they were already badly outnumbered.

"Roger that, control, I'm coming in for landing now," Kira says as he begins to close on the ship. The port side landing bay was his designated strip, since the said side was farther away from the enemy fire and the Skygraspers were even more susceptible to the damage than the Gundams or Rune Gods.

"All right, Kira, you have ILS (1) clearance and the deck crew is waiting. Turn around time should be ten minutes given your present fuel status."

"Roger that, beginning landing now," Kira says as he brings his speed down to 100 knots, deploys flaps and landing gear.

After Kira had landed the Skygrasper and taxied off to where the refuel and rearm crews were waiting for him, he popped the canopy to jump clear of the plane while the crew did their thing, and immediately moved to the remnant of the ejection seat that Nicol was in. There was a modicum of blood on the ground near the seat, and also some on the back of the seat itself.

"He's still alive, if that's what you are thinking, Kira," Murdoch says as the said senior mechanic approaches the seat himself. "Fuu's with him right now, down in the medbay. You have eight minutes before I position your craft on the catapult, kid."

"Right," Kira thinks about it, knowing he wanted to verify they were still alive, but the distance—_I owe it to Nicol to check_, Kira rebuffs himself after a moment. Without more than an extra half-moment's hesitation, he was sprinting toward the personnel hatch into the interior of the ship and headed toward the medical bay as fast as he could muster. The total run time was little over a minute for the Coordinator, figuring that he had just covered half the length of the ship in one good run, and that including several doors to pass through.

Kira slowed to reclaim his breath as he approached the medical ward, and as he stopped at the doorway to finish catching his breath, he did not move from there. The first bunk was no farther than he needed look, followed by the second bunk being where the local civilian had been placed for care. The bondsmen and mechanics injured by the chicken-lizard creatures were arrayed around the bay as well, though they were being a bit quiet at the time. After a few moments, the doc signaled him to be silent; Kira needed no prompting on that part, given the status of the first bunk.

Nicol was asleep, that much Kira could sense of the other Gundam pilot. Fuu had apparently fallen asleep leaning on his bed, probably from the stress and the long day she had already suffered. Both looked peaceful, almost angelic in sleep, which was enough that Kira was not going to disturb them at all. After a minute of just watching, he turned around and began the walk toward the hangar, since he still had minutes to kill.

"Pilot Yamato from Control, come in," the radio in his helmet chirps. He crammed the helmet on his head after a moment and pulled up the visor.

"Go for Kira," he replies immediately, now far enough away from the medbay that there was no chance of waking either Fuu or Nicol.

"Report from Control: enemy air forces have begun a rather fast retreat after chewing off about a third of our starboard armor and major weapons," Mir reports.

"Thanks, Miriallia, what are my orders when I launch?" Kira asks as he continues walking apace toward the hangar.

"When you launch, your revised mission is to scout out enemy forces approaching the _Archangel_ from the ground, and to direct our ground forces into proper intercept positions. Can you comply?" Natarle asks on the same frequency.

"Can do, Commander," Kira replies. _Better do it now, right, than have to live with watching a town get mulched_, Kira thought inside the confines of his own mind. It went without saying that the town would suffer it now, since these were not really professional military forces and would vent rage at having their air forces shot down by taking it out on the civilians. Such logic was gross to the Coordinator and otherwise nice guy known as Kira Yamato, but he also knew what to think to put himself in the shoes of the enemy.

After another thirty seconds of walking, he was at the door to the hangar. His hand hesitated, refusing for a moment to open the door to the airlock that led to the hangar, but after a moment his raw willpower overcame the desire of the rest of him to not fight, to not kill people. In this case, he had a choice: stand by and watch the right people die, or shoot enough of the wrong people that the rest would go away, in theory.

He finally jammed his thumb into the door release button and stepped through to the hangar area. The last of his 40mm cannon ammo was being reloaded by a pair of the bondsmen while a separate contingent was using makeshift melee weapons to chase down and beat down more of the chicken-lizard creatures that had somehow managed to work their way into the ship proper. Kira did not complain of this, of course, since he had seen the nature of the wounds they caused. He could already tell the Combo Weapons Pod of the Launcher Strike pack had been replaced, since the missile tubes had new covers on the and the whole craft was leaning less into the Agni than it was after he got out of it.

-x-x-x-

"Kira Yamato, Skygrasper, Launching!" He gave a minor grunt as the catapult shoved him backwards into the ejection seat that was harder than the seat for the Strike. Something about the ejection seats was a bit more rigid than he was used to...

"How is he?" Athrun asks.

"Beat up but asleep. Same with Fuu right now."

"No wonder I can't find her, she's in the med bay still," Natarle notes.

"Best to leave her as is, Commander, she's completely out of it," Kira replies immediately, more sensing than else that Natarle meant that she was looking for her to get back out in the battle.

"We need everyone possible out there, Ensign," Natarle replies curtly, which also showed her frustration very clearly. Almost never did she call Kira by his Earth Alliance rank any more.

"She's already been up twenty hours and been on duty half or more of that. Even if she was out here, she wouldn't be much use to anyone, maybe even a hazard," Mu says in Kira's defense.

"Oh, right," Natarle half-squeaks. Only when presented the thought in series did it occur to her that Fuu would not be in the best condition to fight.

"Relax, Control, we can handle this," Mu says smoothly.

"Right. Skygrasper, do you have position on the enemy ground forces?" Natarle asks after a moment.

"Right, I have a small contingent of the enemy forces to the ship's starboard at five kilometers out, the ground forces should have visual right now," Kira says. "The main enemy body looks like its about twenty kilos out, heading straight at the _Archangel_."

"Understood. Timber Wolf, Duel, Rayearth, Selesce, you're on. Duel and Selesce will handle the contingent to starboard, Timber Wolf and Rayearth will handle the middle contingent as they close with us. Buster, Aegis, you will reinforce as needed. Skygrasper has scouting and strafing authorization at this time, don't take chances out there, Kira."

"Timber Wolf acknowledges," Mu replies.

"Duel copies."

"Rayearth, can do," Hikaru says with a bit of cheer that did not really match what she was feeling inside.

"Selesce, ready," Umi notes with more the hint of disgust at the whole scenario.

"Buster on standby," Tolle notes.

"Aegis requesting RTB for ammo and possible repairs," Athrun notes.

"Aegis, you are authorized," Miriallia replies automatically. Keeping the units in service was one of her top priorities, and often times that required bringing them back to base for ammo, fuel, and minor repairs (replacement armor, typically).

"Make it fast, Aegis, the enemy doesn't intend on giving us all day," Natarle notes curtly.

"Fast? I like it fast," Athrun replies to nobody in particular.

"I'd hate to know what 'it' means in that sentence," Yzak notes.

"Strangely enough, I agree," Mu says in amplification. Umi could do naught but sigh in frustration; Hikaru simply shrugged, a gesture amplified by the Rune God around her.

"I would give up, but I am not allowed," Natarle notes in frustration.

"Tea and cake or death!" Tolle half-shouts. (2)

"What the hell does that mean?" Yzak asks in response. "Never mind, I don't think I want to know," he corrects before things got really out of hand on the radio.

"We're all getting stressed out," Miriallia says. "And when Tolle gets stressed, he says strange things that I think are quotes from someone somewhere long dead, I guess," Miriallia notes more or less as an answer to Yzak's question.

"Stress kills, cover it up," Tolle replies.

"Easier said than done, Tolle," Miriallia replies in a tone that brooked no rebuke from the Buster pilot.

"Whoa, I think you're pissing her off, Tolle, better watch it," Yzak notes with a hint of awe. "She shoots people in bathrooms, no telling what she'll do to you in your bedroom tonight," he adds after a mere moment.

"All right, clear the channel unless you have tactical traffic," Natarle orders in a frustrated tone. Her comment forced the other pilots to stifle their laughs which came out as a collection of sniggers.

"All right, Duel reporting I have eyes on about two dozen mechanicals about the same height as Elementals with exposed pilots and a bit wider overall, each with two infantry hanging off the back of the unit."

"Roger that, Duel, begin interception. We don't need an enemy attack from two directions," Natarle orders. "Selesce, cover Duel as he moves in on the enemy," she adds after a moment.

"Actually, I think I'm going to do all the dirty work from here, Commander," Yzak says as the Duel hefts the twin-15 LRM launcher that had worked well for him prior.

As the Duel stepped out, Yzak got a solid lock on the enemy formation with the targeting array that encompassed the enemy midget collection. The whole enemy formation stopped the march forward, suddenly confronted with this massive machine that was over three times larger than a normal house and absolutely looked of murderous purpose. The Duel hunched down slightly as Yzak brought the missile pack in line for the shot, and pulled the trigger. Thirty LRM missiles zoomed to and struck in their formation, a bare 400 meters away from the Gundam; the result was rather spectacular, in Yzak's opinion. Two of the armors on the left flank blew outward, their energy sources hit; it went without saying that the infantry ride-along were goners at the least from fragmentation. Three more of the armors took five missiles apiece, in two cases the missiles striking the pilot and ending his life in a rather spectacular and very messy fashion, though the armors themselves remained upright and apparently functional. Two more pilots went down from fragmentation from the missiles and blown-up comrades, though the bulk of the formation remained more or less unharmed due to being spread fairly wide for a small number of units.

The shock only lasted a few moments in the enemy ranks, then the group collectively decided to return the favor. Yzak was slightly prepared for that; he shifted his right foot back a step and rotated enough that his shield was now covering the bulk of the Assault Shroud as the lasers began tracking in on his machine, though the main problem he had was that the shield protected his body well, but not the legs of the Duel. The enemy realized that the lasers were not going through the shield it was carrying (which likely weighed more than their armors), so naturally they began shooting his exposed legs.

"Agh, shit! I'm getting kneecapped!" Yzak growls while he aims around his shield at the enemy with his beam rifle. Tap, tap, two armors destroyed, one catastrophically as the 57mm energy beam chopped completely through it without hesitation. Yzak lowers the shield to better cover his legs as he depresses the fire buttons for his head-mounted 75mm vulcans and moves the head aimpoint left to right across their file. In this case, the vulcans were actually effective, whereas against a battlemech or omnimech they did little more than to piss off the 'mechwarrior inside. As his burst swept left to right, the slugs tore into the armors and the personnel without reserve, creating a massive mess of motor oil, grease, blood, and body chunks that went a helluva long way to disgusting Yzak, though in the end he mastered his stomach and reminded himself that they were shooting at him, and intended on pillaging a village somewhere to his rear.

"Water-!" Umi shouts as she steps just barely into his Gundam's peripheral vision and prepares the motions for her attack. Before she could begin in earnest and launch the attack, a pair of missiles came out of one of the more distant of the enemy, this one without the ride-on infantry but with a pair of four-silo missile tubes hanging over the turbine-looking extension on the back. Yzak figured the enemy not stupid enough to hang live missiles over a live and exposed engine like that, so they were running some other form of power, which he also suspected was probably under the pilot's seat. The missiles were enough of an impact that they disrupted Umi's attack and actually had Selesce's attention completely.

"I got 'em," Yzak says as he sights up the said armor with Shiva. As much improved as the blue beam was that lanced out from said unit and struck Yzak's shield (as improved over their basic laser weapon, which wasn't much a threat except in numbers), it was not good enough to prevent Yzak from putting a 125-kilogram rail gun slug through the armor the hard way. The slug shredded through the armor's power supply, the pilot, and the secondary weapon systems on the armor, all of which vented catastrophically as the armor itself cooked off and the pilot inside was killed. Yzak had to admit, the pilot was a rather good-looking lady, but challenging a machine far larger than hers was asking for it, and Yzak was not in the mood to be nice with civilians in the balance. "Try it now," Yzak says.

"_**Water Dragon**_!" Umi chants, and this time Selesce was able to actually put the spell downrange and into their formation. Being this close to the shore, the enemy forces were more or less blasted backwards and into the sea itself; those that survived did not do so for long, given that their heavy armor caused them to sink faster than normal.

"Control, Duel, flanking group has been sunk. Literally. They gone."

"Duel, Control, roger that. You're needed at the front, it's about to get real deep for the rest of the team."

-x-x-x-

Given that the medbay was halfway down the length of the ship from the hangar and catapults, it was not the sound of the catapult that had awoken Nicol. It was the vibration of the whole ship as the catapult's recoil shuddered through it when shoving a Gundam or Battlemech that stirred him to consciousness.

This then inevitably brought on a wave of disorientation, as the last thing he could remember was the sight of the canopy on the Skygrasper shearing clean off. After a few moments of looking around, he could readily tell where he was; he had helped some of the wounded from the hangar deck into the medbay and seen to some of their injuries himself, though his casting power had faded before he had run out of persons to see to, as had Fuu's casting power.

It took him no more than ten seconds to find Fuu, even without being able to readily move the rest of his body. Foremost, her right elbow was digging into his right hip, which for her was a very bony elbow and it was an attention getter. Second, her light snoring from laying in an unusual position was just barely audible over the sound of the monitors and instrumentation in the medical bay. Nicol knew intrinsically that she was a silent sleeper normally, it was Umi that did the snoring, what little there would be between the three Magic Knights, if any.

"You all right, pilot?" One of the wounded mechanics asks as he hobbles over toward his bed.

"Yeah, just...sore..." Nicol notes in close to a whisper so as to not wake Fuu. "What...happened?"

"Your fighter blew up. We don't know why, the bondsmen think it was an ammo explosion."

"I have seen similar blasts when Hunchback IIC 'mechs blow from ammo cooking off," Pytor notes as he hobbles over to the same area. He was being respectfully quiet. "I fear it is the same as with your unit, Nicol," the Clansmen-turned-_Archangel_ Bondsman notes.

This far, nobody had managed to wake Fuu, and Nicol wanted to keep it that way. He knew she had been pushing it before the battle had begun; participating in the battle without having any decent rest as she had was very bad in Nicol's opinion, yet he could not order her not to fight. She would not stomach just standing by as Nicol went into battle with more hazard than she would have.

"Ammo explosion? Possibly the 40 millimeter, then. Still, how am I—an ejection seat?"

"Yes, apparently the Earth Alliance ejection seats are not the best," Pytor notes offhand. "You were unconscious when Magic Knight Fuu and Chief Murdoch brought you in."

"Oh," Nicol notes; that would explain why he could remember nothing after the cockpit blew clear: he was out cold in his seat. _Helluva way to end one's participation in an important battle, not knowing what happened after you got your craft blown out from under you_, Nicol thought; _and then saved by your girlfriend_. Which inevitably brought on the thought: _Am I her boyfriend? Or does she not think of it that way yet_?

"Beats the alternative, Nicol. At least you did get rescued," Murrue says from the doorway, though still quiet enough not to awaken the sleeping Knight.

"Captain," Pytor says by way of greeting. Murrue nods to the injured Bondsmen as she walks in and stands next to Nicol's bunk.

"Still, I didn't do much to help...while I was—"

"You did more than enough, Nicol. I can't expect my crew to win every battle with a pocket knife and a rubber band, much less outmoded and inadequate fighters. Don't blame yourself, if anything I should have come in behind you and Kira with the ship to help hammer them back. I just don't think we're going to win this battle, any way you cut it, and regardless of how many Skygraspers we have."

"Then what?" Nicol asks.

"I don't know. I just don't know," Murrue replies evenly. _The crux of acting instead of planning_, Nicol thinks aloud. "True, that," Murrue replies immediately.

"Captain, you're replying to someone's thoughts again," Nicol cautions. She avoided that mostly, but not all the time.

"I know, I know, it's just getting hard for me to distinguish between thought and spoken. I was awake an hour after Fuu."

"Oh," Nicol replies. He had not considered that the Captain was getting exhausted, which was a bad thing the whole way around.

It was the doc that broke the momentary silence afterwards: "Pytor, back to your bunk. Captain, out; I will not have you pestering the patients."

"All right, all right, I'm outta here," Captain Ramius replies. "Don't worry about it, we'll find some way to win. Just rest," Murrue orders as she heads for the door.

Nicol intended nothing but rest for now, given that Fuu had been asleep so far for two hours, and he figured she would need about eight more before she would feel proper again. Not to mention, he was just too sore to do anything meaningful right now. As were about a dozen others in the medbay.

-x-x-x-

"Well now, these midget armored bastards took their sweet time getting here," Yzak notes coldly as the first of the enemy appeared over the crest of the minor hill between them and the main enemy body. Despite the area north of the _Archangel_ being mostly flatlands, there were still minor hills that obscured movement and vision, and in this case the minor hill in front of them at about three kilometers was enough to block their view of most of the enemy formation.

"Yeah, you have to wonder if those air-jocks that retreated stopped to forewarn them on the way out," Athrun replies. "Still, they should be easy prey any way you look at it. All we have to do is keep them in the distance," he notes in a chilled fashion while bringing his beam rifle up.

"I don't see that happening here, but might as well give it a try," Commander La Flaga notes as he sights up the enemy and activates his magnified optics.

The enemy had the unit beat on one thought: long range suppression fire. The Mobile Forces of the _Archangel_ were a kilometer forward of the ship, and the enemy were three kilometers farther forward than that, thus to get to the ship the enemy had to approach march four kilometers to get to where Captain Ramius had parked it in defiance of the enemy. On the other hand, the missile weapons of the enemy armors were better than appeared, given that the aircraft that had been firing them were firing them at no more than a kilometer.

"Oh, shit," Yzak says as he immediately switches targeting modes on his OS from standard to AA, which was specifically written to shoot down airborne objects, such as missiles, helicopters, airplanes, and a certain warship in the air (though even he would admit that the latter was an objective on hiatus for now). "Uh, _Archangel_, you may want to turn your anti-air grid on, I think those things are aiming for you."

"Roger that, Yzak, we're more or less ready for them," Miriallia replies. "Sort of."

A wall of missiles had taken flight from the rear of the enemy ranks, aimed more or less at the Warship and not strictly at the forward guard. Even still, the Gundams and Omnimech had trained weapons and fired, intercepting at least ten percent of the missile volley over a kilometer away from the ship. The Igelstellungs that had survived the battle already intercepted another forty percent, though the half they did not kill continued in on the ship. The missiles began falling and striking the ship and the ground around it, tearing rents in the heavy ship plate that went down as much as two of the eight layers of armor that the ship now had, that above and beyond the mauling the whole starboard side had taken already in combat.

"Damage report!" Murrue orders. "Chandratta, Gottfrieds, I want a grazing shot on their formation and hit them with all the missiles you can put in their formation."

"Captain, Gottfried two, system malfunction. It took several hits while deployed, we can't use it. The missiles and all point defense weapons on the froward grid are active. Armor damage forward is at ten percent, Captain," Sai reads off his damage control panel.

"Volley fire Sledgehammer missiles, now," Chandratta says as he hammers out the fire command. The whole ship shuddered as thirty two of those missiles were unloaded and half of them curved around the ship in a wide arc to reorient on the forward targets. The one active Gottfried and the port-side Valiant also fired, though Murrue was not expecting much in the way of actual damage from those systems, given they were designed to immolate warships and not small point targets.

"Sai, were those missiles guided?" Murrue asks.

"No, ma'am, nothing on sensors or EW gear except for their engines," Sai says.

Murrue's mind was already furiously working on a plan. "Newman, bring the ship up to hover at fifty meters. If they fire missiles again, backpedal to get us clear of the landing zone," Murrue orders. If they zoomed forward to clear the missiles, it would subject them to a lot of ground fire.

Tolle had connected the combined Buster weapons into the _Archangel_ power grid and set his aimpoint. As soon as an enemy crossed it, he fired, watching as two machines were trashed by his single shot, one in such a fashion that it blew. Within moments his weapon reported it was ready to fire again, and he did so on a different aimpoint so as to kill two other machines. His weapon lit up red thereafter. "Damnit, Control, Buster is RTB for ammo, I'm out of options here," Tolle says.

"Watch your mouth, Tolle, and get inside," Miriallia orders. The Buster jumped down to the ground, then vaulted up into the landing bay; few heard Miriallia's sigh of relief.

The Sledgehammers started landing inside the enemy ranks, though the enemy was spread out enough that collateral damage was minimized. Of thirty-two missiles, they managed to scratch about fifty armors and two hundred personnel, hardly enough to give the enemy second thoughts. The lancing from the Gottfriend, far more visually impressive but far less damaging, was enough to shake some of them up, especially those close enough to feel the heat of the beam.

"Are we all policing the pilot's language now?" Natarle asks.

"It's a dirty job, but someone has to do it," Miriallia replies.

"Commander, find us a point 500 meters offshore where we can get a grazing fire position on the whole narrow," Murrue requests.

"The choke-point is 20 kilometers at its most narrow. It won't work, Captain, unless you want to enforce it with the Lohengrins," Natarle says quickly.

"Bah!" Murrue half-shouts as she brings her clenched right fist down on her console. "We need to find some way to maximize our firepower and cut down our exposure, or they're going to have us for lunch and the town for dinner!"

"Captain, suggest we fall back 3000 meters and the forward line fall back 3500 meters, force the enemy into the narrow and then barrage until destroyed," Natarle replies.

Murrue does the mental calculations after hearing the suggestion. The narrow was about four kilometers long and twenty across, and the _Archangel_ was parked smack dab in the middle of it. By falling back, they would have the ability to range to the whole narrows, therefore no chance of a flanking attack, and by hauling the front line an extra five hundred meters back the _Archangel_ could better support the troops.

"Helm, all back full for three thousand meters, then stop cold. Controller, recall all our forces, fighting withdrawal. Units are to reload and refit as quickly as possible."

"Roger that, Captain," Miriallia replies.

_Please, help us..._

"Huh? Who said that?" Miriallia asks. To her the mental voice sounded human, mostly, but part of her wondered if it was.

"Who said what?" Yzak asks in retort.

"Someone asked 'Please help us' and I didn't recognize the voice."

"Wasn't on this radio channel, Miriallia, check and see if you are on two channels," Mu offers.

Miriallia checks her radio output and input controls. "Nope, only this frequency, Commander."

"Are you sure you heard it audibly, or only in your mind?" Miriallia gasps. "Someone is trying to contact you telepathically, I guess. Wonder who it is?" Tolle asks.

"And thus, we go ever slightly more crazy," Yzak notes sardonically.

"So long as we don't lose our heads in a crisis situation, we'll be all right," Athrun says wearily. "I hope."

-x-x-x-

"Tolle!" Miriallia shouts as she ran up on his rear.

"Mir—hey!" he protests weakly as she charged him down and grappled him in a fierce embrace. "Mir—hey, what are you doing off the bridge? I thought the battle wasn't over!"

"It isn't, but this next one is it," Miriallia says. "The Captain let us all up and out for a few minutes, since the enemy isn't following right now, they're just waiting, trying to figure out what we're doing, I guess. And what we are."

" 'Lost in the darkness, so far away from home,' " Tolle replies.

"Where did that come from?" Miriallia asks; Tolle did not usually speak like that.

"It's a line from one of the mythical Power Metal songs I've been chasing. Part of a verse that I've seen quoted in old Internet pages that still exist, or existed, but I want to hear the song. The whole verse is 'burning fires, burning lives, on the long distant road / through the lost mountains endless so far away from home / warrior soldiers forever, we fought long ago / we're all lost in the darkness so far away from home.' That is, if I remember it correctly. God, that was so long ago," Tolle notes as he leans back against the armored wall between the cubicle for the Buster and the rest of the ship.

"Sounds interesting," Miriallia says of the verse that Tolle had recited. "Makes me wonder what the song was really like," she notes wistfully, leaning over the catwalk railing to look down to the deck of the hangar. Of course, she did so right in front of Tolle, which gave him a rather impressive view from his angle. "Doesn't sound like the normal old stuff you listen to, where'd you find it?"

"A message board post, someone was asking if anyone knew where that verse came from. Said it was some kind of Power Metal or Opera Metal song he heard once."

"Strange, you never found it?"

"Nope," Tolle replies, sighing. "Maybe somewhere on our travels we'll find it or we'll find someone who knows it."

"Why, why is it everywhere we go, someone has to shoot at us?" Miriallia asks with a hint of sadness to tone.

"I don't know," Tolle replies honestly.

"I mean, its not like we're trying to—well, you know..."

"Actually, we are," Athrun notes as he approached the two from their left. "Well, mostly. On Cephiro, they took all the potshots before we did. On Dustball, we started it out by stomping their punitive assault. Here, we just fired first based on what someone heard from their minds. I'm not going to lose any sleep over it, but still..." Athrun had a dislike of rapists that was slightly worse than the norm for PLANT society, though most of his enhanced disdain was from military ethos.

Miriallia groans, only now realizing she had just consigned part of a military force to death because of what she heard inside their minds.

"Still, it's gotta be better for us to do it this than sit back and live with ourselves, knowing we did nothing," Tolle says with a modicum of hope.

"He's right, I wouldn't stand by and watch them rape a town," Athrun says. "Still, we keep picking these kinds of fights, eventually we are not going to walk away from one of them," Athrun notes coldly. "Someone needs to warn the Captain and S-O's that we need to be a little more judicious about who we stomp on," and his tone had the finality of a death sentence.

"I heard," Natarle says; she had apparently approached behind even Athrun without being heard, who was looking at Miriallia and Tolle looking down at the hangar deck. "And I agree. Only two problems, one, the crew is not going to stand for doing nothing, two, the Captain isn't going to stand for doing nothing."

"Well, I was just saying, Commander, not like I advocate doing nothing, but if we keep getting caught in these kinds of crusades, we aren't going to make it home." _Unless something incredibly freaky happens...no bets there_, Athrun thinks crassly. He so wanted to be home, in the arms of his fiancée, rather than being here getting shot at. Wherever 'here' was.

"I know, I don't say it as a club against you, but keep in mind that we're all reliant on each other, and after all that's happened so far command authority only goes so far now. Like, Murrue couldn't order the crew back to Earth Alliance service after all we've been through, the crew would have her for lunch. Probably the same with the ZAFT contingent, you couldn't order Yzak and Nicol back to ZAFT service, right?"

"First, Yzak might go on his own, though I'm not going to bet on that if this trip gets any stranger. I think he just wants to go home, any way you cut it. Second, I couldn't prybar Nicol and Fuu apart right now, much less order him back to that bloody war," Athrun admits. "And, when I really think about it, if my father told me to get back to the war, I'd tell him where to get off."

Natarle was silent for almost a whole minute, as she in turn looked down over the catwalk rails to the mechanics that were still loading ammo into the Gundams and the Omnimech. "What changed?"

"A lot did," Athrun replies after a few moments. "Everyone changes. Especially when forced to see what you're doing wrong," Athrun notes ruefully. "Like these two," he jerks his thumb at Miriallia and Tolle. "On any other day, I'd have no reason to shoot them, but because they are crew of the _Archangel_, I ended up shooting at them. For a good chunk of near space and half the distance around Earth. Otherwise, I had nothing against them. So yeah, when you look at it right, there is no real reason for a war except the flag you're following."

"There's always what you believe," Natarle replies in minor addendum to what he says. "Which is slightly redundant, since the average person doesn't fight for a flag unless he or she believes in it."

"Conscription?" Athrun asks.

"Yeah, that does happen, sometimes, but usually some form of belief is drummed into the conscripts. Not so, here," and she indicates Tolle and Miriallia by gesture.

"Enemy forces are on the move again, repeat, enemy forces are on the move again! All hands, battle stations!" Mu shouts across the intercom. "Natarle to the bridge, immediately!" he adds after a moment.

"Right, we'll finish this up after the battle, Athrun. Come back alive," she says as she moves off toward the personnel hatch and stairwell to the conning tower.

"Go, Mir. We'll be all right," Tolle says as he gets ready to dash over to his loaded and readied Buster.

"You'd damn well better come back alive, Tolle, or you'll have problems," Mir orders, then heads for the door leading inside the ship.

-x-x-x-

Natarle had stopped off at the Captain's quarters, due to a radio broadcast looking for her. After a few moments she opened the door by pressing the button, and looked in. She saw enough in about three seconds of observing. With that, she stepped back to allow the door to close and continued to the bridge without her.

"Where's the Captain?"

"Out like a lightbulb," Natarle replies to Mu's request.

"That bad?" Mu asks.

"She had the bridge shift before the aborted Steel Beach Day began, so she's been up as long as Fuu, maybe longer." And right now it was no secret that Fuu was asleep in the Medbay, having borrowed a small parcel of Nicol's bed.

"Which means she's been up for almost a full day straight," Mu notes. "Can you handle the bridge for a battle?"

"I should be able to," Natarle notes. As Mu moved toward the door, Natarle stopped him. "Commander, keep the ground forces in close and don't do anything hazardous. I don't want to explain to Murrue what went wrong," Natarle orders.

"Roger that," Mu says as he heads out the door.

"Station report," Natarle requests as she takes the Captain's chair and adjusts the panels closer for her smaller stature (as compared to Murrue or Mu).

"Weps, we have both Gottfrieds ready at this time, as well as anything that wasn't downed prior."

"Sensors, enemy is now closing at the far end of the gap, estimate range to enemy front is 5500 meters," Sai replies.

"Comms, nothing," Kuzzey says.

"Helm, all systems go," Mina replies.

"Control, all units are ready except the Timber Wolf."

Natarle begins her plan: "Weps, you are go for full arsenal, shoot them off as fast as they load up. Sensors, if they start moving in strange directions, I want to know about it. Control, launch them and have the ground forces take position at 500 meters off us. Helm, put us up fifty meters and keep it mobile; if you see a cloud of missiles coming in, dodge them."

"Conn, Sensors, enemy is headed straight for us at this time," Sai says. "Best range 5000 meters at this time," he notes after sneaking a laser range in on their lead elements.

"Weps, begin with a missile barrage aimed at their rear echelon, see if we can take out some or more of their fire support carriers," Natarle orders. "I wonder what their logistical tail looks like, maybe we can get them to go away if we cut their supply line," she notes.

"Valid solutions, firing now," Chandratta notes as the Timber Wolf thunders down the starboard-side catapult and jumps out of the launch tube.

The missile tubes were the first to fire, headed in on the enemy's rear to attempt to scratch their fire support forces, or at least who were acting as missile batteries. Natarle had to admit that her understanding of the enemy and their tactics was a bit thin, but so far it did not appear that they were doing anything finesse, just using a sledgehammer-style wave assault. Sai watched the missiles on radar as they went out and started landing in a ladder-south strike pattern that prevented one warhead from killing another with its own blast. The whole cascade of thirty-two missiles hit the enemy rear and caused significant havoc both in destruction terms and morale, since the enemy now knew that their target knew how to handle incoming fire.

Despite this, the enemy was smart and disciplined to know how to return the favor. Though not as large a cloud of return fire, the amount of missiles that came in was very significant and not all that haphazardly aimed, either. Newman, as ordered, drove the ship aside to avoid the incoming fire as Mu took the mobile forces forward five hundred meters to dodge the barrage.

"Perfect; come on up a little closer," Chandratta mutters at his screen. "Gotcha," he says as he thumbs the fire command, which fired off both the Gottfrieds and the Valiant. He had an angle whereby the enemy was marching up a small hill that he could stare down the reverse side of the hill at an angle that was perfectly flat, essentially creating an enfilade scenario with grazing fire along a whole line of enemy troops. The 225cm emerald beams each chopped through armors by the dozen; the projectile from the Valiant actually slammed into the ground partway down the hill, though instead of burying it skipped and started tumbling, with an erratic pattern that ended up doing as much as one of the straight-through beams of the Gottfrieds.

"Good tactic, Chandratta. Sai, enemy count in fire range?"

"In range to our weapons, about 440 not including indirect missile ranges, Commander, add another 200 for the Mobile Forces range brackets."

"Where the hell are the rest of them?" She asks, kind of worried that well over 2000 of them had simply disappeared.

"Flanking us," Mu says. "Kira reports that we have two larger formations five kilometers to either side of the center, moving south. He estimates they'll turn in on the _Archangel_ so we have enemies forward, forward left, and dead to right," Mu reports.

"Great. Anvil and two hammers," Natarle mutters, immediately recognizing the tactic. "All right, Mu, we're going to destroy the enemy formation ahead of us, completely wipe it out, and fall back to prevent being trapped between the two larger units. I'm especially concerned about that formation to the right, we've already been chewed on that side," she orders.

"Roger that, Commander," Mu replies immediately. "Mobile unit, we take out the forward enemies and defend the right," Mu orders as another wave of missiles from the _Archangel_ streaks overhead, this one aimed at a dense-pack created when the enemies decided they wanted to get out of an obvious enfilade. Part of the missiles ran afoul of a group of enemy missiles headed toward the ship, though most landed in the desired area and caused massive casualties both to the ride-along infantry and the actual armored troopers.

- - - - -

"What's the plan?" Athrun asks as he jacks the bolt on the combination rifle for the Aegis. With that action, the autocannon was ready and armed for the upcoming action.

"We close in on them while firing. With luck, we'll knock out more than half of them before they start really firing on us," Mu notes. "The ship can't take a whole helluva lot more before we're stuck here, so..."

"...So we force the issue in our favor," Yzak continues where Commander La Flaga hangs. "I can live with that," he notes. "Standoff fire first?"

"Two salvos, then fire while closing," Mu orders. "They should be in range here in a few moments," he notes.

"I have lock now," Yzak says as he reorients the Twin-15 launcher to the enemy in front.

"Begin standoff fire," Mu orders as he depresses the trigger on his missile launchers. The battle computer in his machine did the rest, telling the missiles how to fly in an arcing pattern to traverse the distance between his location and the enemy formation. Yzak did the same, and in five seconds literally 100 LRMs were dispensed with, just short of a ton of ordinance, headed in the enemy's general direction.

"You know, I can't wait for the enemy to get close enough for the _Archangel_'s LRM batteries to open up," Yzak notes. "Not that I am complaining about doing this myself, but this is like trying to kill ants with an icepick."

"Do you ever stop complaining?" Miriallia asks bluntly.

"No, normally not," Athrun answers for him.

"Agh," Yzak groans. "I give up," he declares after a moment. "There just is no winning around here."

"Of course not," Natarle replies to Yzak's admission. "We're the _Archangel_. We never lose, but we never win. We are just fated to be."

Silence on the comms as the ground forces actually overshoot their planned two salvos before closing up with the enemy. It was four salvos before anything else was said. "It must be a really bad day, if the Commander is talking that sourly."

"For the record, yes, it is a very bad day, Athrun," Natarle notes coldly. "Finish up the center formation, get ready to move, we're running out of space between here and the town," Natarle notes as the whole ship echoes to the sound of missiles launching.

"Understood, Commander," Mu replies before he pushes his throttle forward to get moving toward the enemy. They were close enough now that he could hit them with direct fire from his ER Large Lasers, which he was doing in an alternating pattern, saving the Mediums for after he ran out of missiles.

The missile wave from the _Archangel_ passed overhead of the advancing ground forces, again striking in a ladder south pattern so the explosion and debris from one missile did not kill another inbound missile. After that wave impacted and shredded more than a few of their ranks, the enemy began having second thoughts about attacking in this fashion, and that before the ground forces really opened up on them. The explosions were close enough that Yzak could feel the ground jolt with each blast of a missile.

The terrain actually worked to the enemy favor in this case. A small hill prevented most of the formation from taking potshots at the enemy as they closed ranks, though this cut both ways. The only fire coming in from the enemy was missile fire headed toward the ship, and most of that sparse since the enemy had apparently lost their missile carriers or expended their ammo, or both. As Mu advanced over the hill, with Athrun and Hikaru in close support, he walked up basically three hundred meters forward of what was left of the enemy front lines, which was a lot closer than he wanted to be at that time. On the other hand, that also made all of his weapons easily usable in the close quarters, since none of his arsenal had a minimum range and his machine guns were the real short-range anti-infantry knives of his arsenal.

"Nuts! We're this close!" Athrun bemoans as he levels first his rifle, then his shield at the enemy since they were already firing.

Tolle was actually the first to act, as he locked the weapons of the Buster into the shotgun configuration, leveled it at 350 meters, and pulled the trigger. What he accomplished was a mech-sized grazing shot, where the ordinance basically ended up hitting the ground and skipping around, those that did not impact about twenty armors and take them out of action. After that, he popped the caps on his missile silos opened and fired four of the anti-armor missiles into four small clusters of armor, taking out an additional seven. After that, he along with Athrun had to set his Trikeros shield forward, though with it at an angle he had the ability to fire on the enemy right flank.

"_**Flame Arrow**_!" Hikaru shouts as Rayearth prepares its right hand to deploy the spell. The fire surge created by the spell slammed into the ground and skipped, spreading out in an arc that roasted off the personnel in several dozen of the armors and their accompanying infantry. Mu joined in the effort by twisting his torso while ripple-firing his missile launchers (3). The wave of missiles danced across their ranks, some hitting, some missing, causing a wave of havoc in their tight-pack formation.

"This is insane," Athrun half-shouts as he levels his combo rifle and fires a round of autocannon into a cluster of their rank. The single 100mm slug tore through two of the armors and the personnel that were riding them; this was followed by the ruby red beam of the attached Large Pulse Laser, then the vulcans on the Aegis itself. The last of the ten he targeted fell prey to his beam rifle, which was grossly overpowered for this tasking but very accurate for point targets.

A red beam lanced out from the left, where Yzak and Umi were supposed to be. The beam dragged across the torso of the Timber Wolf, immediately causing some damage to the side armor and a heat spike. Mu swiveled the torso of his machine to look at the offending armor, of which a few of the enemies in the area were trying to elevate their armors so they could shoot at the seven-story hulk that was about to hose them. Mu gave them not the time to draw a bead on him, instead turning his machine guns on the enemy and unloading a few dozen rounds from each. He could not help but retch from the sight of all the blood and body parts, but the mission came first, his feelings second.

"_**Sapphire Whirlwind**_!" Mu hears over the radio as the whole enemy left flank takes a helluva thrashing from Selesce's water-wind composite attack (4). What few of the enemy armors that did not take a beating from the spell Yzak dealt with by beam rifle precision shots; most of the infantry was sent sailing for a good two, three kilometers back toward where they came from.

The torso of the Timber Wolf twists back right and Mu opens up with the machine guns again. The small 12.5mm ammo was not enough to punch through the armor, even with AP shells, but it ripped up the pilots and infantry, both of which were severely exposed and easily injured. Between his guns and the Aegis, what was left of their already heavily abused formation was no more, the few survivors headed away from the city at a breakneck pace.

"Ground command reporting all foes eliminated or retreating. And I'm about to puke," Mu declares weakly. He even sounded sick to the rest of the team.

"Don't screw up your controls, Commander," Natarle replies. "Bring the team in, we're headed for final defense position outside of the town."

-x-x-x-

Natarle was not happy with the arrangement, but it had to be done. Chandratta had the conn, since the Captain was still out and Natarle had to see to the ground action herself; anyone who could use a rifle, bondsmen, crew, whatever, that was not involved in fighting the ship was set to it. Anyone else, those injured in the day's incidents that could stand or brace, were placed at strategiuc locations to give movement orders to the civilians coming in.

"Are you sure about this?" the scout that Fuu had brought in asks. "Taking everyone in town to a safe location? You would do this?"

_I couldn't live with myself if I did not do this_, Natarle wanted to reply. "Yes. We tried stopping them, and they are mad as hornets now. If we don't get the civilians clear, it will be a massacre."

"Understood," the civilian scout says. "Our Elder may have an idea where we can go."

"Commander, we are at the destination," Chandratta notes on the radio frequency for the infantry.

"Take us down, soft, deploy one load ramp for the Timber Wolf and the Skygrasper. Gundams, Rune Gods are to put up a suppression fire barrage if any enemies come close. Infantry to the rear deck to conduct plunging fire, break out the heavy weapons. Missiles as fast as you can fire them, Chandratta," Natarle orders.

"Aye, Commander," Chandratta replies.

"Commander, shall the remaining Bondsmen draw arms and join the battle?" Kristen Redmond asks as she approaches the infantry group.

"Yes, do so immediately," Natarle says, then: "Belay that order. How many Elemental-trained personnel do you have available?"

"Two, three at best," Kristen replies, having already considered it. "Most of our Elementals were injured by those wild animals."

"Damn," Natarle replies. Despite their almost comical ineffectiveness against the Gundams, she knew that Elementals were hellishly powerful and very effective to boot. "Deploy with the heavy weapons teams. Murdoch has command of your unit."

"Understood, Commander," Kristen replies as she sets out to wrangle up her remaining available.

"Ready?" Commander Badgiruel asks of the scout.

"Best we get this over with," he says. The Crazy Cook nods in silent respect for the Scout, given that what he was about to lay on the townsfolk was the next best thing to a firestorm.

"Control, Ground. Open central loading bay doors," Natarle orders.

"Hangar, Conn, open central bay doors," Miriallia repeats for Natarle, given that Natarle's radio did not have a setting for the hangar. _I'll have Kira look into that after this mess is over with_, Natarle thinks. After the bay ramp hits the ground, the scout leads off.

A crowd had assembled, at the forefront of it being about two dozen fit guys with pikes. Behind that was someone that was talking to another guy with a pike, though after they were partway down the loading ramp a murmur went up from the crowd and the pikes seemed to stand at ease. By the time they had hit the ground, the pikes were completely at rest and the older guy from the rear and the guy in the back with the pike had pushed forward. Accompanying them was a guy wearing a blue vest and pants with a red headband.

"Rex, you're still alive?" the older guy asks rhetorically. "When we heard the battle to the north, we thought the worst," he continues.

"The worst almost happened. One of their Rune Gods saved me from a detachment of Imperials," and he indicated the Commander.

"And you are?" the guy with the spear asks. Natarle could only figure him for some variant of a guard commander or lieutenant.

"A long, strange story," Natarle notes in response. "We're not with the Empire, if that is what you are worried about," she tacks on for clarification.

"No, definitely not, but you do as good a butcher job as the Empire," the guy in blue notes. "So, if you're not from around here, why are you fighting the Empire?" he asks after a moment.

"It is that obvious?" Natarle asks, though it was not a major shock to Natarle. "We may be wanderers of a different sort, but you can rest assured we don't sit by and watch a town get assaulted and raped. Which is what the Empire intends here."

"Oh," the apparent elder of the town notes, then deflates. "We need to evacuate, then, but how? they'll track us down for sure, and if they are as mad as you say they'll be, Locke, it'll be bloody," he notes with a worried tone.

"How many in your town?" the Crazy Cook asks. Before an answer could be delivered:

"Ground, Control, enemy activity sighted on ground-area sensors, best range twelve kilometers. Enemy advance rate puts them on top of us in thirty-seven minutes, standoff fire range in twenty-two minutes," Miriallia reports.

"Control, ground, aye," Natarle replies into her radio. "Control, Conn is released to begin rear-tube missile barrage, standoff range. Have Aegis get close to scout and tag."

"That quick? Leo must really want to catch you off guard," Locke says, thinking it over. "Normally, he is slower than this," he adds after a moment, remembering Tzen's invasion clearly. Leo was effective mostly for being methodical and thorough, as well as honorable and just. A far cry from the indecisive General Celes or the insane General Kefka, he knew.

"Leo? Enemy force commander?" Natarle asks. "Never mind, we can discuss that later. Elder, we can get your people out on our ship, it'll be close, but if your people only bring themselves and some bare necessities, clothing and food, we can get the whole town cleared and out of here before they get to us," Natarle notes.

There was a silence for a few moments, as they thought it over. "We cannot run from where we have lived all of our lives."

Natarle was almost expecting that, given the demeanor of Rex and his tendencies. You could learn a lot of someone by observing for a few minutes, which is one thing she did while waiting for the landing.

"I expected as much," Natarle replies. "You do realize that when they hit the town, it will be very violent."

"This I know. We're prepared to send some of our women and children with you, we had them ready to evacuate when the fighting started. Locke can guide your ship to a suitable place well away from here," the Elder notes. "The rest of us, we will wait."

It hurt Natarle's heart to know that the guy in front of her knew that he would likely not survive the day, but he was unwilling to give up his homeland. In his position, however, she would likely have done the same thing, not walked away from what she believed was her place. Except, any more she did not believe she had a place, really, except in command of the CIC.

"Very well, load them up, the mechanics will get them to safe locations on the ship."

"Rex, they're down at the stables. Get them up here, fast," the Elder notes. "Locke, take this to Banon," he hands over a rod of some kind and a letter. "He'll know what this is for."

Locke frowns, though he nods after a moment. "Understood." Natarle could only guess he did not like the implication that was given: the Elder was not expecting to survive.

Twenty birds of a far larger size than the one that was still running amok somewhere on the ship arrived at the loading doors for the ship, each with a lady under thirty (in Natarle's estimate) and at least one child per. It was a paltry sample of a town that had thousands in it, but Natarle could only guess that most did not want to leave, despite the incoming Imperial forces. The riders dismounted, gathered their saddlebags and small amount of possessions, and were brought onto the ship by the special forces and Bondsmen.

Any one of them could tell the refugees were afraid. Severely afraid. Many of the children were sobbing, knowing that they were leaving everything they knew, everything they liked. A few of the guys visible in the area were restraining themselves, whether to join the ship or to simply go along with the ladies that were coming on board Natarle could not tell.

Everyone jolted when the first group of missiles fired off, headed northward toward the enemy formations that Sai suspected had merged in again and were moving as one instrument of crushing victory. Wisely, to avoid the appearance of attacking the town, Chandratta was not using the forward-facing missile tubes, since the flight pattern of those missiles would cause them to be turning over the town. The Helldarts were too range-limited inside the atmosphere to be of use just yet, though. In less than a minute, though, the roar of the missiles gave way to silence, and from there the sounds of explosions in the distance.

"I am sorry we could not stop them outright," Natarle tells the Elder and the guard Lieutenant.

"You tried. That is better than most people are ever willing to do," Locke replies.

"It was an honor to meet someone who tried saving us, even without ever knowing us. You and your crew may be more human than most. Now go, before you are caught in the crossfire, Commander."

"Thank you," Natarle says as she gives them a salute. The Elder simply raised his staff in salute, while the Guard raised their pikes in salute as well. With that, Natarle and the Crazy Cook headed back up the ramp, with Locke in tow.

"God," the Cook says as the loading ramp begins closing. "Sucks we can't stop them," he declares with a frustrated tone.

"What is the Clan term for fighting understrength?" Natarle asks.

"Fighting below Cutdown, or Powless, depending on in what way you're fighting understrength," the cook replies. "Either way, yeah, one Archangel-class just can't do it."

"Next time, however, I want to be able to do it," Natarle orders coldly. "The Stone Rhino. How much overhaul is it going to need?" Natarle asks Murdoch as she closes up on his knot of techs.

"We can get it functional underway in forty-eight, ma'am," Murdoch replies hesitantly. Compared to the omnimechs, the Stone Rhino was a hulk, short on maneuverability and flexibility but very apt at taking abuse and dishing it out.

"See to it," Natarle orders. "I want the Warhawk and Stone Rhino ready to go before next we see battle, so that any Imperial entanglements go to our favor, not theirs. And make plans to break out that Mad Dog and the Stormcrow after those two are functional." She sighs before she turns to look at Locke, who was looking around the inside of the hangar bay with something between fear and dread. Before she said anything to him:

"You...those aren't Magitek, right?"

"Magitek? What does that mean?" the Cook asks before Natarle could even begin to think such a question out.

"You don't know? Those Imperials you were shooting, their armor is Magitek." Locke replies, rather stunned.

"It's a pain in the ass is what it is," Murdoch comments as he walks past, headed for a crate that was in open hangar storage area.

"No, we don't know what those armors are, though they do have one serious bite for something that small," Natarle notes as she grabs for her radio. "Conn, Natarle. Recall all of our units. Once the Gundams and Rune Gods are secured, Helm set course due west at ten percent burn until we are off the continent."

"Conn, aye," Chandratta replies immediately.

"God protect those left behind; we've done what we can," the Cook adds after her radio was silent for a moment.

-x-x-x-

Later that day, Leo took his best, most disciplined platoons into the town, leaving the remainder of his army back and outside of the town so as to avoid the massacre that Natarle feared. There was no shooting, precious little bloodshed as the Magitek armors thundered through the streets of the town, asserting their command authority over the otherwise defenseless town. There were no reprisals against civilians, there was no rape as had been feared by the crew of the _Archangel_. There were only questions as to the nature of the ship that had attacked them, a ship that did not match the silhouette and capabilities of the only two known airships in the world.

When Murrue woke up, it was to a dark room that had only the light of a monitor glowing, and the sound of a voice-note recording warning. She had been left a voice-note by someone; after playing the message, she immediately dressed and headed down to the stateroom. Her code was easily enough to get in, to a room that was empty except for one person.

"How do you deal with it when you've done everything you can short of a one-way suicidal blitz, and still did not win?" Natarle asks. She was sitting at the desk, likely typing up a battle log or some other form of report.

Murrue sat down in the chair that Natarle usually used when in the stateroom. "I take it we weren't able to stop them all, or evac the town," Murrue requests for clarification.

"We gave them a bloody nose, both in the air and on the ground, but in the end there was just too many of them to stop them all. We did evac about fifty civilians, but the rest of the town opted to remain there, they would not evacuate."

Silence, for over a minute. To point, the closest thing Murrue had suffered to a failure was the loss of Dearka Elsman, a pilot that died in an otherwise very intelligent ambush delivered by the other side. In cold, hard military analysis that was a partial failure in that battle, she lost a pilot and had the Buster downed for a week, but she also sent more than a good ration of those enemies to hell in response. And the assault at the starport the next day was more than ample to recompense the Inner Sphere for the loss of one of its mercenaries. "I guess...you don't really deal with those so much as you just regret you didn't do what you set out to."

"Damage to the ship is minor to moderate on the surface, the starboard Valiant is still down, but the rest of our arsenal was easily repaired. No engine or Levitator damage at this time," Natarle notes, still typing, forcing her mind away from the thought that she wasn't able to do what she wanted to. She did not offhand realize that six months ago, she would not have even given that town the time of day in deference to the ship, much less tried defending it.

"How long...was I asleep?" Murrue asks.

"Approaching twelve hours," Natarle notes as she finishes up her AAR (5) and closes it out after appending her digital signature.

"I did...want to be there, Natarle," the Captain notes without much in the way of anything except a hint of sadness.

"I figured you would say that, but by the time I realized you were missing I found you asleep and snoring slightly. I decided to leave you in bed, you were already looking and sounding like hell before we got that reprieve. You look and sound a lot better now than before."

"You don't exactly sound all that good right now, either," Murrue notes.

"I don't doubt it. I just hope this report is legible tomorrow morning," Natarle notes as she taps the computer screen that was now sitting at an idle desktop.

"All right, before I relieve you, anything I should know?"

"First off, our new local contact is Locke. He's one of the resistance against the Empire, team's name is the Returners. He's slick, but on the level. We are presently out over the open sea, north of the Empire's continent, course 0-2-0 speed five percent, headed for Figaro Castle. The King of Figaro is a member of the resistance but apparently shows a facade of supporting the Empire."

"Think we'll be able to at least stop and breathe there?" Murrue asks. Such periods were beginning to be more rare by far.

"Better: Locke says we'll be able to drop off the refugees there without any issues, the King will know how to disperse them, and while he can't hide the ship he's not going to question its presence. After that, I don't really know what to do, after blowing thirty to forty percent of an enemy formation to hell I doubt we'll get anything but hostility from the Empire and their supporters."

"Could be worse, though. At least they really don't know our full capabilities yet. The Warhawk?" Murrue asks.

"Warhawk is ready, the Stone Rhino will be ready here in about three days, Murdoch's estimate. Timber Wolf is up, Aegis, Buster, and Duel are active, and the Skygrasper is down for routine maintenance, minimum six hours. Also of note, the Stormcrow and Mad Dog in storage, I'm having them assembled in anticipation of an extended engagement to come."

"Who will pilot them?"

"Actually, that is something I've been meaning to discuss with you lately..."

* * *

Author's Chapter Afterword:

Yes, ladies and gentlemen, I am still alive. If you count having no free time and less of a life as being alive, that is.

Okay, okay, I have a little confession to make: I am not much into the latest and greatest of games. Final Fantasy VI hit the American shores in mid-96, which makes it over 12 years old now. I think the newest of games I have is FF 12, and I actually have very little motivation to work on that right now. I prefer the older games, it seems to me that the newer ones lack certain elements of depth of storyline to me. I don't really know what it is all about, but saving the world in games as old as FF 6, Earthbound, Tales of Phantasia, and Dark Cloud seems to strike me as more entertaining than some of the newer ones. Call it what you will, nostalgia, being old (I hardly count 24 as being old, IMHO), what have you, but even I have limits. Somewhere.

And then there is the little problem of having a full-time job and being a homeowner that seems to be sucking up my schedule in massive chunks. I actually put estimates out on a Gantt Chart of how long it is going to take me to do all my stories, and working on five distinct fains of writing at once is going to take a while. Quite a while, even working on the stories parallel. Those are:

-Jokers Wild series (I have big battles planned out for that still, hehe)

-Archangel's Amazing Adventures

-a side story of the Jokers Wild not pertaining to anything published yet (will be released during the phase of the Jokers Wild that it is based to)

-the original Multimage Chronicles that the Jokers Wild are derived from, which makes the Jokers Wild seem rather wimpy in places, trust me

-and the UN Squadron story, which I really do want to do that old and kickarse game some credit.

So, yeah, I have a lot of plans and devoting the time needed to execute them all is going to be a bit thin over the summer break. But, as I have sworn before, I start a story, I will not stop it. Actually, once I finish the JW side story and UN Squadron, that is it for those two, which reduces the playing field significantly. Just a matter of getting them done to focus on the rest.

And now, for some comments on the story:

A rather unusual twist to the battle: numbers can kill you. Each armor may be individually insignificant when stacked against a Gundam or Rune God, but enough of them in one small area is a severe threat to even the warship, all the more so when competently led. Natarle realized this, and decided to walk away before the ship really got banged up. Actually, the small center force that the team busted up was intended to have lasted longer than they did, at least in Leo's mind, as a distraction that would give his flanking forces time to come in on the sides and really hammer the Archangel. He missed that call, on not knowing the capabilities of the Archangel and the Mobile Forces he underestimated their striking capability as well as their maneuverability, which gave Natarle enough time to retreat and try to fast-evac the town.

One has to wonder what forms of ripples the Archangel will cause in the natural timeline in this dimension: First, who shall survive, with the hazard of being overwhelmed by many foes that are only going to get worse as the story progresses, and how will the Archangel and her forces alter the course of the resistance and the inevitable clashes with the Empire? How will Gestahl's policies change as he comes to grips with the warship that his Magitek forces cannot easily sink? How will the Archangel come to grips with hordes of small and deadly foes? These I leave up to your imagination, for now.

* * *

Review Replies

First and foremost, I do believe I owe an apology to The Green Knight. The day that I replied to the review for last chapter, I was in a very foul mood due to events IRL at that time and I think I went a ration sharper than intended. Still and all, you can rest assured that if Spongebob shows up in one of my stories, he/she/it/whatever will not survive that chapter. Period. I have very little tolerance for cartoons that generally dumb, and my writing will reflect that, should I be forced into a position where I need to frag Spongebob. (6)

On the more broad overview of the reply, yes, this does seem like a strange route to take, but keep in mind that threat is not something simply defined in terms of mobile army or even in science fiction. Over the years, I have built a cohesive theory of combat that allows for a wide variety and derivation of talents and crossovers. With enough analysis, you can make reasonable calculations or assumptions as to what any given weapon system or attack form will do to any other object. Is what this story is running on, analysis of what is worth what and how effective it is when wagered against the Archangel, the Gundams, and the Rune Gods. This is simply my analysis; if you have a differing opinion, I want to hear it, and that goes for anyone out there.

And now for the replies:

**Knives91**: If I had to get 'physically insistent' with someone and did not have my trusty .357 Magnum large-frame revolver at hand, I would have to go with the ten-pound sledge. Light enough it isn't going to wear you out, heavy enough that even a glancing hit is going to get the maggot's attention. Not that whatever at hand can't be used for the purpose, it is all a matter of frame of mind on accomplishing such.

**FraserMage**: Thanks for the wake-up call, comrade. I guess I was forgetting my sworn oath to complete my works in a timely fashion there. Anyways, yes, the Executors are part of the JW backstory and MMC main characters, but keep in mind that Executors are trans-dimensional operators and you have to wonder whether or not their random bouncing for now has caused them to cross paths with the purview of the Star Empires or other trans-dimensional beings or organizations. Yes, Locke just showed up now, the rest of the MCs from FFVI will not be far behind. Starting next chapter, actually.

**CHM01**: the enemy name is ChickenLip, the ones you encounter only in the area of Maranda and Tzen, have the nasty Quake spell that kills them just as readily as your team but almost never use. Yes, it is hard to picture speed demons as the Gundam pilots in something as drag-arse as a Warhawk, much less the slower Stone Rhino, but keep in mind when your original unit is SOL you use what you have that can do the job. Military necessity and all that.

**Akalon**: Thx for the accolade, comrade. Yes, I will be updating the Jokers Wild series soon, hopefully soon after this is posted with the next Chapter of Dilemma of Flay Allster, and the next chap of Inferno in Chicago is still being planned out, but it will revolve around some not-so-typical soldiers on the Mendel side :P Stay tuned, the fun is not over yet.

**Gonging Apples**: I find that I may have overestimated the popularity of FF VI, but I did not want to do 7 or 8 since everyone and their grandma has done stories about the latter two. And going where everyone else has gone just is not my style. You'll see evidence of that in coming sections, rest assured.

**Etienne of the West Wind**: Oops, errata, I missed that in the final review of the last chapter. No, she will not be out until probably the middle of this section, maybe a little longer. Yes, the Archangel will be here that long. This is only chapter three, and I intend more than a dozen for this section. Those ChickenLip always gave me hell when I was going through the game, though they are not the worst enemies on the southern continent, not by far. As to the wiretap incident, rest assured such perversion is far from completed. And be wary of what questions you ask, they may come true.

**The Green Knight 63**: You can rest assured that while the Archangel will go places no sane Gundam FanFic author would otherwise dream of taking it, it will not become a 'mary sue super-warship'. In fact, as the story progresses, you will find that the hazard of the ship being shot down will increase almost to the point of a confirmed kill scenario. Just, cut me some slack here and you may find that all is not as easy as it seems.

**Alkard**: Excellent to see that I am not (completely) crazy after all and someone else in here has played this excellent game. Yes, the crew got hella lucky that those ChickenLip did not fire off a Quake spell, or the ship could have been broken in half, literally :P Also, just hang on about the vignettes, as there will be more of them as the story progresses. And there will be one-shot chapters that really will get some of the brain cells frying come soon enough. In fact, the first and probably most influential of them will be immediately following this arc of the story.

**Tremerid**: I think you may be off on some of the allocations there. If you are using The Drawing Board, you can find skids of TRO 'mechs here and there all over the internet for it, the place I always advise checking is Pryde Rock Industries. That site has hundreds of downloads. Just enter the name as I spelled it here, no spaces, add www in front of a . and . Com afterwards. You can use that to track the changes of the Omnis as I start playing around with custom configs. You know Murdoch is going to be playing with mods, hehe. And yes, you are right, it has a heat problem, even in the config that Murdoch has set up.

**Burnout 360**: Sorry, Burnout, the usual mantra: I cannot give away what Gundams will show up where, that is just too much to give away, sorry. Rest assured that Gundams will show up, though, at various times in the story, whether enemy or ally or neutral only time will tell. Thanks for the review, regardless, and the suggestions are already in the possibles list.

**Barricade**: LOL killer ideas, and thanks for the first review, comrade. The nature of summons in the works I write are presently being filled out in another work I am writing as a side story to another I have already posted here. Summons are very powerful beings, however you look at it, though I think the FF10 summon system would be closest to how I write them...and still a bit short on the dynamic elements. Tonberry, well, hang around for some killer surprises on that front (wink). Expect some serious arse whooping in coming chapters.

**Abbey Saunders**: Thank you for the first review, Abbey, always an honor and especially from a lady (few, as far as I can tell, actually read my works). Okay, looks like this is a recurring argument, but I can only say that there is more to mechanized warfare than giant robots, and in some works that I have read giant robots are far from the worst enemies one can face. A Hymn Before Battle (author John Ringo, Publisher Baen) is a classic example why taller and beefier is not always better, not by a long shot. Assured, though, there will be more giant robots in the story, but part of the reason why I am writing this is to introduce flexibility: not all battles should revolve around giant robots, sometimes simpler and smaller is far better for a given purpose. Stay tuned, I'll prove this point here in the next few chapters, comrade.

Thank you, one and all, for the continuing inspiration, cadging, and even fumigating. Keep the color commentary coming, people, your dreams are but a bucket of fuel for the ongoing nightmares of the Archangel. Despite the sharp review to Bien (the Green Knight) I do respect all opinions, though when you have major appliance blow up on you, everything else in life gets a sharp reply for several days.

* * *

The Gripe Sheet

One error from the last chapter: Flay is not due to get out of the brig soon. It'll be several months still, sorry I missed that in the final read.

* * *

Footnotes:

(1): ILS: Instrument Landing System, a navigational landing aid for pilots.

(2): From the Dressed to Kill stand up comedy skit by Eddie Izzard. He rules!

(3): This actually dates back to the Mechwarrior 2 PC games, where missile launchers fired each missile in rapid succession instead of the whole pack at once. In this fashion, it was possible for me to use a LRM-20 to hamburger about a half-dozen enemies in a pair of salvos by spreading the missiles around. Aerodynamically this is more appropriate for a missile weapon, given that firing them all at once causes missile collisions, which puts less missiles on target.

(4): Derivation from the name as well as the old MKR imagery of the attack. It looks like something resembling a tornado with water in it, so...

(5): After Action Report, a general synopsis of the battle or campaign just executed.

(6): Note that this paragraph is the only time I intend on having such a complete dumbarse character or cartoon in any of my works. Period.


	20. Of Kings And Things

(Section 3, Chapter 4: Of Kings and Things)

"I think this is more restful than that 'steel beach' day we had yesterday," Umi says as she finishes settling her body onto the underwater ledge in the hot springs.

"It is something we have not had frequent motivation to use lately," Fuu replies.

"We have had a lot to do lately," Commander Badgiruel notes. "It's over for now, though. The Imperials are far behind us, and so far word is they are not trying to take over the North Continent yet. We get a small reprieve, for now."

"Where is it we are heading next?" Fuu asks in kind.

"Figaro Castle."

"That name seems so familiar, yet I cannot place it," Fuu notes after thinking about it in silence for a minute.

"Forget thinking," Umi says. "I'm just going to relax for an hour or two."

"Yeah, agreed," Fuu says as she leans back against the stone walls of the spring. That had been an ingenious touch, the stones actually were layered in such a fashion that people who wanted a smooth seat had smooth, flat rocks, and those who wanted something to rub their backs on had rougher rocks for that purpose. Fuu preferred the smooth rocks, she had bought a back massager on Twycross for that purpose.

Ten minutes elapsed before anything more was said. "I've actually never been to a castle before," Umi says. "Is there going to be anything interesting to do in it?"

"Maybe, depends on what kind of castle it is," Natarle replies. "If it is a military fortress, probably not. If it is a civilian establishment inside a castle, there may be some things to do."

"What's the difference, ma'am?" Umi asks, a bit confused. As far as she could tell, a castle is a castle is a castle.

_Hearing that from her is kinda strange_, Natarle thinks sardonically, referring to Umi calling her 'ma'am' basically. "Physically, the difference is small. Mostly, it's how many civilians in the castle when compared to the soldiers, and what those civilians are there for. If the amount of civvies is low, and they just support the troops, then it's probably a military fort. If the civilians actually have a town inside the castle bounds, and they are not just there to support the castle, then it is more of a town inside a castle."

"Oh."

"It's really old planning and strategy, walls and similar fortifications are not a defense any more," Natarle says. "Just another outdated technology that we have to deal with as it comes along; hell, the Empire has weapons and units capable of bypassing or attacking the inside of a castle, the same way they tried sinking us. It's a moot point," Natarle adds after a moment of silence. _All the same, now I'm glad I actually paid attention in ancient history of war classes at California Base. This is actually coming out to be useful now_, she thinks after she had finished speaking. She paid attention to all of her classes in the academy and

"Amazing, it is always fun to see how progress changes the use of ways of the past."

**CRACK**. In an instant, the lighting in the hot springs died, only to be replaced with the required emergency lights for such an occasion.

"You were saying something about progress?" Natarle asks acerbically, though her disdain was not directed at Fuu.

"You all right in there?" Hikaru shouts as if standing at the door to the robing room.

"We're all right, what happened?" Umi shouts in retort.

"I don't know, maintenance is supposed to be here in a minute," Hikaru replies back.

The sound of movement outside the rooms was clearly audible, the movements of technicians who moved with purpose and equipment. This continued as Umi, Fuu, and Natarle sat in the springs and waited, themselves not really intent to move lest they exit the springs to a crowd in the robing room. Thankfully, the springs had been designed to retain heat, so they were not at major risk of freezing. And none of them really had any inclination to move anyways, they were enjoying the time in the springs, even if in pitch-darkness.

"Something blew the breaker for the lights in this area, Commander," Hikaru reports after five minutes of activity. "They're trying to find the cause now."

After about five breaths, the emergency lights die out, leaving them in pitch darkness. "Forget it, I am just going to take a nap," Natarle says after a few moments in the darkness. "Someone wake me up if they get the lights back on."

"Everything goes wrong all at once, or so say the Techs," Umi says at her most cynical.

"Sounds about par for the course," Natarle says.

There was relative silence for several minutes in the springs.

"Commander, we found that bird that got loosed in the ship," one of the ship techs reports.

"Okay, how does that apply to this problem?"

"The bird cooked itself after it got into an electrical relay. We're replacing connections right now, Commander, should be a couple minutes."

"And things are still going wrong," Umi notes.

"Poor bird," Fuu says after a few moments of silence.

"Better that it was fast, like that was," Natarle notes. "Still and all, that's got to be a clever bird if it broke into an electrical junction box and tried having at the wires." _Probably just looking for something to eat or a way out of the ship_, Natarle adds in the confines of her mind.

**CRACK**.

"Aww, shit!" one of the techs shouts loud enough to be heard inside the springs.

"I get the feeling we're going to be in here for a while," Umi notes sourly.

"Athrun Zala, please report to corridor D-23-A at first available," the PA was heard to squawk. The Springs and shower rooms had their own Intercom speakers and squawk boxes, but those devices were on a different feed circuit from the lights so they still had power.

"I wonder why they are calling Athrun down here," Fuu says.

"Probably because he is a very good technician, when you get down to it," Umi says.

The minutes pass, and Umi thought she heard Athrun walk by after a few. Some talking is heard, then another **CRACK** as some of the lights flicker. There was a gasp of hope to accompany, then a sigh of resignation from Umi as she realized she did not win that one.

"Will someone from maintenance please report to the hot springs with a two meter ladder, an electrical kit, a type 8-echo power distribution block, and a pissed-off badger. Thank you," Athrun concludes his intercom message.

"What does a pissed-off badger have to do with anything?" Umi asks, slightly disgusted of tone.

"I do not know," Fuu replies.

"No clue," Natarle replies a moment thereafter. "Probably some kind of mechanic's joke," she appends, not quite realizing the totality of her correctness.

Again the springs were silent for a minute, until they heard the sound of an approaching mechanic with the unmistakable rattle of a ladder and toolbox. There was some low speaking to accompany, some sniggering, and a lot of rattling of equipment.

"I don't think I like where this is going," Umi notes.

"What do you mean?" Fuu asks fairly.

"I think they may have to come in here," Natarle says darkly.

"Should we get out?"

"No way to see what we're doing in the showers, and personally I figure if we stay low enough, the tech won't see anything," Natarle notes. She definitely did not want to have a Tech in the room, especially since there were no official female techs, but she also knew that trying to get out of the springs right now was a severe safety hazard when you literally could not see your hand in front of your face.

To confirm her theory: "Commander Badgiruel, Athrun Zala. I have to replace the distribution block above the springs light fixture to restore lighting. Permission to enter?"

"Athrun's supposed to be married, isn't he?" Umi asks.

"He is engaged for it," Natarle notes. "Permission granted on the provision that you don't look too far low in the springs," she replies loud enough to be heard out in the robing room.

"Understood, Commander," Athrun says as he begins the winding trek to the springs. After three loud bangs with the ladder hitting the walls, they saw Athrun push the bead curtain aside and step in with a toolbox, a ladder, a helmet that had a pair of flashlights duct-taped to the sides (which looked really goofy to Umi) and some equipment in a sealed package. He entered and immediately broke open the ladder to spread it across part of the hot springs, which allowed him to climb up and access the light fixture directly above the center 'island' of the springs. "This sucks," Athrun comments as he opens the panel for the light fixture.

"What happened?" Natarle asks.

"Oh, when that bird got into the junction box, it cooked off this distribution block. And the one in the shower room, and the shower room in the men's side. Not to mention killed itself."

"Ouch," Natarle replies. She had taken a few amps in her life, though never enough to cause serious injury.

"And he really cooked this one as well," Athrun says as he pulls the block clear of the recess in the roof. With a screwdriver, he unsecured a series of six wires and pulled the block itself clear of the cables. The dead block went into his pants pocket, and he opened the seal on a new one with the blade of the screwdriver. In a matter of moments, he had the block in place and the wires attached to it.

"Is that it?" Fuu asks.

"Sort of," Athrun replies as he sets the screwdriver down on the top ledge of the ladder. "Maint from Athrun, come back," he says into the shoulder microphone of a radio he had on his waist.

"Go for Maint," someone replies.

"I have the new distribution block in place, you can turn the power back on for the female springs, over," Athrun announces.

"Roger, wait one," which turned out to be ten seconds. The lights came on and stayed on this time around, which brought upon them a quandary: it was now obvious that if he tried, he could see them...completely. "Status?"

"Green, we are working here, I am moving on to the showers room at this time," Athrun replies.

"Roger that, Maint is over and out."

Athrun reached for his screwdriver to pack it into the toolkit, though as he moved his arm to pick it up he scraped it off the top ledge. His incredible reaction speed would be his undoing; as he tried to catch it, he overbalanced to the right, toward Fuu and Umi, and the bar of the metal ladder he was on had gained condensation from being in a steamy room. His footing slipped and he tumbled down, right, toward the two Magic Knights.

The last thing he remembered of the incident was holding his left arm out while throwing aside the screwdriver to avoid stabbing Umi with it.

-x-x-x-

"Ahead ten percent, course 3-1-0," Murrue orders.

"Engines ahead ten percent, come left to course 3-1-0, Aye captain," Mina replies. She was the only pilot on duty right now, Newman was off duty and presumably asleep. She shifts the rudder pedals to put the ship on the requested course for a few moments. "Steady on course 3-1-0 at this time, Captain," she reports as she ship settles on requested course.

"Sensors, any sign of the castle?"

"Negative, Captain, no structures on sensors at this time," Sai replies.

"The desert: an otherwise inhospitable chunk of a planet where even the Earth Alliance's most advanced warship can feel out of place," Chadratta notes as he looks over his control panels. He saw no targets on his scopes, so there was nothing for him to do at this time.

"Thank you, Mister Chandratta," Natarle notes slightly icily.

"Figaro Castle does fairly well out here, and in the other deserts on this continent," Locke notes.

"I guess you can adapt to anything...if you're willing," Murrue concedes. "Chime out if you pick anything up, Sai," she orders.

"Yes, ma'am," Sai replies.

The bridge was eerily quiet for over ten minutes, until Natarle sneezed. "Bless you," Miriallia replies immediately.

"Thanks," Natarle replies.

"Conn, sensors, I have a...something...on the scope at two o-clock low, may be a structure," Sai says.

"Roger that. Helm, maintain course, Sensors, track steady."

"Track steady, aye," Sai replies immediately as he dials in the commands necessary to track the object steadily, which would also give him a decent range estimate after a few moments. "All right, I show range to target is 8-5 kilometers, heading now 3-3-5."

"I see it," Murrue replies from the window area. "Large castle, looks like."

"Roger that," Natarle says in reply, as she was observing the castle from one of the monitors.

"Let's avoid getting too close to them; don't want to spook them. Helm, continue on course for another twenty kilometers, then set the ship down."

"Aye, Captain," Mina replies. She used a laser pen on one of the screens to draw in the waypoint on her course map, which would give her more precise landing instructions and info at the time she arrives at it. Given that this was not a flat desert, there was a distinct possible that she would have to go hunting for a landing ground due to hills. (Unlike the small motor vehicles, parking the _Archangel_ uphill was not a real wise idea.)

Murrue moves back to her seat and picks up the growler phone, then sets it down. She had to stop and think about something for a few moments, then picked it back up. "Yzak Joule, please report to the bridge in five minutes."

In five minutes the ship was beginning to settle into position for parking. When Yzak stepped into the bridge of the _Archangel_, and that was still the creepiest feeling he got on the ship, it was to the sound of the ship settling onto the dunes below and scaring the piss out of the various Aereinids and Trilobiters that called the sands their home. Yzak could see a pair of the scorpion-appearing Aereinid quickly scuttling away from the ship over the edge of a dune that was as high as the ship's bridge, forward and right of the ship's legs. They had to be at least a meter tall including bent tail, he judged, for him to be able to see details on their body at about a kilometer.

"Yzak Joule reporting, ma'am," He says as he comes to attention and salutes in the ZAFT fashion.

Murrue returns the salute in Earth Alliance fashion, which also creeped Yzak out. "We've reached the destination." Yzak had been briefed earlier in the day about the necessity for at least one guard to go along, but Athrun had volunteered when she had requested one. And Athrun was laid up in the medbay right now, having broke a rib and an arm in the girl's hot springs, as well as the obligatory concussion and several bruises. This, of course, engendered the comment that Athrun should not have been doing anything _that_ strenuous in the springs, they made softer objects for that kind of conduct, despite the real reason for him being in there.

"And since Athrun is banged up, _again_, I'm it," Yzak completes the thought.

"Correct," Murrue replies. "You do have the right to un-volunteer yourself, but—"

"Nope, someone has to do this," Yzak replies stiffly. Part of him knew he should not actively care if she didn't come back alive, but he also knew that if she did not come back alive, it would seriously impede or cripple his ability to get home. "How soon before we leave?"

"Ten minutes. Please draw a weapon set, no armor, no LAWS, and two extra pistols. The quartermaster will be ready for you by the time you get down to the weps locker."

"Understood, Captain, anything else?"

"No, just head down to the hangar when you are ready," Murrue says.

"Will do," he replies stoically.

"Thank you," it was as clear a dismissal as he was going to get, so he headed out.

"Oh, no, you did not shoot that green shit at us," Chandratta says to his monitor. "Captain, I got one of those scorpion-looking things shooting spines at the ship, looks like it may even be scratching the paint."

"Deal with it," Murrue orders. "Commander La Flaga report to the bridge please," she says into the phone.

The sound of one of the forward-mount ERPPCs being shot at it did not sound like a normal PPC shot, all they heard was the whip-crack sound of it striking the sand after blitzing through the Aereneid in question. "That'll teach ya," Chandratta mutters at the screen, making Natarle wonder what his level of sanity was. On the screen view in question, a second Aereneid that had joined the first was now seen to be scuttling away at a decent pace, apparently not wanting to hang around at risk of its own life.

"Did we just shoot at something?" Mu asks as he steps onto the bridge.

"We did, and we even hit something," Natarle replies.

"All right, Mu, Natarle, you two know the drill," they had also been briefed on the plan of action prior to Athrun's accident. Natarle had filed all the usual paperwork, and lamented that they needed at least one female tech for instances just like what put Athrun in the hospital. "Yzak will have a pistol for each of you. I don't think there will be any trouble, but just in case..."

"Right," Natarle replies as she sets her headset down. "After you, Commander,"

"Who's doing the driver-and-guard routine?" Mu asks as they step out of the bridge.

"Yzak," Natarle replies flatly. Yzak and she did not always see eye to eye still, but at least he did not append some form of derisive comment to anything he addressed of her. It was an improvement, she figured, though she thought it would be years before she got anything resembling normal conduct out of him. _Years...are we really going to be here that long? Away from home that long_?

It was a question she avoided for the most part, but sometimes, laying in bed after her shift was over, she could not help but wonder how much longer they were going to bounce around parallel dimensions before they got home. If they ever got home. Not that she would ever stop trying to return home, but the thought of trading a chunk of her life for it was not endearing. The whole affair was not without precedent, of course: the Odyssey, the main group of that story spent ten years lost to the world, only to return and find that their nation was under siege with people that thought Odysseus was dead and his wife was fair game. Of course, the story of Odysseus did have a happy, if bloody ending (he killed all the people hitting on his wife) and he reclaimed his throne, but so far the story of the Wandering _Archangel_ was only getting stranger and more perilous by the jump. She really dreaded what she would be up to in a few months.

As Natarle entered the hangar area, she noted that Kira was mounting Athrun's Gundam in full battle gear; apparently he expected he might have to attempt to rescue someone if everything went south. That much she knew was a bit of a leap of faith for the ZAFT soldiers, but in Athrun's case she had little doubt that Athrun trusted Kira implicitly. Leftovers from the circumstances of home, she figured. Yzak was already waiting by the main entry doors with one of the jeeps and a tactical harness on for his various magazines and a couple grenades. Natarle expected nothing less in these circumstances, and even relished the thought of having an extra pistol at hand for these purposes. Royalty could be rather unpredictable, the history books showed, which made her rather jittery and somewhat reluctant to do this at all. Not to mention the unit's experience with Princess Emeraude. The only prop she had was that Locke considered the King on the level or better, which thus far he was on the level as far as Natarle was concerned, so there might be a modicum of truth there. She had her orders, though she did not like them.

"Ready to go?" Natarle asks as she approaches.

"Yeah, you might want these," Yzak says as he passes each a pistol in holster. The holsters themselves had an extra magazine in a pouch on them, which gave them a 15+1 pistol that also had another fifteen, and all three of the involved persons had their own magic melee weapon to sort out anyone real close to them. It was little in the way of reassurance, but better than nothing, which in turn beat the hell out of a stick to the eye.

"Thanks," Natarle replies as she pulls enough of her belt to secure the holster. With that slipped on, she refastened her belt and finished adjusting the holster to her preferred draw angle before she clamped it down. Mu had done the same, though he was less finicky about the placement of his holster than others were, particularly Natarle.

"Control, Mission, requesting vector to the castle, over," Yzak asks into a radio as the four of them climb into the jeep. Locke had thus far been rather silent about the plan, but most of that was because he had a very minimalistic clue what the vehicle he was in was for.

"Mission, this is Control, heading 0-1-0 at range 65 kilometers is the castle. Good luck, Mission," Miriallia replies.

"We're all wising you good luck, Mission," Sai says loud enough to be heard by Miriallia's microphone.

"Roger that," Yzak replies. In a matter of a minute, one of the mechanics had opened the bay doors to allow the jeep out, and the four of them were on the way.

"Whoa...are we supposed to be going this fast?" Locke asks, looking around the dunes warily.

"Eh, we're only doing seventy," Yzak replies, meaning seventy kilometers per hour. It happened to be much faster than a Chocobo at a dead run, however, which is what Locke was mostly experienced with, the ability to run way the hell away from Imperials when they caught him in the wrong place at the wrong time. It did not use rails like the Empire's vaunted train lines, which made it far more flexible. Locke wanted one, severely.

"This is amazing, a lot smoother than steam-engine machines," Locke notes. He had been on Doma's rail lines more than once and marveled at the speed and efficiency as well as the ease of escaping the Empire, but this was far better and not limited to rails.

"What the hell is that?" Mu asks, looking forward.

"Looks like a pack of Aereneid," Locke says. "In numbers, they are very dangerous. Watch out," he notes. The said creatures were marching along the spine of a desert dune that Yzak was heading for.

"I am not stopping for them," Yzak says crassly, though he was maneuvering to avoid the bulk of their numbers. Still and all, he ended up hitting two of the said denizens of the desert, which wildly jarred the vehicle and sent the meter-tall scorpion-looking critters tumbling out of the way, assuredly killed by the impact.

"Wow," Mu says in something approaching a squeak. Yzak had to run the window washer for almost a minute to clean the Aereneid guts off the windows, but otherwise there was no damage to the vehicle courtesy of its mil-grade construction.

"Told ya I wasn't gonna stop," Yzak notes coldly.

"Cute, Yzak, just don't hit anything that's gonna get bug guts all over us, okay?" Natarle says in the moments after the stunned silence.

"Yes, Commander," Yzak replies with an obvious smile to tone. As the jeep crested the hill, Yzak could see numerous such groups in the desert and many of them were between the castle and his vehicle. He could naught but smile at the thought; he had plenty of frustration to calve, he always did after a losing battle.

-x-x-x-

Despite enjoying running over the foul-tempered Aereneid in the desert around Figaro, Yzak did not like the fact that he was away from the ship regardless. Too many variables, and he had the unenviable task of guarding the two Commanders in what was supposedly a friendly location, but the looks from the guards said otherwise.

On the plus side, he only counted a handful of old arquebus, older muzzle-loaded black powder muskets. The Federated AR-32 he carried, one of the newer weapons picked up from the armaments groups on Twycross, would be more than enough to settle an inaccurate arquebus and its moronic user, so long as he wasn't ambushed. Not to mention the various sword and pike users stupid enough to try charging him down, should it come to that.

"Halt!" The main entry guard orders as they approach. "Oh, it's you," the guard notes as he visually identifies Locke, given the angle he was looking at. "Proceed," he says as he pushes open one of the doors. As the group filed past, Yzak looked the Guard up and down to see what kind of arms and armor he carried. Sword, chain mail with scale plates, nothing too impressive. Basically advertisement and not a serious threat in the age of gunpowder weapons.

Inside the first doors, they passed through the castle's gatehouse, which in addition to having the typical medieval castle defense tricks (portcullis, murder holes, arrow slits, etcetera) (1) also had a pair of secured stairways headed into the castle interior. Strange, that, they all figured, given that it was supposed to be a defensible structure they had entryways into the lower reaches of the castle that close to an exterior entrance. Yzak could only guess at how they expected to defend those staircases in a siege.

After passing through the gatehouse, they were inside the main castle foyer. To right and left were square crenelated turrets flanking a gradually sloping staircase that led to the castle main keep; outside the rather tall and crenelated exterior curtain walls were a pair of exterior towers, square with rounded corners, connected by a breezeway/walkway to the main castle body. Everywhere Yzak could hear the unmistakable whine of machinery, likely environmental control systems for the castle. In the light desert breeze the banners and flags of Figaro flapped in the wind. Everywhere, there were the eyes of guards on Yzak, and he knew it.

Inside the main keep, the air did not match the hot and dry exterior of the castle, it was cool and almost clammy, a pleasant change of environs from the brutal desert. The only thing Yzak had to say good about this whole scenario was that Natarle was not one of those ladies that complained about any detriments to her appearance (such as hot, dry air that dried her out). So far, she had said nothing of note since they entered the castle, which endeared her more to Yzak. He did not want to listen to idle chat.

"Locke, well come (2), how went your expedition in the South?" the person in question did not match what Yzak had thus far heard about King Edgar, so she figured him to be a high-ranking subordinate of the King.

"Excellent, Chancellor, excellent. I learned a lot in my travels and even got to watch the First Imperial get bled out by...well, shall we say, a mysterious entity."

"This wouldn't happen to have anything to do with rumors about some massive winged-and-legged thing like a warship that flies like the Gambler's Airship, right?" the Chancellor replies.

"It does, actually," Locke replies. "It's a long and very crazy story, but I got to watch part of the battle myself," he replies. "I have never even thought about anyone having the kind of power needed to slaughter the Empire's Magitek forces wholesale, short of the old tales of the Espers," Locke adds.

"This I must hear sometime," the Chancellor notes. "Regardless, the King would like to speak to you, and likely your guests as well," he notes with a strange intonation. Their English was more along what was called the British lines, but still easily understandable to Natarle, Mu and Yzak.

"In chambers?" Locke asks.

"No, throne room," the Chancellor gestured to the highly decorated double doors at the end of the hallway they were in.

"Thank you, Chancellor," Locke replies as he heads for the doors. The three from the Archangel held their position, awaiting an invite into the throne room as would be nominal custom. "Hail, King Edgar, how fares the realm?" Locke asks as he enters the room, though as the doors closed any such hearing was cut off; the Chancellor had entered the throne room as well, ostensibly as an escort to Locke, though Natarle figured it to hear the tale more than to escort someone who was already on good terms with the King.

"I am beginning to think this may not have been a bad op," Yzak says in Japanese, so as to prevent it from being understood by the paltry four guards in the room.

"I would not count this one yet," Natarle replies in the same language. She reminded herself that she had not thus met the King, which left a lot of open territory.

"And now we wait," Yzak notes in Japanese. He had his weapon combat slung but his hands were free, no grip on the weapon's handle, which made his presence less threatening somewhat.

"Interesting..." Mu says as he starts examining a set of armor nearby where they were waiting.

"So, this is the world?" Natarle says, looking over a map in a large tapestry depending from the wall. "Okay, this is where we stiffed the First Imperial, I guess," Natarle points to where it appeared they had been; "then after they started bringing their numbers down on us, we traced down here to Maranda, then west and away from the enemy over here," Natarle notes.

"If this is accurate, we came ashore about here," Mu says. He had taken out a Skygrasper to check their arrival location, in case the enemy had some form of ambush waiting. Beyond that, there had been little in terms of human activity anywhere; most of the land was uninhabited.

"This must be where those air forces sortied from, if I'm remembering my bearings and direction orders correctly," Natarle notes as she traces the paths out. The path led to a very large city more or less in the middle of the southern continent.

"Vector, the Imperial Capital," Locke notes from behind them. "And did I hear that right? You tangled with the Imperial Air Force?"

"You heard correct," Natarle notes. _God, we're lucky we survived_, Natarle thinks aloud, considering that Vector itself looked on map and scale to be larger than Chicago. In comparison, the cities around the rest of the area looked collectively smaller than most of the suburbs of Chicago did, which rather skewed the odds in the Empire's favor.

"Oh man," Locke says. "I figured you guys were powerful, but that's a whole different story," Locke says. "Anyways, the King wants to speak to you two," and his gesture indicates the two Commanders.

"I'll hold here," Yzak notes as he changes orientation to keep an eye on the main entrance to the area (that led out to the castle courtyard).

As the two Commanders entered the throne room, Yzak found himself a bit uneasy again. After a few of analyzing it, he realized that whatever unease he had was from the fact that he was standing alone at this time, and even the presence of the Earth Alliance commanders was a damn sight better than being alone, even if they were still 'technically' the enemy. The semi-hostile looks from the guards around the room did not help the matter, of course, though the fact that only one of them was armed with an arquebus meant that if he had to he could eliminate all four of them in a matter of moments, and with almost zero hazard to himself. Getting out of the castle was another story, however.

After about ten minutes, Yzak noticed he was being watched, and not just by the guards. He figured it inevitable that once word got around about these new and strange people, someone would come looking. He could tell that the looks were coming from a stairwell that was nearby the shop to the left of the main walkway (headed toward the throne room, there was a shop on either side of the red carpet). Rather than looking at what he thought he sensed and heard in whispers, Yzak took a page out of his CQB (3) training and reached into one of the pockets of his tactical harness. He had 'borrowed' one of the blush compacts that the Allster girl seemed to hoard (as if looking good on a warship mattered whatsoever) and cleaned the actual makeup out of it, leaving just the black compact with a magnifying mirror in it. This Compact he pulled, flipped open with just his left hand, and snaked the mirror surface around his right arm so as to be able to see behind him and to the right. With a little creative angling he was able to get a good look at the persons that were spying on him.

They were several ladies and a couple guys, all crowded around the corner of the shop and most were trying to be quiet about it. One of the guys and at least three of the girls had to be continually reminded with gestures or sounds to be silent, and it was fairly obvious that Yzak was their object of beholding. "Isn't this just wonderful," he mutters as he puts the compact away.

Minutes passed, and Yzak could pick up enough of their conversation to come to a conclusion. First, the guys were foppish airheads hellbent on proving to the girls that they just had to be better than this mysterious foreigner. Several more passed, and he concluded that the ladies were wondering if he was some sort of prince on military duty and if he was basically available. This engendered a disgusted moan from Yzak, who despite wanting to flip them a flashbang to get them to go away, still did not move.

Another several minutes passed, and Yzak could only guess that his observers were trying to get dimensions on him without getting close. _As if they aren't being obvious about it to begin with_, Yzak thinks aloud. The doors finally came open and the two Commanders were the first out, followed by Locke and the Chancellor, then someone in a blue cloak and wearing something akin to plate armor. Before Yzak could comment on the condition of Commander Badgiruel's face, which appeared to be beet red out of embarassment (not her atypical frustration he often seen her suffering from), Mu La Flaga shook his head enough that Yzak knew not to press the issue.

"Ready to move out?" Natarle asked in what almost sounded like a level tone. Almost, not quite to Yzak.

"Aye, Commander," he replies seriously, then moves toward.

Mu stopped next to him, though he had at least at a glance looked past Yzak toward his collection of potential stalkers. "Friends of yours?" he asks low, so as to not be heard by them, and not to give away his intent he was looking down the hall, not toward them.

"It is a story," Yzak says, not really thinking it worthy of the title 'long story' since it encompassed less than twenty minutes total, and would take no more than two minutes to completely explain.

That much being said was enough to restore most of Natarle's normal color. After a moment that Yzak could tell she was trying hard to compose herself, she turned back to the King. "Thank you for the offer, King Edgar. I will relay it to my commanding officer," she notes. "Unless something comes up, we should be back here in about two hours, maybe less."

"Thank you, Commander Badgiruel," the King replies. "I look forward to your return," he adds smoothly. Yzak needed not ask what had happened, he could tell by prior evidence combined with the inflection of the King's voice what had transpired. Being the commensurate and elite soldier he was, Yzak masterfully suppressed his immediate reaction to bust out laughing. Not that he objected, per se, she was allowed just as much personal leeway as those perverts Mir and Tolle, but Yzak did not think they were in there **that** long...

"Thank you, highness," Natarle replies almost level again. "We shall be off, unless something else is at hand?"

"Safe journey, Commander," the King replies.

"Lead us off, Yzak," Commander La Flaga requests as Yzak clearly notes a mini-exodus of those who were spying on him prior.

Outside at the jeep, the three filed in and Yzak made no hesitation in getting moving again, this time heading 1-9-0 to get back to the ship, almost due south.

"Okay, what was with that mob behind you, Yzak?" Mu asks after they were definitely out of earshot of the castle.

"Just about everything, from the guys thinking they could take me down to a couple of the more adventurous ladies trying to get dimensions on my butt without a tape measure," Yzak replies. A quick glance confirmed that Mu was indeed trying to stifle a laugh, and mostly succeeding.

"Any issues with the guards?" he asks after a moment.

"No, they just stood there and stared at me like good guards," Yzak replies with contempt. To point, not one of them showed any sensibility, even when there was possible hazard to their king. "Now, what happened with you guys?"

"Oh, the King hit on Natarle enough times I lost track of how many," Mu replies offhand.

"Well, I figured as much," Yzak notes. "I take it you didn't even give him the time of day?" Yzak asks the mirror, and by extension Natarle.

"What? Be uncivil to a King? Are you crazy?" Natarle asks in response.

"Point taken," Yzak replies, seeing a whole wealth of possible outcomes to that scenario, most of them one bent or another of disastrous, but all of them hilarious nonetheless.

It was with these highly amusing thoughts that he entertained himself on the drive back to the ship.

-x-x-x-

"What's goin' on, Yzak?" Tolle asks as he happens across the Gundam pilot in one of the service access hatches nearby the hot springs.

"Checking something, Tolle," Yzak says without even pulling his head out of the access hatch.

"Oh?" Athrun asks from behind Tolle. "What are you checking for?"

"A while back I happened across a gaggle of mechanics farting around in this access compartment, trying to connect a remote data feed into the recorder systems on those holoprojectors—"

"In the Ladies' room, right?" Athrun asks, then snorts. "Kira and I removed all the recording connection points from the machines and soldered open those contacts. They would have to do a lot of work on the machine to get it working for recording again, and I think Kira killed the recording firmware on the projectors anyways."

"Never underestimate the power of pervert technicians in any size of group," Yzak says, modding a catchphrase from long ago to suit his purpose. (4)

"True," Athrun concedes after a moment. "What were they planning?"

"Snake a cable down this conduit to the record outputs, then run it back along one of the weps controllers on an unused channel to the mainframes, and from there out to wherever," Yzak says of what he remembered to be their plan.

"Okay, need some help on the testing side?" Athrun asks, suddenly quite worried that Kira's burst of inspiration that he helped set up could be used to malicious purpose.

"Wha—" Tolle begins, then snaps his mouth shut with a quelling glance from Athrun.

"I'm not going to let Kira get screwed over for something a pervert did," Athrun replies deadpan. "The castle can wait."

"Yeah, you're right, this is more important," Tolle notes. "Anything I can do to help?"

"Here," Yzak passes Tolle a small testing device with a digital output screen. "Start checking every cable in this harness. If you find a video feed, tell me immediately." The harness in question led to missile tube MP28, Yzak was on harness MP26 and Athrun checking MP27.

"Thirty-two missile tubes," Athrun notes, remembering that when they started this mad-end of a tour, the _Archangel_ was far less substantial than it was now.

"I've already given up on sinking this ship," Yzak notes. "This thing's only gotten tougher since we started, and its arsenal is a helluva lot more powerful. If I do end up back in ZAFT I'm avoiding this ship like the plague," he concludes.

"You have to admit the crew is a lot better now than over the I-O, as well," Athrun notes, referencing their battle just barely outside Aube territory.

"Yeah, that scares me as well, and your friend Kira, God help ZAFT if he gets anything equivalent or better than the Strike," Yzak notes in response.

"You're still missing that one, Yzak. He never was Earth Alliance, he was fighting just to defend this ship. Kira couldn't give a hill of beans about the Earth Alliance, he was just defending Flay, err, all of us." Tolle declares with definitive resolve.

"Flay is right, I'd say, she could manipulate the Pope into signing a contract with the devil," Yzak notes with a derisive sniff. "Superwench," he concludes after a moment.

"Whoa, what is—" Tolle says, causing both the pilots to look at him just as his jaw drops open. After a moment: "Whoa, holy shit," he barely squeaks a moment later.

"What?" Athrun asks, then checks the display. "Oh, wow," he notes in shock himself, causing Yzak to arch his neck to take a look.

"Well, looks like we found the bastard wire," Yzak notes after he gets a good look. "She's bigger than she looks, yes, but we have a mission, guys. Focus on that," Yzak notes. "God, after the shit we pulled in Academy, I'm surprised I have to say this to you, Athrun, much less you Tolle," Yzak notes.

Reflexively Tolle turns off the tester, which more or less snapped both pilots out of their reverie. "And what is that supposed to mean?"

"You might as well be married to Miriallia, do I really need to answer that?" Yzak asks acidly.

"No, guess not, sorry," he says as he pulls the probes out of the harness with the cable still attached. "Here it is," Tolle notes.

"Gimmick time," Yzak says. "Athrun, you're better at this kind of stuff, so you'd better do it," he says.

Athrun picks up the remote gimmick and threads the offending data cable into the wire tracing loop, which would allow him to see where the wire was going easily through the remote camera. With some very careful motions, he was able to insert the Gimmick into the harness and began threading it down the conduit, headed for the hot springs. He had the harness a third of the way down the conduit before anything else was said. "That's just wrong, y'know? Like looking in someone's window on a wedding night," Tolle says.

"True, that," Athrun says as the gimmick passes the theoretical halfway point to the projectors. "Which is why we're going to eliminate this and put in a series of tamper detectors on the rear feeds."

"Wow, this looks conspiratorial, three pilots inside a maintenance access hatch with a gimmick? What are you three doing?"

_Oh, shit, Captain Ramius_! Tolle squeaks inside his head. "Well, erm," he begins, but chokes.

"Ah, um," Athrun begins, but stops himself.

"Huh?" The Captain asks in reply.

It was Yzak that diffused the situation and immediately poured more gasoline on it in the same sentence. "We're removing a threat to the ladies sauna room, Captain," he notes stoically.

"What?"

"Some Techs, who I never got their names, I came across them trying to snake a cable to the record out on the holoprojectors. Kira and Athrun had disabled that feature and removed the connection point hardware, but apparently they rebuilt that capability."

"How?" Murrue asks deadpan.

"Same way we're going to remove the capability again, and this time I am going to weld over the connection points as well as have Kira reprogram the projectors for playback only," Athrun notes, now not so much stunned as he was infuriated he could not do this without involving the senior officers. _This is the kind of shit they don't need to put up with, they have more important problems to see to_, Athrun thinks.

"Thanks for the concern, Athrun, but any problem is something the whole ship needs to deal with, in the end. See to it, and I trust you can be 'diplomatic' about seeing to it not happening again?" Murrue requests politely.

"Yes, ma'am," Yzak replies almost in a snarl. He did not clearly recognize the grimace from the Captain after he had said so.

"Excellent," she replies. "Yzak, I'd like a report on what is done when this is over."

"Will do," he replies.

"Carry on," she says, making a mental note to have Kira check it out. She did not know that Yzak intended on having Kira reprogram the projectors to make any physical modifications only one step in three to get it working for voyeur purposes.

"I'm there," Athrun says. "Time to get to work," he notes with a determined tone.

"Tolle, go drag Kira down here, I don't care how you manage it," Yzak notes.

"I'll be right back," Tolle says in a cheery voice before he starts jogging down the hallway, headed for Kira's usual haunt (the hangar).

"I severely hope this does not come back to bite a chunk out of our asses," Athrun notes.

"Relax, the Captain may actually have believed us."

"Which should be the first step to preventing this from happening again," Athrun notes in a cold tone of voice. He had no intention of abiding a peeping tom.

-x-x-x-

"Interesting, is this only part of the world, or is it not to scale?" Murrue asks as she looks over the tapestry map that hung in the hallway headed toward the throne room. _I wonder why nobody has gone exploring for the remainder,_ She asks herself in the confines of her mind.

"This is the world, Captain," the Chancellor notes. "Not far beyond the edges here is the end of the world; a ship that goes there falls off into the abyss below," he notes.

"Flat earth, basically," Mu notes with a tone that Murrue could tell was obvious tease. They both knew that was complete bullshit, they did not make worlds flat, they were spherical by nature. Which meant that whatever went exploring over that way, if anything, did not come back for a specific reason. Which brought back the question unto Murrue's mind: _what is over there_? "Shall we?" Mu asks before Murrue could think about it any more. "If we must, we can send one of the Gundams out on a LRRP to see if there really is an edge to the world," Mu notes before they enter the banquet hall.

"We may do that," Murrue notes in Japanese, the same that Mu had been speaking in to conceal from the locals. Thus far nobody had received even part of a hint that the locals spoke Japanese, it all seemed to be various accents and flavors of English.

"Presenting Captain Murrue Ramius, Commander Mu La Flaga, and Commander Natarle Badgiruel, of the Archangel Team," the castle's majordomo says unto the reception crowd. Yzak, Kira, and Nicol had followed them to a point, but did not even enter the keep, they had remained outside in the promenade, awaiting time to return to the ship and generally guarding the area from miscreants and those who would assault the keep...not that there were any in the area. All three had come this time with the Gunther KA-23 SMG, the exact opposite of the Rorynex in that it used a heavy slug instead of the small explosive-tipped one of the latter. Everyone figured it better at punching through the local armor than the Rorynex.

It did not take long for the stares to begin, which surprised Murrue a lot less than it would have six months ago. She had slowly come to the conclusion that she was forever doomed to draw significant amounts of attention due to her command rank, appearance, and/or being a foreigner until such a time as she found a group collectively crazier than her own. Part of her was beginning to think that impossible; nobody in their right mind or their wrong mind would dare to mix so many divergent elements on one battleship and hope to get away with it. It was categorically impossible that she was getting away with it, yet somehow her ship had not thus far torn itself apart from the inside out, and she had no intention of complaining about it remaining intact.

Not to mention, ladies almost never commanded anything in this society; she had been informed of some of the norms by Miriallia, and the screaming exceptions (like herself and a General Celes of the Empire).

"Commanders, welcome back; Captain Ramius, a pleasure," a gent says as he takes her hand and gives it a polite kiss.

_Grossly charming_, Murrue thinks, recalling that this person fit the description of King Edgar Figaro, whom Natarle had some choice words about when she got back to the ship, as well as no shortage of advisement about said King before they even left the ship.

"Thank you, highness," Murrue replies sincerely. She was not going to stand too much of being hit on, since she was entertaining her own notions of such conduct of late, but by hushed rumor that had already made it to her Natarle appeared to be the one he had initially set sights on. Not that she would wish a known lecherous monarch on anyone, but better someone else with more discipline than she.

"I find myself much appalled that one of your stature would visit such destruction on the Imperials, yet after seeing the ship in flight with no visible means of movement I am inclined to believe other such rumors very possible," the King says as he ushers the three over toward a more secluded corner. "Yet, without having any other reason I can see, why did you step in between the best force of Imperials and Maranda?" It was a question that had been driving Edgar rather wild with worry since he first encountered their group, especially since the two Commanders were both disciplined and very competent as far as he could tell.

"Let us say that we do not like the normal conduct of soldiery on a town and its populace after being sieged," Murrue replies deftly.

Her reply went a long way to defusing what trepidation the King had about conducting any dealings with the Archangel Team. "Ah, yes, that is a serious point of contention between ourselves, the lands of Doma, the Independent Eastern States, and the Empire. Normally, General Leo's forces are better than most on this subject, but far from excellent."

_So, that maggot's forces were actually some of their more disciplined troops_? Murrue makes a note to keep that in mind, not that what Miriallia said endeared her to them any more than else. This left her to consider the artful turn of phrase 'better than most on the subject but far from excellent,' and most of those thoughts were less than pleasant.

"Were we able to, we would have held out completely and stopped the Imperials cold before they could close with the town," Commander Badgiruel notes. "As it transpired, it came down to too many of them against too few of us, so I aborted the combat operations and tried to evacuate the town before the Imperials closed."

"It was the right move, Commander," The King notes solemnly. "By all accounts, your forces were able to almost completely cripple the Imperial Air Force and put a serious dent in the Imperial Ground Forces of the 1st Imperial Division. You should not regret doing what you could; I have little doubt that there would have been a massacre in Maranda should they have gone unchecked. Likely, you taught General Leo the meaning of the word 'circumspection' anew," the King notes ironically, which also told Murrue and the Commanders that the King had received the same lesson from the results of the battle as well.

_I sense a 'but' coming_, Murrue thinks.

"Yet, despite the skills of your force, that was incredibly hazardous. The First Imperial has thus far stood undefeated, if you count your skirmish with them as a partial victory for them."

"I would," Natarle replies. "They still got the town, but they did not get more than a decent swipe at the ship," she notes as her analysis of the battle's outcome.

"And you caused a lot of damage to the Imperial Forces. Yours truly are some of the most amazing machines and skills I have seen prior." He pauses for a moment, mulling something over. "I take it you have been informed of my real affiliations?"

"Indeed," Captain Ramius replies, wondering where this is going.

"I know that you have gone through much over your journey, yet I cannot guarantee you an area to rest on this world. It is no secret the Emperor looks to this continent with covetous eyes; in due time, he will come here seeking to wrest control from anyone who opposes him. Your ship will be on that list, without doubt. I can provide you a way to gather material and funds to keep your ship moving and provisioned, however, if you are willing to put some faith in those you have never dealt with before," King Edgar says smoothly.

"You propose a Mercenary Contract, basically," Natarle replies after a moment.

"I do," King Edgar replies calmly after observing the soured look from Commander La Flaga. "I know not the details but I can tell you are already tired of the strains of war. Yet, if you want a time of peace here, the Empire has to be knocked down. Thus, the Returners, the one underground resistance movement worth their salt. (5) And thus why I ask this of you," the King notes.

"War sucks," Mu mutters, for which he received a discreet elbow from Natarle.

"Also, the best bet for you to find a way home is by the hands of the Imperial Magitek Scientists. To secure their services, you will certainly need to take over the Imperial Capital, Vector." Natarle could not tell if this was bullshit conjecture on this subject, or if he knew something about Magitek that they had not thus far encountered...

"All right, message received, King Edgar," Murrue replies. "Now, we can operate as mercenaries, we have done so before. My question is, what involvement would these Imperial Magitek Scientists have with getting home to another dimension?"

"They are rumored to be working on projects to instantly move objects, people from one location to another over long distances," Locke notes as he joins their small knot. "I have seen some of these devices in months past, it was one of the things I was looking into before I got word of the battles at Tzen and Maranda. Those machines sound similar to what has happened to you, I guess," he appends.

"If the Empire gets those working even on a small scale, they could take over any part of this continent by bypassing our armies," King Edgar says. "And the resistance would be categorically doomed, due to—"

Natarle's portable radio beeps three times. "Excuse me," she says as she steps back. "Natarle, go," she says curtly, facing away from the King. Of course, said King's eyes did some wandering...

"Commander, sensors is reporting a pair of large energy anomalies, one believed to be in the direction of the enemy stronghold, another heading 0-2-5 at range 600 kilometers," Kuzzey reports, himself sounding bewildered by the report.

"Roger that, track steady—"

"Commander, Sai says the anomalies are gone now, like someone pulled the plug."

"Not good news," Natarle replies. "I roger the info. Stand by," she kills the send on her radio. "Think that could be related to what King Edgar just told us about?"

"I won't bet against it," Murrue replies. Before anything else could be said, something unexpected happened.

The doors to the assembly chamber are thrown open rapidly, the entrant a person none of them recognized in riding gear. The three officers of the Archangel were wary of someone who entered so fast, but did not draw a weapon as some of the more excitable nobles in the room did. After looking around a moment, he immediately heads for the King. "My Liege, a message from Arvis in Narshe," and he hands over a sealed leather tube to the King.

"Good God," King Edgar says. "Locke, it appears you have some business," he says as he hands over the roll of parchment.

"Holy," Locke says. "That...that...no way..."

"Huh?" Mu asks, having somehow acquired a cup of fruit juice that Murrue was wondering how he did so.

"If the Empire gets their hands on that, that's it for the world, they'll trigger another War of the Magi," Locke mutters after a moment.

"What?" Murrue asks. "Sir, I request an explanation,"

King Edgar sighs. "They just unearthed a frozen Esper in Narshe. If that thing awakens, it could cause a huge amount of destruction. If it is captured by the Empire, they'll use it to power more Magitek forces than you just destroyed," Edgar says calmly, despite the severe worry in his expression.

"Captain, that energy anomaly could have been a small strike team they sent in to capture the Esper," Natarle notes.

"Great," Murrue notes.

"I'll get on it right now," Locke says. "That note was from Arvis, right?" he asks the messenger, who nods affirmative.

"A moment, Locke," the King requests before Locke could take a step toward the doors. It was King Edgar that had the shocker of the night: "I know you have not agreed to anything, but even if just to save lives, would you be willing to prevent the Empire from capturing the Esper? Even if you destroy it, better in the hands of nobody than in the wrong hands."

Murrue only took a second to respond. "Will do. We can discuss the details later," and she looks to Commander Badgiruel. "Get the ship warmed up and the spec ops team ready. Locke, you're going to have to lead my team in," the Captain says.

"Can do," Locke replies immediately. He didn't really know what a 'spec ops' team was, but he figured he would find out soon enough.

-x-x-x-

The vehicles stopped outside a small schoolhouse built outside the main walls and gate to Narshe. The ten Commandos, Natarle and Locke immediately stepped out of the three jeeps amid several smoking gouges and craters on the ground. "Jesus, I know they have power, but this is insane," Natarle says.

"This is fresh," the Crazy Cook says, kneeling down next to one of the impact gouges. "We move fast enough, they may never get to the Esper," he says in a tone that told Natarle it was a command.

"Then we move," Locke says as he heads for the wall of the gatehouse that led into the main area of Narshe. "Follow close, I think they would have killed just the guards that got in their way, not all of them," Locke notes. "and the leftovers are going to be very mad," he appends after a moment.

"Kind of reminds me when the potato salad goes bad, it tries eating the chef's assistants," the Crazy Cook notes.

"Or that time you had to sort out that casserole with a hand grenade, y'know, the one that tried taking a bite out of Admiral Haliburton?"

"Can't forget that one, Weasel, that was a bitch to kill off," the Cook notes after a few moments.

The unit advanced up the main street of Narshe in two squad formations, basically, and each with weapons in all directions to prevent any ambush from catching them completely by surprise. They passed numerous dead bodies on the ground, some frozen, some killed by blade trauma up to and including dismemberment and beheading, some obviously burned, and even some that Natarle could not identified how they had died. They passed numerous shops and houses that had closed shutters and doors, not the typical welcoming country village that one would expect in this area of Existence (given what they saw in Maranda).

"What is that smell?"

"You?" One of the Commandos replies to the first.

"Screw you," the first notes.

"That is the smell of a coal mine, dipdunks," the Crazy Cook notes.

A sound of a pigeon immediately draws the attention of the whole unit to the offending...person? "Locke, get up here, quickly," the older guy fairly orders. "And bring your friends with you," he adds after a moment.

"C'mon, guys, this is where we start," Locke notes as he heads up the stairs toward the house in question. The rest of the team was not slow to follow, though the first two up the stairs stopped and moved to the left and right, covering the ingress into the house by keeping an eye on the rear of the column. No threat presented itself, and the last two entered the house.

"What happened?" Locke asks.

"Three Magitek soldiers came in to steal the Esper, except the Esper blew two of them to hell and destroyed the third's machine, but not her. The girl piloting the third was wearing this, a slave crown," the older guy was holding the said 'crown' in hand. "She went out the back when the Narshe guards came looking for her."

"And I suppose we rescue her?" Locke asks.

"Yes...except, who _are_ these guys?" the guy asks.

"A long, crazy story," most of which Locke would admit he didn't believe outside of evidence that had been shown him. He certainly did not deny they existed, per se, but the tale of how they had come to where they were and what misadventures they had suffered prior was so insanely out there that Locke had problems believing them. "C'mon, we gotta move if we want to catch up to her before they do," Locke says.

"Why is it nobody puts up a sign that says 'this way to damsel in distress' when these things happen?" the Mess Hall dishwasher says as he cinches his sling up tight.

"That would be too easy," Natarle replies. "And we're in the Archangel Team; Easy is a foreign principle to us," she reminds the dishwasher.

"Oh, yeah, I keep forgetting that," he replies.

"C'mon, guys, in here," Locke says as he ducks into one of the personnel accesses to the upper reaches of the caves. Natarle was next in, followed immediately by one of the heavy weps officers in the commando team. The light machine gun he carried would be more than ample to toast down a squad of enemy or give the pilot of a Magitek serious pause.

The cave they entered was the first major cave Natarle had been in since Cephiro, and the feeling did not make her welcome it any more than she had back on the rock where magic ruled. Evidence of that came moments later as a hiss from a very large rat came to her ears, followed by the movement of a pair of semi-reflective eyes. "Shit, a rat, I hate rats," she mutters as it edges a paw closer to her.

"I got it," the sauce chef of the unit notes as he comes forward with his primary slung. He had reached around to a secondary part of his kit, more intended for opening doors than opponents, but the shotgun he carried was capable of—**BLAM**. Instantly, the rat's head and upper torso were shredded by the shot; in the halo around the barrel light they could see a half-dozen more rats screech and retreat from the nasty sound. A Sub-machine gun barked at one of them, the Rorynex projectiles tearing a series of five huge chunks out of the flank of one of the rats, increasing the panic in their ranks as they fled to their hides and holes, away from the infernal noisy weapons that had entered.

"Thank you, specialist," Natarle notes as she gets a good look at the deceased vermin.

"Easy prey," he replies as they continue moving down the random cave twists and turns. After thirty meters of following the natural path of the caves, they ended up out on a precipice overlooking some fairly deep canyons, spanned by wooden truss bridges. Only three of the team at a time crossed each bridge, out of fear of their weight collapsing the personnel bridges. First north to another precipice, then west and north again and they were on the far side of the canyon group. This done, the team reassembled and continued moving, this time north and deeper into the mountain.

"Wait, something is not right here," Locke says. "This area is a new collapse," Locke says as he looks around with one of the _Archangel_'s absolutely amazing Mag-Lite flashlights. He approaches the collapsed floor carefully, then leans over and shines his flashlight down at the area below. "One Imperial Magitek Knight, female, quite young, directly below this hole."

"They must have cornered her and she fell through," the Crazy Cook says. "We rappel down," he says as he pulls his zip rope off the back of his body armor. He tied it off to a pair of stalagmites and dropped the coil down the hole. With a swift, practiced motion he had the rope connected to his zip harness and was on his way down in a controlled fashion. When he got down to the bottom he immediately released the harness from the rope, took up his assault rifle, and hunkered down in a guard position awaiting any possible threat from the cavernous area to the south.

The process was the same for the rest of the team, and by the time they had arrived at the ground, there was the sound of activity in the distance to the south. The girl was confirmed alive but unconscious; apparently she took a nasty hit from her fall, though it was not enough to kill her.

"She's up there! We've finally got that Magitek-riding bitch!" someone shouts from that direction.

"No you don't," one of the cook's assistants replies as he pulls one of the gas-canister grenades off his body armor harness and yanks the pin. With a side-arm lob the grenade went downrange to a natural choke-point at the far end of the cavern that was studded by hills of mining debris. In moments the gas grenade had begun sputtering, spewing red smoke all over the place and causing the several guard wolves to go wild in a frenzy to attack something. Several of the Commandos had mounted the debris piles nearest them to get an enfilade shot against approaching enemies, though the wolves turned out to be more difficult to hit than a person.

A shotgun silenced one. Two bursts of Gunther KA-23 SMG killed another, though it was not heard due to said machine gun having a sound suppressor on it. A third was felled at Natarle's hands as her magic saber cleaved its head and shoulders clean off the body. The fourth of them took a lot more effort, as it had vaulted up onto the rock piles and closed in on the Crazy Cook. The wolf closed, closed, as a pair of bursts missed its rapid movements to where it charged down the Crazy Cook and lunged. The lunge knocked both down the reverse side of the debris mound, the wolf clenching at the flak jacket sleeve on his left arm and shaking its head in an attack dog fashion.

"Shit, shit, shit!" the cook shouts before he first knees the wolf in the gut; that only made it clench harder, though still not hard enough to penetrate the flak jacket. His second was more of a pure reaction, a kick to the wolf's nugs with steel-toed combat boots. The reaction was significant to that, it immediately yelped as it released its bite, and continued yelping as it dragged its arse on the ground in a circular pattern. "Bite this!" the Crazy Cook shouts as he draws his sidearm and begins shooting. Not even halfway through the mag, the wolf crumpled to the ground, though he kept firing until it locked open on an empty magazine.

"I think you got it, butch," Natarle says with a clear tone of disapproval. "Three, four times over," she adds after a moment.

"Just making sure," he replies before a rock skitters down to where he was laying at the base of the mound, disturbed from the top of the pile. "Oh, shit!" the Cook shouts as he ejects the magazine and pulls a reload from the front of his vest. The slide came down and his pistol centered on one of the Marshalls that were 'commanding' the attack dogs. **CrackCrackCrackCrack**, the four shots came in less than a full second, all four within a five-centimeter circle fired uphill with him laying downhill at an angle and shooting at a standing enemy. The raised ax clattered to the ground as his body collapsed to the right and down into the walking trench

"Tango!" The baker shouts as his Rorynex comes up and centers on the enemy. "Drop your weapon! Hands up!" The enemy did not do so, the ax came up and he took the first of two strides he would ever take again. As his foot hit the ground from his second stride, a five-round burst of Rorynex impacted on his chest, the burst naturally curving right and upward slightly. The five slugs all detonated on impact, blowing large rents in his chest more akin to high-caliber rifle rounds, though not large enough to match the shotgun slug that entered his gut courtesy of one of the assistant cooks. He hit the ground still traveling forward, his body rolling once and stopping, unmoving forevermore.

"Tango down, remaining tangos retreating," Natarle says. "Recover the girl, we're out of here," she orders over their tactical radio.

- - - - -

"Beast reporting, I confirm entry team is exiting through a secret passage to the west of the schoolhouse," the assigned sniper for the operation says. He was also watching them through the ten-power scope on his rifle at the time.

"Beast, this is Beauty, we are escorting one out of here at this time, confirm vehicles are waiting and clear," Natarle says over the radio.

"Beauty from Beast, confirmed; book it south, I have the welcome mat rolled out and a fresh canteen for you all," the Sniper replies.

"Roger that," Natarle replies as the group began the kilometer-long overland trek to where the vehicles were parked.

The sniper had kept his rifle respectfully pointed away from the group and was using a pair of field binoculars to observe the escorted party. He could draw some conclusions immediately about her, she looked way too young to be available to him for starters, 'flat' aptly described her in his opinion (Fuu looked better, and she was severely too young for him, which made him wonder what she would be like when she was older), and she appeared somewhere between dazed and frightened, though Locke was keeping her from panicking by talking her through something. Unlike the movies, you cannot read lips through a binocular and he had not brought a shotgun microphone with him, therefore he was not hearing what they were saying.

It was movement at the edge of his binocular's peripheral vision that caught his attention. After adjusting, he realized that scoping out the new girl was probably the biggest mistake he had made yet. "Warning, warning, Beauty team, you have incoming!" he shouts into the mike as he remounts his rifle and zeros in on the leading wolf.

"Fire at will!" Natarle shouts, meaning both her team and the sniper.

**WRAAM**, the rifle in front of the sniper barked a crack four times louder than the Rorynex. The slug's flight time was absurdly short, less than a half-second, and then it struck the wolf like a hammer. A shotgun has no shortage of power, especially with slugs instead of shot, but the .50 Browning Machine Gun, often called the fifty-caliber, has far more power per shot. Far more power. The slug entered the chest of the wolf, and after it passed its heart the slug itself began tumbling on its course through. It exited the beast in a seven-centimeter exit trauma out its arse, and in the course thereof the wolf collapsed to the ground, skidding to a stop and twitching several times.

On this rifle there was no need to run a bolt to reload, the Barret M82A1 was a semi-automatic rifle that immediately reloaded itself after each shot. The sniper recentered on the next wolf, took a breath in, held for a moment, and fired as he exhaled. This slug struck the wolf in the head, basically exploding the head from pure translated kinetic energy. The bolt finished slamming forward with a new cartridge just as the wolf's body slammed to the ground and rolled three times from inertia before it stopped.

The sniper paused to survey the battlefield as the Commando team had hunkered down and was firing on the other approaching guards, though something coming through the gate of town caused the sniper to do a double-take with his sight. A mammoth was bearing toward the team, and at a fast lumber it was definitely closing on the group, though there were closer and far more immediate threats. An arquebus, a heavy muzzle-loaded matchlock musket, was leveled and fired at the group, though the shot simply kicked up a fountain of dirt as it impacted the ground. He never even had a chance to reload, as he was hammered with four rounds of assault rifle followed by a fifty-caliber slug that tore his arm off at the shoulder.

**WRAAM**, **WRAAM**, the sniper took down two more of the guards, one with a crossbow, the other with a battle ax. One chest shot, one head shot, the latter explosively removing his head as his body skids to the ground meters in front of the unit.

"Beauty from Beast, put some distance between you and that walking carpet, I'm switching over to armor-piercing ammo to take it down," the Sniper says as he ejects the ten-shot magazine and reloads with a ten-shot magazine containing a very different form of ammo in it.

"Roger that, we're moving now," Beauty replies. Locke had helped the escorted girl up and tried using a handkerchief to clean some of the remnants of a tango's head off her, the last one that the sniper had shot of the wolves. They were running toward the sniper as the mammoth was lumbering toward the group.

**WRAAM**, **WRAAM**, the sniper started by picking off an escorting guard and a rider, both of which ended up smashed underfoot by their 'pet' as a final insult. The Sniper then recentered on the mammoth's head, breathed in, held it, and exhaled as he pulled the trigger. The sniper was rewarded with the singularly unusual view of the slug exiting its upper back after blitzing through its skull, though for some ungodly reason it appeared to keep going after the hit. **WRAAM**, he fires a second shot in the same general area of its head, and this time the animal staggered; its pace slowed, but it kept stepping toward. "Jesus H Christ, this thing is so primitive I blow its brains out and it still keeps coming," the Sniper says in shock.

"Keep shooting, then," the Crazy Cook opines.

**WRAAM**, **WRAAM**, these two shots were aimed at the forward left leg of the beast. The first shot missed high and slammed into its chest, which drew a grunt from it. The second shot did not miss the upper leg bone, and this one had the desired effect. The bone blown to shreds in its leg, the enemy slammed into the ground and began thrashing about, unable to stand at all.

"Tango down," the Sniper reports. "Area appears clear, remaining guards have retreated."

"And what were you doing, Beast, jacking off behind that scope?" one of the Cook's assistants asks in a very arch tone.

"Enough," Natarle orders. "No arguing about this, we'll sort it out later," she orders.

"Yes, ma'am," the chastised cook's assistant replies.

The sniper kept an eye on the unit's six as they jogged in to where the vehicles had been stashed out of sight of the front gate of Narshe. They were fast to pile in to the vehicles, the new lady getting one of the front seats which she mounted with practiced precision. "C'mon, rifleman, get your ass in or we're leaving you!" the Crazy Cook shouts at a bush he thought was the sniper.

The Sniper stood up in a different location and trotted to the jeeps, his monster rifle weighing him down a bit. He hopped on the back of Natarle's jeep, facing rearward, still cradling the massive Barret

"Thanks for saving our asses, Newman," Natarle says directly before she drops the jeep in gear.

* * *

Author's Chapter Afterword:

I am still alive, I swear it!

Well, if you count having having no social life (and yes, I can prove that mathematically), and being stressed out severely as being alive, and suffering seven shades of writer's block over the past weeks, that is. It's not all bad, however. I have figured out how to get myself into the writing spirit lately, and it involves getting out and doing some good and heavy target practice. Shoot some inanimate objects, write 4K words in two hours afterwards. Not a bad tradeoff, and I get to feeling better all around; watching targets shred under the onslaught of my Remington 870 is incredibly stress relieving.

I severely apologize for how long this took. It has not been a good month plus at work, at home, or in just about any other fashion. I am still working on this, and I will not abandon the field, and I still respect your wish to see this story advance apace and in an exciting fashion. I will continue on this, and as a situation improvement I am no longer bound by having to use someone else's internet connection to post, I now have access to internet through my own system. Things should get done faster now, provided I can find the time to write. Time is fast becoming a commodity I have almost none of, actually, but I shall never give up. Death before dishonor, tea and cake or death, and all that happy ration. You know the drill as well as I.

Keep in mind that this is just the beginning of the antics, and while this one may have seemed a little on the 'easy' side for the team, these guys were bumpkin country town guards, not serious Imperial soldiers in quantity. The commando-trained Archangel's Cooks would go through them like a chainsaw through butter, no questions asked. Wham, Bam, thank you, good-bye, problem solved. The battles will heat up in the next two chapters, and you might as well disregard what you thought you know about the FF6 storyline, because I'm about to throw a very big wrench in the works.

And if you think I'm going to drop details about the Empire's secret projects, guess again. This si something that the cast is going to come across the hard way, and not in a pleasant fashion at all.

Thank you, all, for your continued patronage and reviews. The next chapter is in the works, no ETA at this time but I do hope to get back down to my average of 1 chap every 3 weeks or so, plus my other works. If Fate allows me. Stay tuned, the fun is less than a fifth done, and this is only chapter 20 :P

* * *

Review Replies:

**FraserMage**: TY for the review and continual support, comrade. Oh, yes, the battlemechs will be making an appearance in very short order, none of that folderol today as the action was mostly infantry, but the mass destruction is just about to begin. Stay tuned :)

**Barricade**: Thank you for the review and the in-depth ideas, comrade. Such ideas will come in handy for the crew, but I do have some categorical replies.

1. Being that close to a city and in a defensive posture, Natarle was not going to chance the radiation effects of the Lohengrins, not to mention their intent was to get them to go away with as few casualties as possible, not to completely annihilate them or they would have started with a Lohengrin volley. Natarle is not dumb, but she does stick to intentions.

2. The Archangel does not have any Arrow-IV weapons, but they do have Thunder and they do have LB-X. Expect to see some missile weapons engineered for the Magitek threat in short order, as more than one of the crew has realized what you just pointed out.

3. Fuu had that ability after the nominal events of the AAA timeline would have transpired. She has not yet developed it, but that can change at any moment...

4. Not really possible for the sub-knights attached to each of the Rune Gods, yet, at least. An interesting idea, and one that will require some review.

Final: Keep in mind that I study process as a necessity of my job, and military operations have a lot of ancillary process to them. What happens below decks is ten times more frequent than even one sortie of the Gundams, and just as important in the long run. If it don't get fixed, it ain't gonna work, and you might as well flush the Aegis down the toilet, ne?

**Green Knight/63**: Thank you for the review, comrade. Keep in mind, with the battle of the past chapter, and with the battles of this chapter, that fate picks your foes and how they fight, not the allied forces. Sometimes, a foe can only cause minor damage but a large volume of it. Sometimes a foe can powercrush even the mightiest of Gundams with little effort. It is all in the hands of fate. And how do you count 14000 words as short?

**Gatomon41**: Always a pleasure to read your reviews, comrade. Ringo, Eric Flint, Dale Brown, Tom Clancy, I draw inspiration from many authors and many forms of fiction, and I hope that which I write is as logical as the real deal, in its own creepy fashion. Thank you for the comment about the char dev, I got a few good chances to play with that in the last chapter, though less in this one than I think I wanted. I'll rectify that in the next, I hope.

**Anonymous**: Thank you, comrade, for the accolades. I'm still going, and I have a long way to go before I am done with this superbeast. Stay tuned, the fun is just beginning.

Thank you, one and all, for the reviews and the ideas. The next chapter should have some thoughts that have been voiced in prior reviews, and definitely some quirks that will make you scratch your heads.

NEXT UP: As the _Archangel_ returns to Figaro, the crew finds out the breadth of their foe's depravity and what it will take to truly get out of this nightmare...

* * *

Footnotes:

(1): This is an extrapolation from the game's scenery as well as what I know of castle siege and warfare. I did a lot of study on this long ago when I was into Dungeons and Dragons, so I know something of how a castle is engineered. Of course, I write closer to reality, so Figaro is going to be a little meaner and nastier (and a lot larger) than in the game :P

(2): No, this is not a typo, it is proper English.

(3): CQB means Close Quarters Battle. MOUT (Military Operations on Urban Terrain) is a similar principle, though CQB is more the premise of law enforcement, MOUT is strictly military.

(4): The original is: "Never underestimate the power of stupid people in large groups".

(5): 'Worth Their Salt' is an old English expression. To be declared 'below the salt' used to be a serious insult, especially in affluent circles. On the flip side, to be declared 'worth their salt' during such times was better praise than many phrasings.


	21. Three Ways Too Many

(Section 3, Chapter 5: Three Ways Too Many)

(Commander's Log)

(indeterminate date, six days after initial arrival in destination three)

_There is talk today that our 'misadventure' shall never end and that even our grandchildren are fated to be flying this ship forever toward the sunset, yet I find myself inclined to believe that there shall be a definitive end to this trip, whether it be on our home worlds, mooring the ship and finally walking away onto friendly territory, or in a furious battle that sees us all dead along with countless of our foes at that time. Though I hope fervently that the former shall be the case, I am inclined to believe that the latter is a very real possibility, given that we came real close to being sunk by the Wolves in naval combat and have already sustained one good beating from the Imperial forces on this planet._

_Despite the off-and-on complaining from the ranks, morale on the ship remains very high in spite of our prospects. The ship is in a good material state and is presently repaired enough that an enemy hit will not find a lucky chink in the armor. Those persons injured in recent battles with both the wildlife and the Imperial forces are up and moving, if not back on duty. Ship's projects are being completed at or ahead of schedule, and already once we have managed to avert a disaster in the area with a commando raid into Narshe to prevent the capture or elimination of a former Imperial soldier that was attempting to capture an Esper._

_After some extended evaluation of our options, the Coordinator quad has come to the conclusion that it should be possible to use the Imperial Capital's machinery and their transport device to fashion a device capable of moving us through time and space to our homes. In theory, they all state, since they have not been able to see the device itself and there are no guarantees on this matter. Even the Rune Gods, themselves conversant in the ways of dimension travel, will not speculate as to how to go about achieving this, though they will admit that there are beings somewhere in Existence that have a technological mastery of dimension-hopping. What that we could encounter them, to make our trip that much shorter, provided that they would be willing to render assistance._

_By the Captain's permission, I have instituted some measures on the ship with the aim of improving our ground combat capability by fielding more of the Omnimechs captured during our short and brutal campaign in the Inner Sphere. Within days, we should have the Timber Wolf, Warhawk, Mad Dog and Stormcrow available for ground action, all of which being more capable in a traditional ground battle than the Gundams. Personnel have been 'acquired' for piloting those machines and simulations commenced two days ago during our cruise north from the Imperial lands. So far the personnel are proving to be exemplary pilots and shots, though not quite the match to the Gundam pilots under similar circumstances._

_All I can hope at this time is that we see the chance to try to use Imperial devices to get home, for it goes without saying they will do their best to 'dissuade' us from acquiring their research facilities._

-x-x-x-

Kira, bereft of something to actually do since the Captain was in the castle negotiating with the King, decided he would pick up where Athrun left off disabling the devices in the ladies hot springs from recording. How he managed to use a gimmick to weld a seal plate onto the top of the projectors with just one hand was still bewildering Kira, but he figured anything possible nowadays. And where Athrun did the physical side, Kira would do the logical side, preventing the projectors from recording again.

"Okay, how do I want to go about this?" Kira asks the wall behind his computer terminal, though he did not yet have the terminal active. Sitting in front of him was a notepad and pen, which was always the starting point for an ambitious project.

All the physical vectors had been dealt with; there would be no ready physical access to those machines, should they try again. The main concern was preventing a record should they rebuild the connection point, which is what they did the first time. There was no real telling how long they had had access, or how long they had been recording, or even where it was being stored. Like usual, there was too many variables for Kira to solve the whole problem, but he would settle for most of the problem in this case.

"Okay, first, I need to completely gut the code for recording," Kira mutters as he writes it down. That would likely be the simplest of the tasks he would preform on this machine, and the foremost of dissuading problems to someone who wanted to use the record function. Without the software needed to record, a potential pervert would have to reprogram the device before it could do anything.

"Second, probably modify the device drivers to remove the record function from the camera system," Athrun says, which caused Kira to jump and stare at his friend in an accusatory fashion. "What? You didn't hear me enter?"

"No..." Kira replies.

"You really are a space case," Athrun says as he drags a second chair over to the computer desk.

"Thanks," Kira says as he spins back to his desk. "All right, can you think of a third way to keep those recorders disabled?"

"Sure. Prevent the controller they were using from accepting an outgoing data stream from the device," Athrun says. "If they won't route a signal, then they can't get the data unless they pipe it to another router or all the way to their rooms," Athrun says.

"Then we can do it on all the routers in the area," Kira says. "That should be simple enough," he notes. "So, how's the arm?" Kira asks.

"It'll get better," Athrun notes. He had not broke anything this time around, though he did manage to wrench several of the muscles and sprained his wrist, all of which still put him out of the piloting business for a few days.

"Any of the three pissed off at you?" Kira asks after a clear several moments of hesitation.

"No, not really," Athrun replies. "Or, at least, they have not said anything yet," he appends. "I'm not worried about getting a rapier in the back, Umi's on the level and she knows it was an accident, not deliberate, and Fuu is the one person on the ship least likely to commit fratricide, even despite where I ended up from the fall."

"Do you actually remember anything about it?" Kira asks, out of curiosity and not a sense of perversion. Athrun had rebuffed any other questions because of questioning parties asking out of perversion.

"The last thing I remember was throwing my screwdriver aside. Next I knew, I woke up in the medbay. And I don't think I want to remember, should this cause some form of 'conflict' between the involved parties and I," Athrun notes judiciously.

"Right," Kira replies after realizing the possible 'conflict' of his own question. "Okay, this looks like a comprehensive enough plan?" he holds up the notepad for Athrun to read.

"I hope this doodle isn't part of the Oplan, but yeah, it works."

"All right, give me a second and I'll get this whipped up and programmed in," Kira says as if modding the archaic programming of a holoprojector was a trivial exercise to him, much less the routers in the _Archangel_.

Athrun had to admit that he had seen some of the best Coordinators programming before. He happened to be one of the best, especially in such a specialty as a Mobile Suit OS. Kira, however, was scaring him slightly. Within minutes he had removed the recording programming from all eight of the projectors for the hot springs area. Add another three minutes, he had the hardware drivers edited so they did not even acknowledge the record function was there, though he kept copies of both of the above on his own computer. Add another five minutes and he had the routers locked down in the area of the projectors, so that they would not recognize traffic from the projectors. The projector systems actually ran along a router forward of the springs, so Kira figured blocking out the MAC (1) addresses for the holoprojectors on the routers on anything astern of the springs should not be a problem.

His last action, a bare fifteen minutes after he started, was to submit a report to Captain Ramius as to what steps he took, in case problems arose from his actions.

"Done," Kira says as he finishes filing the report. "So, anything to do?"

"I am now officially in awe of how obtuse you really are," Athrun says. "But that is not a problem. C'mon, let's get some lunch," Athrun says as they head for the door to Kira's quarters.

"What is that supposed to mean?" Kira asks, thereby proving Athrun right.

-x-x-x-

"After six months plus of this crap, and having fought in three wildly different wars with a fourth coming my way, I've stopped caring. I just want to get home, period," Yzak says with a ration of his usual vehemence. It was not as forceful as normal, but it was not completely null of it, either. If anything, he sounded wearied in one word. What he was 'not caring' about any more was affiliations, for it did not matter if he had to swindle Satan himself, he just wanted to get home; working with Earth Alliance personnel any more was just another instance of that same thought.

Of the four surviving Coordinators of the _Archangel_, only Nicol was missing, him and Fuu having decided to explore the castle more thoroughly and without anyone else around. The castle had a lot of area to check out, of course, so they would be occupied most of the day. Good, that, since negotiations between Figaro, the Returners, and the Captain would take at least that long.

"And how do we get home?" Kira asks.

"Only way I know how to get there is forward," Athrun says. "Somehow, I don't think hanging around anywhere is going to get us home."

"That isn't a guarantee, Athrun," Kira says. "It's really just a hope," he says.

"Thanks for killing my hopes, Strike," Yzak says testily. "Still, I do remember Commander Badgiruel talking about the Empire using some kind of device to transport gear and personnel around. If we could get our hands on that, we could repurpose it to send us home, maybe?"

"Yeah, maybe," Athrun replies. "And when did you get an education in quantum physics?" he asks after a moment.

"No, wait, Yzak's right," Kira says. "I mean, think about it. Three quarters of what has happened to us is due to a quantum physics impossibility. Matter is not supposed to transit dimensions in a complete, unaffected state, and yet here we are, tour stop three on a trip that God doesn't even know how long or messed up it will be. That means that present quantum theories have a few gaping holes and a lot of gray area. Maybe the fact that we don't know how it is supposed to go by the books can save our butts in the long run?"

"I know I didn't hear that right," Athrun says as he uses his finger to check his right ear for an obstruction.

"Oh, you heard it right, Athrun," Yzak replies. "To get home, we're going to have to do more than just break ZAFT's regulations, we're going to have to piss on the physics rulebooks and probably on the whole of every science book while we are at it."

The grim look from Athrun summed up his thoughts on the matter. "There is way too many things that can go wrong with this stunt, Yzak," Athrun says after a few moments.

"Athrun, there is no 'it can go wrong' because it already _has_ gone wrong. Or do you consider going from Aube to Cephiro to Dustball normal for an Earth Alliance ship?" Kira asks on the level.

The question was so absurd that Athrun began cracking up with laughter. "Now you've done it, Strike, you've driven Athrun off the deep end."

"So, how do we go about this?" Kira asks.

"Very carefully," Yzak replies. "First off, we will need to wrest Vector from the Empire, and make sure they can't come back. Second, we analyze their equipment, and figure out if it is even possible to do what we want to do with it. If it can be done, we then make all efforts to mod the gear and begin small-scale testing. If we get that far..."

"...It will be a miracle," Athrun says. "Still, I can't stop you two from trying?"

"Think of it this way, Athrun, if we screw up and create a black hole on accident, we'll get to figure out if black holes really are some kind of cross-dimensional anomaly or if they just suck," Kira notes with an obvious tone of humor. It was enough to set Athrun and Yzak to laughing.

"You know, Athrun, we'll need all hands on deck to actually do the math, as well as make the mods," Yzak notes.

"You don't need help, you two need parental supervision," Athrun replies sardonically. "I still think you're flat crazy for even thinking this is possible, but since I can't stop you from trying I might as well tag along, make sure one or both of you don't screw it up," Athrun notes. From Yzak he got a blank stare; from Kira a smile. "What?"

"That's the spirit, Athrun, forward, always forward, even if our next destination is a rut," Kira says cheerily.

"Okay, now I think Strike has gone off the deep end. Am I the only sane person on this ship any more?" Yzak asks nobody in particular.

"Maybe, maybe not," Athrun asks as he looks up and down the main promenade of the castle, the path that led from the gatehouse in the distance to the keep that they were standing near. "Maybe we are the sane ones and the rest of life is crazy. Who knows?"

"If you're looking for an answer from me, you've dialed the wrong number, Athrun," Yzak replies.

"Abstain," Kira says judiciously. He knew that his involvement with Flay would be used as ammo against him in such an argument, so he chose the silent path real fast.

"Okay, message received," Athrun replies. "Times like this, I wonder where Dearka would vote," Athrun notes after a moment of silence.

"He'd probably laugh," Yzak replies honestly. Kira figured the same, but said nothing since he did not knew Dearka all that well before his demise.

The three were silent for a minute, observing their surroundings in the dutiful guard fashion. Even that did not last long, for the whole area was peaceful and the desert silence gave no indication of an oncoming threat, therefore they were less inclined to be guards as they were to be chatting. "So, Kira, did you get the programming on the projectors fixed?"

"Yeah, it's all done. There should be no more trouble from those, but I intend on checking it every other week or so, just to be sure." Kira notes.

"With luck, they'll get so frustrated next time they try, they'll give up before they get access," Athrun notes. "Your side?"

"I think the involved mechanic I talked to got the message," Yzak says. He was very capable of being intimidating at several levels, and he used most of those on the hapless mechanic, with a stern warning that Yzak was going to serve their asses for lunch if they tried it again (ergo, no third warning).

"And that should be that," Kira says. "You know, now that I think of it, Yzak's plan to get us home hinges on us being able to rid the world of the Empire. Anyone here know how hard that is going to be?" Kira asks.

"Offhand, no," Yzak replies drolly. "We can't stop just because the enemy looks bigger than us. If we don't do this, we're stuck here, probably on the run, and doomed before we get home. To hell with that, I say, let's mulch the Empire and 'borrow' their gear for getting home."

"But...what about them?" The question had come from Hikaru, who was standing behind Yzak and visible only to Kira initially.

"If you mean the Empire, what happens to them is fate's problem, not mine. After some of the crap I've heard they have pulled, and the veritable slaughter they made in Narshe just to get to one Esper, I'm not going to lose any sleep over their demise." If Yzak could have sounded colder, how was lost on Kira and Athrun.

"...cold..." was about the only word that they could make out of what Hikaru had to say about Yzak's comment.

_I think he just upset her_, Kira thinks aloud. "Uh, Hikaru, wanna go explore the castle?" Kira asks before Yzak could ask Hikaru what she said, thereby creating an incident.

"Huh?" She asks blankly, then realizes what Kira said. "Oh, sure," she says without giving Yzak a second glance. In moments the two were headed down the promenade toward the gatehouse.

"What was that all about?" Yzak asks.

"You just royally pissed her off, Yzak," Miriallia says as Tolle looks around from the pilot's vantage points. "Nice view," Mir says as she looks over the parapet and out into the midmorning desert.

"Going to be insanely hot, though," Tolle says. "That's the one thing I don't like about deserts," he says as he joins Mir on the palisade wall.

"At least our Archangel Team uniforms are gray, not red or dark blue," Athrun notes. "Otherwise we'd already be cookin'."

Yzak snorts. "I still don't get what I said was so offensive," he says, unwilling to be dodged.

"Simple," Athrun says. "Not everyone sees the universe in black and white as you mostly do and as I sometimes do, Yzak," Athrun notes a bit coldly. "Hikaru was concerned about the well-being of civilians and personnel that weren't committed to the fight, not just the main garrisons that we are going to have to shred. And you never seem to think about that," Athrun says.

"And is there something wrong with that? It's the commander's job to worry about such things," Yzak replies crassly but not unfairly.

"Yzak, by role you are a commissioned officer because you are a pilot," Athrun says. "You are required to think about those things, not just your CO," and Athrun pauses to let it sink into the white-and-blue-haired pilot. "Now, I'll say you probably have less to worry about from the commander than the rest of the crew, like Mir, Hikaru, or even Kira if you piss him off, but if you do piss someone off by causing or ignoring a massacre, I'm not going to stop them," Athrun says.

"What the hell, Athrun?" Yzak asks.

"I didn't turn off my humanity when I signed up for ZAFT, that is what," Athrun replies. "I'm taking a walk, Yzak, you coming or not?"

"No," Yzak replies a bit sharply.

Yzak was left fuming in the morning sun for quite a while, though as the temperature increased his cold attitude cooked off slowly.

-x-x-x-

(Three days later; March 12, Year 986)

There really was not much in the way of negotiating to be done, more along the lines of discussing capabilities and how to use the immense striking power of the _Archangel_ to best effect against the Empire. Still and all, building operational concepts into plans for a mobile assault on the southern continent was not a simple task, especially when the Returner representative was rather vague as to their own strength and operational purpose. Natarle had proposed they meet with the CO of the Returners to get hard information, which would be necessary for any detailed planning of the operations, and the King had not objected on the face of it.

_Leave it to us to end up having to execute a revolution to get access to the one possible way to get home_, Natarle thinks as she looks over the battlements of the Keep toward the south. The ship was no longer visible in the distance, since it was now parked north of the castle itself, which left nothing but a sea of sand to see in all directions. Natarle was taking a respite from the chambers area to rest her mind and soul in the fresh but arid air on the top of the castle.

"If we do this right, can we do it?" Murrue asks as she approaches and leans up against a crenelation (2) herself, looking south as her 2IC was.

"Probably," Natarle says. "We've already handed their air force back to them in pieces and their ground forces are very limited. We should be able to eliminate their forces by standoff assault, then move in on their bases and the city itself," Natarle says. "Not that I like the thought of having to do that much damage, but because ours is the numerically weaker side we will have to cause more damage to them to force a surrender."

"Or could we use fear factor to our advantage?" Murrue asks after a moment. "Scare them into surrender?"

"We'd need to really scare them, Captain, and if they're disciplined in any major amount then they will not scare enough to do that right," Natarle notes. "The only way I see this working reliably is to smash through their defenses and take Vector, then wait for the remainder of their forces to stack arms and surrender," which was the standard military logic in such a case. Bereft of their command structure and supplies, the enemy would not be overlong in surrendering or dissolving.

"What about a drop operation? Drop right in on top of Vector and hit it hard and fast?" Murrue muses after a few moments. Her plan was predicated on the evolved _Archangel_'s ability to exit and enter the atmosphere without the need for boosters or external aid.

"No, not going to work and likely too risky. If we get cut off before we can complete our objective, kiss the _Archangel_ good bye," which meant that those who lived through that failure would never get the chance to go home.

"Oh," Murrue notes after having that idea rebuffed. "I just..."

"I know. You don't want to have to sledgehammer the bulk of the enemy forces. I don't look forward to it, either, but I do not see another way around it, Captain, and we've both been through the same military academies. Unless Admiral Halburton taught you anything he did not teach in Naval Theory classes?"

"No, nothing that would help here, unfortunately," Murrue replies dejectedly. "Looks like we do it the hard way...again."

"In pursuit of getting home, it beats the pants off doing nothing," Natarle counters.

Murrue simply snorted in response. The silence did not last long between them. "Oh, crap," Murrue says.

"What?" Natarle requests, then traces where the Captain was looking. "Great," she notes. As one, the two senior officers of the Archangel push away from the battlements and head for the stairs down to the lower floors of the keep and castle.

By the time the two got to the exterior of the keep, a crowd had gathered around the spectacle of the day. Natarle and Murrue shoved their way forward to the outside of the clear area formed by the crowd to witness Yzak locked in sword battle with two of the more prominent 'nobles' that hung around the castle. Natarle had been introduced to one of them the day prior, he was lord over basically a small farm village and several square miles of plains to the southwest of the Figaro Deserts, probably also held part of the desert as well. Natarle was less than impressed with his attitude, though she had to wonder if it was Yzak or the noble that had started this.

The battle moved slow, cautious, as they were just beginning and both Yzak and the two nobles expected to be at the duel for some time. Swipe, swipe, as the two tangos with the smaller swords tried to find a way in against Yzak's far larger two-handed sword. The massive blade moved with trained precision and grace, easily countering the smaller swords and each time presenting a threat to the other tango to prevent a cooperative attack from succeeding. As the two began trying to divide Yzak's attention by splitting aside, the Duel pilot responded by picking one of them to flank himself, thereby preventing them from getting around him and forcing him to divide his attention in two wildly different directions.

"Don't kill them, Yzak," Natarle orders as he approaches where he was standing. She knew from the murmurs and comments of the crowd that this battle could not be avoided, it was some form of duel of honor apparently over the ladies. It had to happen, lest the Archangel Team lose honor for some reason.

"I will try to avoid it," Yzak replies curtly before he begins maneuvering aggressively to get a good position on the tango to the right.

The first decent clash of the battle was loud and violent, as the enemy that Yzak was maneuvering on decided to preempt the Gundam pilot before he could begin an attack series. Yzak decided that meeting the enemy halfway was the best option, which he executed with flair. The hilt of the massive two-hand sword came up and he shoved his whole weapon basically with the intent of putting the hilt against the forehead of the enemy. It worked, mostly, though his weapon never contacted enemy flesh the resistance was enough to halt the attack and shove him back against the crowd. Immediately Yzak reset and drove a pair of swings against the other enemy who was attempting to move against his left, first with a swing to deflect the enemy sword from low and right to up and left, then on the way down Yzak brought the flat of the massive sword down on his exposed left shoulder. The impact was leaden and loud, accompanied by the sound of crunching bone as the sheer impact brought the enemy down to the ground with extreme haste. Yzak laid the enemy out with a back spin kick to the side of the face to knock him cold and render him incapable to the fight.

The second enemy was visibly stunned that Yzak had defeated his comrade so quickly, though not caught completely unawares. After taking a moment to fortify his resolve while Yzak set up for his next move, the attack commenced. He defeated the length of Yzak's superior sword by vaulting over it in a nearly-suicidal vaulting jump while trying to bring the sword down on top of Yzak's head. Though insane enough to give Yzak pause, the choice of tactic did not stun him and Yzak managed to get mostly out of the way of the incoming sword; the hit he took was a long, shallow gash down the inside of his left forearm.. The enemy follow-up was well-executed, as after landing the tango thrust in against Yzak's weak left side, though now Yzak was moving himself in counter to the enemy and he only got a minor gash against Yzak's midriff, immediately below the floating rib that caught the Duel pilot's attention but did not cripple him.

Yzak's sword came around from the right, the flat aimed at his foe's calves as Yzak put the whole of his weight into one tremendous, rushing stroke. The sound his blade made in transit was mortifying to the onlookers, who thought for sure that Yzak's first was a fluke and the second would lose his legs just below the knees. The sound of the impact and the subsequent dislocation of the enemy's left knee was rather stunning but far from impossible a result, though Yzak was not through with his swing. With a bit of flair Yzak brought the sword around completely in a high loop and back around, his second target being the blade of the enemy sword a mere centimeter above the hilt; though most expect the sword to be ripped clear of his hand and sent careening into the crowd, Yzak's sword chopped the bulk of the blade clear of the handle and hilt, the magic in his sword well surpassing the strength of the simple steel blade. Yzak's third operational move was to set his blade...

A sharp gasp came up from the crowd. Some of the onlooking ladies screeched. Murrue's jaw sagged; Natarle's jaw clenched in seeing what he was to do. Even the tango on the ground reacted, his eyes showing instantaneous fear and dread at what was about to happen. For a moment, the tip of the sword hung just over his head to where the enemy could look straight up the side of the blade.

**CLANG.**

Yzak crouched down to where he was right next to the head of the enemy. "Just because I pilot a large war machine does not mean I can't kick your ass from here to Hell to Breakfast and back without it, punk," Yzak says before the tango sits up and dabs at the long but shallow gouge on his left cheek about three centimeters below his left eye. "Now, pick your cohort up, dust him off, and drag him and yourself out of my sight, clear?"

"Yessir," the late-thirties landholder says.

Yzak stands up completely and pulls his sword from the stonework, then dispels it by basically going through the motions of sheathing it into the blue gem on his left-hand half glove. Still the guy had not moved. "Faugh! Don't just sit there, move your ass!" Yzak half-shouts, which caused an immediate reaction as the tango sprang up, moved to his downed comrade, and picked him up. In moments both had moved through the crowd and were headed down the walkway toward the gatehouse amid laughs from the crowd.

When Yzak moved toward the two officers and the others from the crew that had come to observe, there were some that were trying to suppress giggles, others that had mastered any such reaction, and those that were laughing outright. Natarle was one that had mostly suppressed the giggles for a few moments, then managed to clear the reaction. "I will expect an incident report by 0800 tomorrow, clear?"

"Yes, Commander," Yzak replies.

"What started this?" Mu asks; standing in front of him and to the side was the King.

"Ask those two, sir, I don't know. One moment I'm walking south down the promenade, next I know I have a meter of steel blade in my face for no apparent reason."

"I will have them seen to," King Edgar says. "Chancellor, take four guards and clear this matter up," the King orders.

"Aye, Highness," the Chancellor replies.

"All right, disperse," King Edgar orders; the crowd begins funneling away from the scene of the battle fairly smoothly. "Milady Ramius, Badgiruel, are you two ready to resume?"

"Captain?" Murrue nods to Commander Badgiruel's question. "We are, sir," Natarle replies to the King.

-x-x-x-

The cafeteria was initially closed due to the fact that the bulk of the crew was in the castle, but Natarle had ordered the ship reactivated and ready for transit to an area east of South Figaro, where the Returner Hideout was supposedly at. This meant that the Cafeteria was to be reactivated as well for meal purposes and the all-important coffee, something that King Edgar assured could be purchased in several areas of the world.

Terra, the former Imperial soldier that the Chef Crew had rescued during their fast jaunt into Narshe, had decided she would prefer to be around the ship, instead of dealing with King Edgar, who had wasted no time hitting on her. Terra had been polite but rather confused as to what it was all about, though Natarle's presence had more or less cut any such pursuit short—it was fast becoming obvious King Edgar had his sights on the Commander of the _Archangel_ CIC. Her presence on the ship meant that after a few hours she had gone looking for something to eat, which inevitably led her to the Crazy Cook.

"And this is it," the Crazy Cook says. "Normally people will eat in here, sometimes they'll have me box a cold lunch for their duty station or they'll take a tray back to their—" **BRRRRRTT**; "a—what the hell was that?" The Cook says as he pulls his pistol and takes aim at the galley section, where the cooks did their thing. "Something is in here," he says low as the sound of ponderous footsteps could be heard on the other side of the counter.

"What could it be?" Terra asks as a light source moved around, shaking back and forth the whole time. It went to an area where the cook knew there was a lower table, then a few seconds pause ensued before **BRRRRRTT** echoed throughout the whole cafeteria and dining area. "That...is freaky," she says.

"Sounded like a really fast knife on a cutting board," the Cook says as he draws a pistol he normally kept concealed in the belt loop around his pants. Again the light source was moving, toward what he thought was one of the reefers, then back toward the table. Terra followed close, her hand looped in the back of his belt as he approached the door and then entered silently. The lights snapped on with the flick of a switch and the pistol centered on the one foreign object in the cafeteria, some...thing that he could not identify with a lamp in one hand and a kitchen knife in the other.

**BRRRRRTT**. The carrot that had been properly skinned was diced crosswise from tip to end in a matter of less than a second. From the way it looked, each cut also was dead even in width from the last, as well.

"Now I know I did not see that right," one of the dishwashers says, staring over the counter at it from behind a Gunther KA-23 Submachinegun.

"That little dude knows how to slice shit up," the grill master says as the tango moves away from the cutting table toward the table where all the stuff had been peeled already. There was only one item left, a celery stick, and the tango gripped it steadily with his left hand (the lamp was in its left, the knife in the right), then began the march back to the cutting board.

"Do it again, Sam," one of the cooks says before the knife came up... **BRRRRRTT**. "You're right, he really can cut shit up," the same guy says before the tango uses his knife blade to scrape the cut celery into a waiting pot.

The tango holds his lamp up slightly, and the light inside begins glowing bright. Simultaneous with that, the pan levitates off the ground level and up to the stove, where it sets on a burner. A loud, slightly soggy farting sound comes from one of the personnel that had stacked on the counter. "Holy shit, dude, check your shorts 'cuz that even sounded soggy," the Dishwasher notes to the guy next to him.

_How does this infernal contraption work_? They all hear inside their heads, obviously telepathy from the little tango. His knife-point poked the side of the stove-oven combo to indicate what he was referencing. If anything, the mental voice sounded like an older, wizened gentleman than anything else.

"Here," the secondary cook says as he reaches over and turns the burner on under the pot.

"What's for dinner?" the dishwasher asks.

"Looks like a vegetable stew with some chunks of meat in it as well," the secondary cook says.

"Strange, the meat locker is not open, what meat did he use?" The Crazy Cook says.

_Leafer, the small creatures of the area that are actually edible_, the reply comes to their minds directly. Given that he was not moving fast, they had to wonder how he caught one without completely obliterating it.

"Okay, now I'm officially on the 'freaked' list. Is he just borrowing the use of our galley or does he want on this slow-boat journey through hell?" the team's baker notes.

"I don't know, why are you here?" the Crazy Cook says.

_A kitchen requires a cook, or it is nothing of the sort. I chose to make it something while you were preoccupied_, they all hear in their minds.

"So, is this an official request to join the galley staff?" the Crazy Cook asks. A slow and decisive nod was the answer. "Other than being an expert slicer and dicer, and apparently a good stew chef, what other skills do you bring?"

_I can identify edible plants and animals wherever you go, and I can cook just about anything if I have the recipe. And I swear I will not poke you with the knife_, the last part was added after a few moments.

"Well, holy shit, that makes him worth his weight in engine fuel," the dishwasher says, referring to the fact that the ship always needed fuel, better an extra pint here and there than running out of juice in the middle of a battle.

"Vote?" The Crazy Cook asks.

"In!" All of the present galley staff half-shouts. There were no declarations of 'out' which made it unanimous.

_We are few, but there are others of my kind throughout the world. With some 'persuasion' they will also be an asset to the galley_, he notes. _I am best at soups, stews, sauces, and some confections; others are better at certain specialties of their own_.

"Sounds like a plan," the Crazy Cook says, already considering the possibilities, both inside and outside the galley.

-x-x-x-

(A day later; 13 March 986)

"Captain, sensors," Murrue's radio squawks during lunch with the King and chancellor.

"Go," Murrue replies into the radio after excusing herself for a moment.

"We have two inbound Magitek contacts, confirm type match to class that we fought on the southern continent. Headed for the castle, estimate range ninety kilometers. ETA of two hours." Sai notes.

"That would likely be the Emperor's Retainer, Lord Kefka," Edgar says. "How far away is ninety kilometers?"

"About 50 miles or so," Natarle says, winging it.

"What that I could see the movements of foes at that range," Edgar says. "Yours must have been a terrible bloody history of wars to have such marvels as your ship," he comments on a snap analysis.

"That is what it amounts to," Natarle notes after a moment.

"They will still be several hours off even at their best advance speed, so we have time to finish our lunch and plan contingencies on what Kefka is doing here," Edgar says before taking another bite of Rhobite. A physical cousin to the Leafer, the Rhobite had a slightly more pungent taste due to the sharper-tasting foliage of its native lands, the Kingdom of Doma. In Figaro, Rhobite was considered something of a delicacy, an excellent main entrée to go along with the local salads and greens.

Murrue had figured it would be a good way to make something of a side-business profit by using some of the unused cargo space on the _Archangel_ to transport local goods from one area to the next for sale or barter. There were few cargo ships running the seas on this world, and few caravans for trading purposes, therefore both the speed of the _Archangel_ and its hold capacity would make it an excellent freighter. Especially when the _Archangel_ could spare enough room to fit some of the smaller towns in its cargo areas with room left over.

The discussion wandered back to their differing worlds. Besides being a machinery fanatic, King Edgar was also a history buff who absolutely loved the tales of the Cosmic Era and the differing governments of the Earth Alliance. He also was fascinated by Pre-CE history, especially the era between years AD1700 and AD2050 and the constantly evolving technology it brought. In kind, he spoke of the past several hundred years as humanity rebuilt from the War of the Magi and how the world had more in it than where the Archangel had thus far been. Of particular interest to Murrue and Mu were the Independent West States, Kohlingen, Jidoor, Zozo, and the two to the west under no territory known as Mobliz and Thamasa, the latter of which had almost no outside contact (people barely knew it even existed, much less what was in it).

There was also talk of an ancient kingdom that held the West States over seven hundred years ago, but it fell to ruin and not even the best of adventurers knew where its remains were. That had Natarle's curiosity, as it was said they were both masters of technology and wizardry. Legends were traded of where the kingdom might have been, and what area of the seas west of the northern continent contained its remains. Natarle figured it more likely that one of these dread monsters Esper had destroyed it, which was less than an earth-shattering revelation in Natarle's mind. The tales of how destructive the Espers could be were already enough to chill the bones of the commanders, as some of them sounded as to have more power than necessary to sink the ship. And this was not even the worst of them, Natarle could sense.

In due time, the radio call came: "Captain, sensors, reporting enemy contacts rage sixty kilometers away at this time."

"Conn, Ramius, have Newman report to the castle keep with his long-arm," Murrue says.

"A little bit of 'insurance' against improper conduct from the enemy VIP," Natarle says in response to a raised eyebrow from the King.

"Ah," he replies as Miriallia confirms the orders and confirms that Newman was moving.

"Speaking thereof, why would Emperor's Retainer be coming here?" Murrue asks.

"I can think of only one cause: he is after the three Magitek troopers and their armor that he sent to Narshe," the Chancellor says.

"No, he's after the one surviving soldier, Terra. You do have her guarded by good hands, correct?" King Edgar says, looking to Commander La Flaga.

"Yes, she is in the care of the galley staff on the ship," Mu replies before taking a sip of some excellent local hot tea.

"The galley staff? An unusual place to hide someone," the Chancellor replies almost immediately.

"It is, yet the crew in the Galley has many options to conceal her, from disguise and tasking all the way to outright hiding her in secret areas that I might not be able to find her," Commander Badgiruel says. "And the Galley staff are themselves rife with surprises of their own, and all that on top of the fact that we're definitely not going to let Imperials on the ship willingly."

"Ah, if they can never get on the ship they will not find her until after it is too late?" King Edgar asks.

"Correct," Murrue replies. "Anyways, what is so special about her?"

"So far, I don't have a clue," Mu replies. "The Crazy Cook doesn't know, either," he appends after a few moments. As eyes wandered around the table for any idea, there was a wave of shrugs and nothing more. Nobody in the group could really figure out why she was so sought after by the Empire that one of their highest-ranked officers would come looking for her.

"We could ask?" Murrue finally opines.

"I see that working well," Natarle replies dourly. It went without saying that he would conceal the real reason he was after her.

"Worth a try, though," Mu says.

"I will deal with Lord Kefka," King Edgar says. "He has...a strange method of going about his tasks and whims, and it would be best if he sees no indication of your presence here," he notes afterward.

"If they are coming in from the south, then parking the ship north of the main castle body should be the best bet," Murrue says before picking up her radio from the table. "Conn, Captain, come back," she says.

"Reading five by five, Captain," Kuzzey says.

"Have Mina move the ship around the castle to park it directly north of the castle and behind the largest dune within twenty kilometers of it. Have Chandratta on standby, if things go to hell I want accurate and immediate support fire, over," she says.

"Roger that, Captain. _Archangel_ will be moving in minutes," Kuzzey replies. "_Archangel_ is out," he says.

"I really hate waiting, especially when the enemy displays frightening capabilities like the ability to move troops a quarter the way around the world instantly," Natarle says.

"It could be worse," Mu says in a cheery fashion.

"How?" Natarle says.

"At least they can't teleport a soldier into the hot springs or the showers," he says, which immediately engendered a disgusted groan from Natarle and giggles from Murrue.

-x-x-x-

Murrue was actually on top of the keep, looking down on the promenade where King Edgar would likely meet with Kefka. Murrue had requested it, just in case things went sour Newman had an excellent field of fire that he could use to keep the King out of trouble.

And an excellent weapon to go along with that field of fire. Days prior he had proved the power and accuracy of the Barret 50-caliber, he had even used it to take down a mastodon-looking local 'pet' of the Narshe Guard that was trying to run down the commando team and trample them. He had a barrel-mounted observer camera on his rifle, and the video of him taking down the enemies had hotly became a favored video of the crew, as it was morbid and violent and gave them a reason to brag about one of the helmsmen, which is not something that most naval crews around Existence would do. Not to mention it also showcased the whole spec ops team as they took down a large amount of Narshe's guards who had decided to jump them as well as their pet wolves.

A shotgun microphone had been set up and both Newman and Natarle had earphones to listen to the output.

"Tango has entered the promenade from the gatehouse," Newman says on the radio, which was on VOX due to the possible developing situation and the need to talk fast and in the clear.

"Ah, Lord Kefka, what brings you out to my humble abode?" King Edgar says as he approaches down the promenade. Unlike usual, he was armed this time, carrying a typical broadsword in a rather decorative sheath.

"Spare me the pleasantries, Edgar," Kefka replies. He was escorted by two of the Imperial troopers, nothing special (a smaller sword in sheath on each) and himself had a broadsword. "I am looking for a...missing trooper," he says in prompting to get down to business.

"This wouldn't happen to be anything to do with the supposed Magitek-riding witch people have been speaking of? The one that assaulted Narshe? Or would it be in reference to that craft that mauled the First Imperial pretty badly?" King Edgar asks in an entirely civil fashion.

"Lies, all of it!" Kefka replies angrily.

"Really," King Edgar replies, a clear tone of disbelief to voice. "Still and all, I need a little more information about this trooper before I can tell you if I have seen him or not," Edgar continues smoothly.

_This King could sell a snail a bucket of salt and make a profit on the deal_, Murrue thinks...

"No fooling, Captain," Newman replies to her apparently telepathically-broadcast commentary.

"Sorry about that, Newman," Murrue replies as Kefka was working his way through a description of Terra, right down to physical height and shoe size. "I get the feeling he's been rather involved with her..."

"That's fucking sick," Newman says. "She's way the hell too young for me, and he is older still," Newman says in a clearly disgusted fashion.

"I do not recall having seen anyone of that appearance, especially the green hair in this castle," and here Edgar looked toward one of the stairhouses to either side of the promenade, "Truly I wish I had, however..." Technically he was not lying, as Nicol had green hair but was also a guy and did not match that appearance, and Fuu had green hair but looked a lot more mousy than Kefka's description by a long shot, not counting her rather shapely figure that King Edgar had noticed but figured her already reserved.

"You are sure of this?" Kefka replies in a dangerous voice.

"Granted, Lord Kefka, there are more girls in this castle than grains of sand outside this castle, but someone of that striking an appearance would undoubtedly come to my attention with all due haste. No, I cannot help you there, Lord Kefka, I have seen no such person in the castle."

Kefka turns his back on the king, which was grossly uncivil in these circumstances. "I would hate to see anything happen to your precious Figaro..." he says before he waves the two troopers to follow him back into the gatehouse and presumably out of the castle.

"Sniper reporting tango is out of sights at this time," Newman says. "Good God, I wish I had green light," he says, referring to authorization to shoot a threat.

"He will live, for today, Newman," Murrue replies, rather infuriated by his attitude that Terra somehow belonged to him. "Keep that rifle cleaned and oiled, you'll get your chance," she adds after a moment. "Track them, make sure they do nothing hostile to the castle. If they so much as aim their weapons in this direction with fingers on the trigger, hammer them flat."

"Aye, Captain," Newman replies. "Sniper off the channel," he says before he turns his radio off VOX and onto push-to-talk mode.

Murrue had descended into the keep where King Edgar and the Chancellor were meeting with Locke. "...and be there in a week's time or thereabouts," King Edgar was heard to say as she approaches.

"Thankfully they did not notice the ship from the direction they came, or there would have been a lot more 'hostile' intentions on his part," the Chancellor says.

"And your take, Captain Ramius?"

Murrue's tact was dead simple: "I almost ordered my sniper to shoot him," she says. "Still, we do know he is after Terra for some reason, so denying her to their side is one of our objectives now."

"I would have been less than shocked if you did have your sniper shoot Lord Kefka," The Chancellor says. "Still, that open-ended threat he left us with is worrysome."

"He is unstable," Newman says as he comes down the stairs and into the room. "After he was outside the castle I turned the microphone on him, and he was going on about getting materials and authorization to set the castle on fire. We may want to have a guard detachment ready for that," Newman notes. There had been some discussion about how effective the massive Barret

"No, we will do something even better," King Edgar begins, then starts laying out his plan for action. The plan relied on sleight of hand as much as anything else...

-x-x-x-

"Conn, Sensors, I have missiles in flight, origin south of Figaro, intended destination Figaro," Sai notes to Mu, who had the Conn at this time.

"Battle stations," Mu orders; Sai immediately tripped the battle klaxon.

"Report," Murrue orders as she enters the Conn a matter of seconds later.

"Missiles fired on the castle, Captain. We tracked eight missiles, they detonated at 300 meters AGL over the castle," Sai says.

"Napalm attack," Natarle says, going on the thought that it would get an impressive pattern if detonated that high above the ground. Igniting it all would be a bit rough, though, which is probably why they used eight missiles instead of one.

"We wait for the signal," Murrue says. "I have the Conn," Murrue says as she pokes at Mu's side as signal for him to evacuate the Captain's chair.

"Aye, Captain has the Conn," he says as he clears out and heads for the lift down to the lower decks and the hangar beyond.

"Captain, I have activity in the area of the south-west end of Figaro, possible Magitek forces," Sai says. "Visual?"

"Main screen," Murrue orders. In three keystrokes the magnified view of Figaro was on the screen. "Thankfully they don't have night vision, or they would already have made us," she notes.

"Conn, Control, Gundams Aegis and Duel reporting ready op, Skygrasper is preflighting right now, Battlemechs are jump-starting from accumulator and will be ready in 15 seconds," Miriallia declares.

"Conn, CIC, Commando team reporting ready op," Natarle says. There had been no protest from the crew about the new addition to the galley staff, so far he was definitely pulling his weight with local cuisine. Not to mention Leafer tasted real good when prepared right, and this guy really knew how to do it.

"Elementals?" Murrue asks.

"They are on standby, ready op at this time," Natarle replies. "We're going to have to go shooting inevitably, so where do we begin?"

"Arm Valiants, missile tubes. Charge the Gottfrieds and deploy after others, Igelstellung grid active. Point Defense grid last," Murrue orders.

"Weapons spooling up now, Valiants showing green, Missile Tubes loaded with Sledgehammers all around, Gottfrieds are charging now, Igelstellungs are armed and ready, point defense grid is arming. No shoot-list loaded yet," Chandratta says.

"Conn, Sensors, I have low-level track on two Magitek armors at the southwest corner of the castle, not locked up yet," Sai notes.

"Roger that, Sensors uncage the laser designator but do not target yet. We're still waiting for the signal," Murrue says.

"Conn, sensors, severe seismic activity detected from Figaro," Sai says, getting a read from a part of the sensors that were not often deployed due to the ship doing a lot of hovering.

"Holy crap, the west and east towers on the castle are dragging inward," Natarle notes as they could barely see it on the visual from ten kilometers.

"Figaro submerge mode," Murrue says. "Helluva mechanical feature built into the castle, it actually runs along a tunnel and rails between several points around the world. When it gets to the end of the rails, it lifts up to above the sands."

"Interesting," Mu says, himself not privy to the concept until Murrue had said so. "So, how are we going to do this?"

"We move to and pick up the King and Locke after the castle is down and the Imperials give chase. We'll have very little time between, so you'd better be on top of your game, Chandratta," Murrue cautions.

"I'll do it with the Gottfrieds," Chandratta says, given that the cannons were the most accurate of the ship's guns at range. "Sensors, pass me control of the laser designator," he requests after a moment.

"It is yours," Sai says. "Conn, Sensors, I show two Chocobo with riders heading roughly east at this time," Sai notes. "Magitek forces are following, estimate intercept in one minute," Sai says.

"Tracking now," Chandratta says as he enters a thus-far unused mode of his weapons control systems. "Gottfried one, barrel one uncaged and maneuvering independently, laser designator active, tracking now," Chandratta mutters at his control panel while doing as he said. "Target painted, locked up," he says.

"Fire," Captain Ramius says.

A single beam struck out into the night air between two dunes that concealed the bulk of the ship's length. In less than a second the beam had transited the several-kilometer gap between ship and pursuing Magitek. The beam struck the enemy armor dead on, and being a 225-centimeter particle beam weapon, blitzed right through the bulk of the 300-centimeter-tall Magitek frame. The pilot had not even the time to scream before most of the matter in his body was flashed instantly to vapor; focused on running down the King and his escort, the pilot never even saw shot coming.

The second pilot was a veteran of a certain nasty campaign where he had seen a giant ship that floated above the ground, spitting death in fashions that he knew Magitek could not even match. He even doubted the power of an Esper to take down that ship, it was that powerful and tough. He instantly recognized the green beam as being one of the ship's most powerful long range weapons and brought his armor to a skidding halt. "Hell with this, I'm getting out of here!" he shouts over the roaring fire that was what was left of the lead armor.

"Target is stopped, retreating," Chandratta says as he watches the armor turn around and head for the one guy that was still standing around in the desert. "Should I shoot?"

"No, leave them, we terminated the pursuit. Our objective is completed," Murrue says. "Helm, bring the ship up, hook around to the east to intercept Locke and King Edgar," Captain Ramius says. She would never completely know the extent of how much trouble she could have saved herself by finishing the battle.

"Can do," Newman says. In moments the ship was up above the desert floor and turned east, with a judicious amount of engine power applied it was soon moving far faster than the bird that King Edgar was riding. "Bingo, we've outpaced him," Newman says after about two minutes.

"Set course 1-4-0 until we intercept their travel path," Murrue says. "Then bring her to a stop and land," she finishes up the order string. She picked up the growler phone and dialed in a combination. "Hangar area, after we land open the forward cargo doors and prepare to receive two on indigenous mounts," Murrue orders.

"Captain, we have intercepted their travel course. Distance to the King is 700 meters," Newman notes after a few minutes of flight. "Setting down now," he says as he begins pulling back on the Levitator output throttle. In moments the ship was sinking about a meter a second, until it landed and settled.

The sound of the forward vehicle and cargo doors opening could be heard throughout the hull, and Murrue watched the two Chocobo run up to and literally into the ship. "Captain, Hangar reports they have recovered King Edgar and Locke," Natarle notes as the doors begin closing.

"Have Mu see them to guest quarters for now," Murrue says. "Helm, bring the ship up to 200 meters and set your course 1-2-0 for now, ahead five percent. Natarle, you have the Conn, I am retiring to my quarters for the night," Murrue declares.

"Aye Captain, I have the Conn," Natarle says in response.

-x-x-x-

(4 days later, 17 March 986)

"Here's where it gets tricky," Mu says as he hauls back on the throttle to slow his rate of advance.

Kira's unit, the Warhawk, had already matched pace to Mu's Timber Wolf, and both were advancing more or less in line on the supposed enemy formation. They were working in simulation in hill terrain to sharpen up both Kira and Mu for the inevitable next encounter with the Empire, since they would have to invade Vector and there more or less was no chance of being able to negotiate an amicable settlement. Not to mention, Mu figured it best that someone stuffed the Empire, given how bloody their campaigns in Albrook and Tzen were. No pretensions here, people were dying in the Emperor's quest for power.

"Commander, contacts forward and left, forward, forward and right. We're heading straight in at them, are we sure we want to do it this way?" Kira asks.

"The Omnimechs should be able to survive is kind of a battle easily, even without support. We should be able to win this one," Mu says as they finally crest the hill and start seeing the simulated enemy formation. "Open fire, start moving left. We'll roll up their left flank and push them into the gulch," Commander La Flaga says.

"Roger that," Kira says as he activates his Large Pulse Lasers and ER PPCs. The combination was similar to the primary and much dreaded variant of the Warhawk, but traded in the top twenty percent of the damage potential for increased heat efficiency. Kira did not object to this, he preferred the thought of not having the full arsenal, as the inside of a Warhawk got real hot real fast even without the massive heat spike of the Primary.

Despite the rather noisy way Mu had taken out the vanguard and scouts, the enemy formation was caught unawares as the two Omnimechs crested the hill, and it showed as they reacted away from the hill badly as Kira fired both ERPPCs and one Large Pulse Laser at units farther up the next hill over, hoping to force them to split and thus divide their firepower. Initially it appeared that he was doing what he intended, as a rift started forming more or less down the center of the formation, though this was countered by Mu's use of LRMs on the forward left elements and the whole enemy formation began shifting right, away from the nastier of the two weapons salvos.

"Incoming," Mu says calmly as missiles start closing in on them, fired from the rear echelon of the enemy unit. Most missed, but as in a shotgun used on a distant target some were more or less expected to hit, and most of those were on Kira's unit. "You know, I've been thinking about switching weapons pods on my unit to something better suited for handling larger volumes of smaller targets," Mu thinks aloud.

"The A Variant on the Timber Wolf isn't half bad for close-in fighting," Kira says. "You just have to be careful not to overuse the PPCs," Kira cautions.

"I may talk to Murdoch about getting it set up after this," Mu says.

"Simulation cancelled," the computer in his Timber Wolf declares as his monitors all go dead.

"What the hell?" Mu says before he reads the cancellation reason. "Oh," he moans, looking outside to the assembling personnel. "Okay, c'mon Kira, we have a pow-wow to attend," Commander La Flaga says.

"You say so," Kira replies as he climbs out of the cockpit and starts down the rope ladder for the deck. Captain Ramius had issued a kill command for the sim mode on their machines, so...

The crew took no more than three minutes to assemble, including the new chef's assistant, and next to Captain Ramius and Commander Badgiruel was the King, the leader of the Returners, and Locke.

"I wonder what this is about?" Miriallia asks nobody in particular.

"No telling," Kira replies. Athrun simply grunts in response, thinking the same thing.

"You could always do some digging, Mir," Tolle says.

"No way," Miriallia replies. "I don't always like looking into your mind, and I know you well. What makes you think I want to dig around a complete stranger's mind?" The three Magic Knights had a bit of a giggle about Mir's comment, given that they were standing right behind Mir and Tolle.

Tolle clutches at his chest, somewhere near his heart, while making a dramatic moaning sound. "That...hurts, Mir," Tolle says.

"Sorry, Tolle, the truth hurts, so I can't help you there."

"Zero to brutal in one sentence," Yzak comments from Kira's far side from Tolle.

"You know, I think I like having an operator with a personality," Nicol notes. "ZAFT Operator training must have been engineered to suck the life out of the people who give us pilots orders."

"And why is that?" Athrun asks.

"Reminds me that there is a real person on the other side of the radio," Nicol replies almost immediately. "It helps," he adds.

"He's right," Athrun says. Miriallia blushed slightly about the overt compliment from the ZAFT pilots, but not severely.

"All right, settle down," Murrue orders. Within moments the whole crew was silent. "All right, people, we have determined that there is a possible way to get us home, back to the world from where we came," and the whole crew let out a massive cheer that lasted almost a minute. "Now, before we go off the deep end, I need to make this clear: this is a **possible** way to get home, not a guarantee that in X amount of time we will be back in the skies of Earth, CE 71. For this to work, a lot of breaks have to come our way, but to do that, we have to manufacture a bit of our own luck to even get the chance."

After the few murmurs calm, Murrue continues. "First off, and this is the most important part, we need to basically overthrow the Empire and kick them out of power. With them in play, there is no hop of us being able to even try to do this. To that end, we will sign a contract to support the Returners in their battle against the Empire, with compensation being operational supplies and the necessary facilities to complete what we must. Second, during the coup, we must make sure the Magitek Research Facility and the Teleport Generator are intact by the end of the shooting, or we're stuck here until those can be rebuilt. Third, once the Empire is gone certain persons in our ranks will attempt to repurpose the teleporter to transport us between dimensions to our home. This whole process is going to take time, both kicking the Empire out and rebuilding their machines to our needs. I'm talking years, here, people, but we have a chance of being able to do this."

"Say the word, Captain, and my team 'n' I'll go in and 'persuade' the Emperor to get lost," one of the Cooks says.

"It's not going to be that easy, specialist," Natarle replies. "We have to force the Empire to abdicate to the Returners, and that means all their forces, or we'll be busy fighting them the whole time we're trying to get home, clear?"

"Aye, Commander," the same cook replies.

"All right, people, for now we will do nothing except avoid direct confrontation with the Empire, though soon enough we will be gainfully employed and very active," Murrue cautions to some giggles here and there.

"Make sure all your gear is in working condition and get some rest, people. When the fighting starts, we likely will not stop until we've taken Vector and the Imperial Army stacks arms to surrender," Natarle says. "Dismissed," she says. The crew beings to break down and head back to their duty stations in a very cheery mood. It did not last long.

One of the Returners had entered the cargo doors of the ship, followed by a rather large and muscular man who was dragging a second Returner in a one-arm carry. Two other Returners followed, one of them looking like he had been brutalized with a wooden hammer, the other missing a hand and part of the associated forearm that had been replaced with a tourniquet. "What gives here?" Natarle asks sharply.

"Banon...I must speak to Banon..." the one that the large guy was dragging says.

"What?" Banon asks. "What happened?"

"The Empire...at Figaro...coming this way...unhhh..." the guy finishes collapsing, though he was being supported by the large guy. Kira figured him for some form of bodybuilder or martial artist.

"Medic! Up here!" Murrue shouts as the large guy lays him down. "He's lost a lot of blood," she says as she checks for a pulse and finds it very weak and thready.

"Jesus," the Doc says as he approaches. "Natalya, Pytor, give me a hand here," the Doc requests, and the two Bondsmen immediately move to assist him in loading him on a casualty stretcher brought up by one of the hangar techs.

"He wasn't lying," the large guy says as the Doc begins hauling him off with the help of the Clanners. "A Regiment of their troops appeared in the valley east of South Figaro and marched on the town with ten minutes warning. There was nothing they could do," he notes with a depressing shake of his head. "They won't be long in coming over Mount Kolts and heading for here; they probably know this craft is here, as well."

"And with the possible invasion of Doma to the east, we have three ways they can cause serious damage to a rebellion," Banon says. "The Esper in Narshe, take Figaro out of the picture and we lose comparable technology advantages, take Doma out and we lose some of the best soldiers aligned against them," he ticks the points off on one hand.

"Which is worse?" Natarle asks.

"They are all very bad, but the absolute worst has to be the Esper. If the Empire wakes it, it will tear a lot of the world to pieces in fury," Banon notes. Before anything else could be said:

"Sabin?" Edgar asks as he nudges forward, toward what sounded like a familiar voice. The large guy cringes visibly, himself recognizing the voice of the speaker.

* * *

Author's Chapter Afterword:

And just when you think it safe to relax and get back into the art of writing, some of your relatives WILL come up with a 'better plan' for you to execute. I planned on having this one something around 4 July, but nooooo...

The moral of the story: moving sucks. Even when the total distance you are moving is 125 yards west from your present residence.

Kind of a light chapter here, thin on battle but a definite bridge. Shortly shall the real action commence, as first the invasions have to be quelled and then Narshe defended against another, far heavier attempt to seize the Esper. Expect a lot of bloodshed in the next chapter, minimum, maybe as many as two chapters as I really unwind the might of the Empire and the Archangel. 'Bloodletting' would be a charitable term for the upcoming action, and not all of it on the side you would expect.

Other than this, I have not much else to comment on this chapter. Just stay tuned, the war without frontiers is about to really commence.

Up next: The Archangel is caught in a quandary, required to be in three places at once to deal with three separate incidents, can they do it?

* * *

Review Replies:

Six reviews initially to this chapter, and for that I thank you all.

**Frasermage**: Life or death are really just concepts without definition. How does one define life or death when you never really know where you are to begin with?

**CHM01**: Flat answer: You do NOT want to know what goes on inside my head, comrade. Actually, it was Natarle that was subject to King Edgar's try, but he got nowhere (like usual). Stay tuned, more on this subplot to come.

**EtienneOfTheWestWind**: of all the various injuries I have taken, not once have I been concussed. Still, Athrun remembers something of those last few moments, and he is not talking. As to the rest, I am unsure who would make a good female tech in any circumstance, since Terra is more military than technical. Miriallia, however is a possible. This bears reviewing.

**TheGreenKnight63**: Thank you, going out and shooting targets just does something for the soul. And yes, you will get some more badass enemies in the next few battles, but keep in mind the compliment of the Archangel is always improving, so this one can be a close engagement...

**Nick012000**: Code Geass has been on my list of anime to pick up for some time, only problem is that these things known as 'bills' keep getting in the way. That and the ammo expenses I incur in the course of writing an average chapter. Still and all, if the mass of one of these Knightmare Frames is equivalent to its size when compared to a Gundam, the Duel could pick one up and drop-kick it FTW. That would definitely be a psychological detriment to anyone that pissed Yzak off :P

**Knives91**: You expected any different from the cooks after the incident with the light machine gun back when there was a near-mutiny on the Archangel? These guys know their shit, and not even Murrue knows what all they are capable of.

* * *

The Gripe Sheet:

There is one outstanding gripe from last chapter, whereby after Athrun was injured I had him mounting his Gundam in full battle gear to defend the first expedition to Figaro. I modded this to show that Kira had mounted the Aegis, borrowing it from Athrun while he was laid up. I figured this the most logical of all options. Much thanks to **Etienneofthewestwind** for pointing that out, I missed it on my read-over before posting.

In clarification to **CHM01**'s question, no, Flay is not out of the brig and she does not have her Kodachi back. The dice are still on standby to determine her fate after she is released.

* * *

Footnotes:

(1): Machine Address Code. This is a unique hardware ID on network cards, designed to prevent addressing conflicts since there are only so many IP addresses available under the IPv4 standard. Every network card has a unique (in theory) MAC, listed as xx.xx.xx.xx.xx.xx, where each x is a hex number (0-9 plus A, B, C, D, E, F). In theory, there are a possible 4 billion, 294 million unique addresses using present MAC systems.

(2): a crenelation is the raised part of a castle wall that people hide behind to avoid arrows or gunfire. It makes the wall look kind of like it has a sawtooth edge on top. Crenelations can also have an arrow slit or crossbow slit in them, allowing the trooper behind them to fire a bow at people on the ground with far less hazard of being shot back at and struck by return fire.


	22. Dawn Of Victory

(Chapter 3, Section 6: Dawn Of Victory)

"Operationally, we have one objective: give their invasion forces a system shock from which they will likely not recover," Natarle begins the main part of the objective briefing. "Tactically, we have two objectives, followed by a third to be executed immediately after the first two. "First, we shall liberate South Figaro by commando infiltration strike. Second, we will engage directly the Imperial fire base that has been erected to service the siege of Doma. Once those two objectives are met, we will proceed north at a high speed to Narshe and mount a defense against the Empire attempting to claim the Esper. Captain?" Natarle offers Murrue the podium.

Murrue quickly reminded herself that this was just another briefing, despite the insanely varied group of personnel in the room. The Briefing room itself was crowded to the point of not even having standing room, due to the fact that there were so many in there already. The compliment of the _Archangel_ was ever-increasing, which made her wonder if it would ever be possible to keep things straight. Murrue silently dreaded the thought that she may not know who was on her ship entirely by dint of having so many people in the ship to begin with.

"The operational concept replies on hitting them hard and fast, and namely taking down their Magitek forces as a priority. Without their Magitek Knights, the enemy has nothing on the Archangel Team, not even a hope of decent defiance. To that end, we will operate in two teams to strike South Figaro and the Imperial Camp to the east of Doma. In South Figaro, we will deploy the Commando Team, Newman, Natarle, and Locke. The assault will be by diver insertion onto the docks prior to nautical sunrise (1), to maintain operational stealth you will conduct your assault at night. Once inside South Figaro you are to proceed to eliminate command assets and armor assets as a priority, then continue with the elimination of enemy forces until the remainder surrenders or flees. Since we have little to no intelligence on the enemy except an estimate force count, you will need to rely on operational judgment when in the field."

"Understood, Captain," the Crazy Cook replies.

"Against the imperial encampment near Doma, again we do not have solid intel on what is there and how to deal with them. We will know closer to op time as to how to deal with them, but for now we shall assume that we will need all of the mobile forces to do this one. Therefore, all pilots will need to be at the ready in three hours. When we begin the battle, ground forces will focus on driving the enemy into a confined area distant from the castle at Doma, and attempt to force a surrender. I don't expect they will, but it is worth an attempt."

"And if they don't surrender?" Commander La Flaga asks.

"Take them down until they are no threat to Doma," she replies steadily.

"Right," Mu replies.

"Once those objectives are completed, the _Archangel_ will return to South Figaro to commence cleanup, recover personnel, then it is northbound to Narshe and a defensive action to keep the Esper safe. This being done, we should be able to keep the Empire from gaining a serious foothold here in the North," Murrue says. "If we keep them pinned south, our options are more open to set the timetable for invading the south at our leisure. And, if we can capture or eliminate most of their invasion forces, the Emperor may just hold his remaining forces close instead of trying to come north any more."

Natarle picks up where the Captain left off: "Again, since we do not have knowledge of what is going on in Narshe, we will have to plan as we go when we get there. Due to our required messy retreat, we may not be viewed as allies when we arrive; Banon thinks he may be able to persuade them otherwise on the ground, though the chance for another bloodbath is arguably very high in any such case. We should be on our guard at that time. Ultimately, we need to make sure that the Esper does not fall into Imperial hands and preferably does not awaken completely. In the case of Narshe, taking down Imperial forces is less of a priority than denying the Esper to them."

"Any Questions?" Captain Ramius asks. There were none. "Very well, all personnel commence an equipment and ship system's check. We begin deployments in three hours. Dismissed."

In due time the only two people remaining in the briefing room were Mu and Murrue.

"Think you're up to it?" Murrue asks.

"I'd ask you the same thing," Mu replies after a moment.

"And that is why?" Murrue asks in a half-accusatory fashion.

"You don't seem like you're completely convinced this is the right thing to do," Mu replies.

Murrue sighs before she pulls a chair loose from the table and sits down in it backwards. It was a full-back chair, so as to provide no view for anyone watching her unorthodox way of sitting down. "I am not convinced, Mu. I don't know what to believe any more. We keep playing these long-ball odds, more or less a game in hopes we're going to get home any more than we survive the next battle. I'm beginning to wonder which of the Fates we pissed off, and what we do to get off their shit-list."

"Well, we don't correct this by doing nothing," Mu replies. "I don't like the odds on Yzak's plan any better than you do. I just don't see any other possible option besides trying it. Unless you have one?" Mu asks.

"No, I don't..." Murrue begins, then stops.

"Trust yourself a little more, Murrue. And trust the crew. It may not look pretty, it may not sound pretty, it may not be pretty, but it may work," Mu says as he stands up. With the obligatory salute, he was on his way out of the room...

...before Murrue stopped him. "Mu?"

"Huh?" Mu replies as he stops just inside the door.

"After the fighting is over, I'd like to talk to you over a cup of coffee."

"Sure," Commander La Flaga replies, already with something of an idea what this was going to be about.

-x-x-x-

"Morning, Commander," the Armory Chief says as Natarle approaches. "I heard what was going down today. I have kits for the whole spec ops teams ready, except you and Locke."

"Locke won't be using one, but I will need one," Natarle says. "Locke doesn't trust guns," Natarle qualifies her explanation after the Chief gives her a questioning look.

"Clear," he replies. "Door's unlocked," he notes after he enters the necessary code into the control panel.

Natarle stepped into the ship's now-extended armory and was immediately assailed with the smell of gun oil, nitro solvent and propellant. For most it was a thoroughly unfamiliar and somewhat sinister smell, but for Natarle it was both a job hazard and something of a welcome change of pace from the scent of the rest of the ship, which alternated between the smell of a machine shop, the inside of an oil drum, and a locker room. Natarle took a moment to calm herself just inside and to the left of the door, before she began planning what she would be likely to need.

_Primary weapon...something guaranteed to hammer through imperial infantry armor_, she thinks as she moves down the row of the pre-assembled kits awaiting the team. The weapons were divided roughly between the assault rifle in 30-caliber and the Gunther KA-23 Sub-machinegun, the latter of which had solid slug ammo in a larger caliber than the Rorynex. Two of the team would be carrying Light Machine Guns, which used the same ammo as the assault rifle but had a higher firing rate and fed from a box magazine, and one of them would be carrying a recoilless rifle along with a Rorynex SMG. The last two kits in line were the sniper kit that Newman used, including his massive Barret 50-caliber sniper rifle, and a kit for a support laser with the gyroscopic harness. The latter would likely be the clincher if they had to engage any Imperial armor, since it did not take a large amount of abuse to take down Magitek forces.

Natarle settled on the assault rifle, and added a grenade launcher to the forearm. Magazines were already at the ready for deployment, so she picked up a tactical vest and adjusted it down to appropriate size for her smaller frame, then loaded the magazine pouches up. She also grabbed an extra bandoleer for the 40mm grenade launcher and loaded up ten grenades to carry along. Of hand grenades she strapped on some White Phosphorous, some smoke grenades, and two of the standard fragmentation type grenades. To this she added a standard 9mm pistol and a tactical leg holster for it, as well as the left-side tactical leg holster for extra magazines and a pair of grenades (standard fragmentation types, two). Before she moved on she loaded and chambered the pistol, then safed it and holstered.

Her next step was to fit the tactical vest and do the fine adjustments to make sure it was ready for her use. With that done, she slung her assault rifle and fitted the sling to her normal carry position, which would make it a lot easier to use and if necessary transition (2). She knew that after she added the rest of her kit she would feel like a waddling, well-armed duck, but such was the nature of what she had to carry to get the job done reliably. Others would be carrying heavier, Natarle knew, especially the obligatory demolitions team and the heavy weapons personnel.

Given that her 'arsenal' was assembled, then came the non-weapons supplies. Medical kit, entry tool, multi-tool, gas mask, safety glasses, pair of MRE (3), pair of water canteens, emergency energy candy. She did not have the standard combat knife in her kit, since she had the multi-tool for a knife's work and her Saber for larger tasks. The multi-tool and entry tool could be considered to have overlapping tasks, but Natarle preferred carrying the entry tool (a hardened breaker bar basically) for the off-chance that she would have to enter a structure for some reason or another. The rest was basic stuff, and more often than not necessary to their task just as much as the weapons she carried.

With all her gear assembled and readied, she took the vest and holsters off and staged them at the far end of the line, and was out of the weapons locker moments thereafter. "Ready to go, Commander?"

"Everything is set," Natarle replies to the Chief's question. "We'll probably be along to collect our gear in about an hour. Can you have two hard-cases loaded with extra ammo and a third with LAWS rockets? We may need the extra munitions if the enemy wants to get rough with us," Natarle replies.

"Can do, Commander," the Chief replies.

The Commander headed down to the cafeteria for her last meal before the operation, which would be important since the operational planning only accounted for twelve hours between when the team was dropped in the ocean and when the _Archangel_ came back for seconds. Natarle had two MRE packs in her kit, but those may not last long enough if the _Archangel_ was held up overlong at the objective.

Unsurprising to Natarle, the cook and about half of his staff was eating right now, in addition to a good amount of the pilots and the bondsmen. Most came to attention as she passed by their tables, though some were a bit distracted by other events, the holosim projector that was running a holo reprojection of an older movie (Casablanca) or conversations they were mired in. Natarle had long since given up on fretting about such lack of normal military discipline, since the ship as a whole was less military than it was barely organized chaos any more. The crew knew how to get the job done, and they readily got the job done whenever needed, but not always by the book.

Her meal consisted of hamburgers (two, small, with provolone cheese), corn, broccoli, French fries, a cup of diced peaches and a glass of water. Not the best for someone about to go on a commando infiltration assault, but not the worst by a long shot. She found an unoccupied half of a table and grabbed a seat.

A meal consisting of typical ship's food and a consideration of what she would do if she ever got home. _If I survive this mad-house and the next several we get into_, Natarle tells herself.

-x-x-x-

Kira had watched the Commander come and go, though he had wanted to talk to her, preferably about whatever was bugging her. She may have thought that she was showing a neutral expression, but anyone paying attention knew something was eating her.

"Kira?" Hikaru prompts, but gets no response out of him. Kira was still caught in his analysis loop, trying to figure out what happened to make Natarle look so frustrated and confused.

"What is...going on?" Kira mumbles, very apparently distracted.

"Kira?" Hikaru prompts more forcefully, before she pokes him in the back of his left shoulder.

"Wah!" Kira jumps aside, away from the direction of the poke, and looks at the poking individual in an accusatory fashion—except that it did not last long. "Oh, what's up, Hikaru?"

"Lost in thought?" She asks, completely ignoring the look she received from him.

"Yeah," Kira begins, then goes nowhere with the thought.

"Well, what about?" Hikaru asks as she takes a seat next to him.

"Oh, it's nothing," Kira replies hastily. Even Hikaru could sense the cover-up.

"No way," Hikaru says as she takes a seat on the bench next to him. " 'Nothing' doesn't cause you to sit and stare at a wall, Kira," she notes before poking him in the left shoulder again. "What's going on?"

_She's insistent_, Kira thinks but does not say. "Well, I was thinking about talking to the Commander, she doesn't seem herself right now. She looked kinda worried," Kira notes.

"Oh, I didn't notice..." Hikaru had just walked by the Commander, but was not paying attention to her in favor of trying to spot Kira. "But...aren't we all kinda feeling like we're lost?"

"Well, sort of," Kira replies. "I mean, sometimes it doesn't matter where you are, you still feel lost," Kira comments.

"How do you mean?" Hikaru asks plaintively.

"I was lost before we even arrived on Cephiro. My home had been destroyed in heavy fighting over the fifth of the Gundams—my former Gundam, the Strike. I can't help but believe that this is the way home, but for some of us there is no point. I have just my parents to return to, no home, nothing like that. Flay has even less to go back to, Sai, Kuzzey, Tolle, Miriallia, they lost their homes and most of their lives when Heliopolis broke apart, no telling how many of the crew are in the same boat."

"And then what?" Hikaru asks. "Give up?"

"Well, no, but what is there to go back to?"

"Your parents, for one. The people around you. The average person you meet anywhere you go. You don't need to go home to anywhere, where you stand _is_ your home, Kira." Kira understood what she was getting at, and Hikaru could tell he did. "Tell you what—"

"Kira Yamato, please report to the hangar immediately," the voice over the intercom sounded a lot like Murdoch, though Kira could guess he was in a less-than-pleasant mood.

"See, Kira? Home is where you're most welcome at, not where you think you should be."

"C'mon, then," Kira says as he stands up and fairly drags Hikaru toward the hangar.

"What? Why?"

"Everyone needs a home, and might as well start looking for one," Kira replies. Hikaru made no protest after that, just followed along and entered the hangar area with Kira.

"Kira, thank God, we got a big problem here," Murdoch says. "The OS for the Warhawk keeps crashing on startup, we can't even get it to dump a log file so we can see what is going on," Murdoch says. "Oh, hey Hikaru," he adds after noticing the shorter Magic Knight behind Kira.

"Okay, got a console?" Kira asks as he begins following Murdoch toward the elevators to the crew catwalks around the bay. In moments they were up at the cockpit level of the Warhawk, which was literally the largest machine in the hangar at present. The cockpit was wide open, but Kira did not enter it; instead, he stopped at the terminals outside the cockpit that were connected to the data ports inside the machine. "Ah, okay, I see what is going on here," Kira says after running several shell commands on the low-level OS in the Warhawk. "Looks like data inputs from the legs are crashing it on startup, are you sure you connected everything down there right?"

"I had Gomer on that, maybe he crossed wires."

"No, this looks like it is dropped bits, leg controllers keep giving spurious returns which are jamming the OS on startup. Check for a bad cable," Kira says as he keeps typing away at the console. Despite standing right next to him and watching his fingers fly, Hikaru could not tell a whit about what he was doing, except he was typing fast enough that Hikaru thought she saw a wisp of smoke coming up from the keyboard.

"Gomer, Schraz, get in the waist access and check the cable harnesses to the cockpit for a bad cable!" Murdoch shouts over the end of the gantry to one of the lower ones.

"Yeah, yeah!" Schraz replies as he puts the TIG welder he was about to use on an armor plate back down. "C'mon, Gomer, quit whackin' off and let's get this done," Schraz was heard to say over the sound of a nearby gantry straining to lift up the barrel and housing of an Ultra AC/5.

"Uh, Kira, what did he mean by that?" Hikaru asks.

"Huh?" Kira replies, having not paid any attention to anything in the past fifteen seconds except the console. "Who?"

"The guy down there," Hikaru points over the edge of the catwalk.

"What'd he say?" Kira replies as he types another fast series of lines on the PC.

"He said something about 'quit whacking off' or something. You know what that means?"

_eeeppp_, Kira thinks as his hands stop on mid-keystroke. "Uh, Hikaru, you probably don't want me to answer that question, right now at least."

"Hey, kid, how's it coming up there?" Murdoch asks from the next catwalk down.

"Almost through modding an error trap into the OS, give me a minute here," Kira replies. "Hikaru, can we talk after the mission?"

"Sure," she replies. "Need me to help with anything right now?"

"Uh, yeah, climb into the cockpit..." Kira begins the process of walking her through reading and interpreting the error messages. For all her apparent inexperience with technology, she learned very fast.

-x-x-x-

"Commander, you are ready to deploy?"

"Aye, Captain," Natarle replies. "Put us down in the water and we'll handle the rest," Commander Badgiruel replies as she finishes steeling herself for the coming operation. There would be no doubt about this one, they were going in heavily outnumbered, but they would be operating on limiting terrain, in the dark, and with surprise to their advantage. If the enemy had no night-fighting capability, they could in theory clear the whole town out before daybreak and count the bodies in the sunrise light. If the enemy did have night-fighting capability, however, the whole affair could become a lot more violent and likely a no-win scenario unless the team could maximize their use of stealth.

"Roger that. Thirty seconds to water arrival," Captain Ramius replies. "Good luck, Natarle."

"Aye aye, Captain, we'll need it and probably more," Natarle says just before she thumbs off the the vidscreen/intercom combo device.

"Thirty seconds!" The Crazy Cook shouts.

"Thirty seconds!" The remainder of the team shouts back.

The vehicle hatch opens up, the ramp drops into the ocean waters as the ship continued to slow. It did not take long before the ramp was extended to where the team needed it.

"One, go!" Natarle shouts. Immediately, six persons moved forward until they could slide their Zodiac into the water, and themselves climb in. Their electric motor spun up and began propelling them forward and away from the loading dock. "Two, go!" Natarle shouts, and the second team began their exfiltration of the ship in the same fashion. The water curling up the ramp and around the edges looked black, almost sinister in the partial moonlight, which worked to the team's advantage in this case. Since their gear, weapons, boat, and extra munitions boxes were all black, they would be very difficult to see for the enemy, unless they had night vision or thermal vision capabilities. "Three, go!" Natarle shouts as the last team (her included) hauls the boat down the ramp and into the water. A pair of mechanics gave it a final shove into the water, and the third boat sped off to join the other two.

"Team, radio check," Natarle orders.

"Two, check," The Crazy Cook replies.

"Three, check."

"Four, check."

"Five, ready," the baker adds.

"Six, hell yeah," the dishwasher notes.

"Seven, barfing now," stated just before Natarle heard the retching from the second boat

"Eight, clear," the cook's assistant says in a weak tone.

"Nine, not home right now. Please leave a message."

"Ten, good to go."

"Eleven, joining Seven," and the sound of the dueling pukers was beginning to get to Natarle's stomach, especially since the electric motors did not give off enough sound to drown out the retching.

"Twelve, declaring Seven and Eleven to be pussies, over."

"Thirteen reporting, Twelve can kiss Seven's arse, even I'm beginning to get queasy over here," and the said baker sounded a bit lousy himself.

"Fourteen, not amused."

"Sniper is go," Newman notes.

"Locke is ready," Locke replies. He was not wearing the full tactical gear like the rest of the team, but he was wearing a radio to make communications easier for the whole group.

"Team reporting to Control, we are good to go at this time, _Archangel_ is clear," Natarle declares on the ship frequency.

"Team, Control, roger that. Good luck and good hunting, _Archangel_ is over and out," Miriallia declares in response.

"Team, we are thirty minutes out at present velocity, ten minutes until shoreline visual," Natarle estimates as the boats continue onward.

Thirty minutes, inasfar, did not take Natarle long to wait out, even with her system so loaded with adrenaline that had Newman shouted anything she would have jumped. Nevertheless, as the docks they were approaching were not going anywhere physically, arriving at South Figaro was inevitable. All that remained was surviving the operation, really.

At 300 meters, they could see the forms of two persons out on the docks, leaning against some crates, apparently puking off their drunkenness. Natarle figured it rather disgusting, as at least one of them was puking so loud the sound of it was carrying over the waves to where she was.

"Hey, Commander, those look like Imperials to you?" Newman asks.

"They do," Natarle replies. "We get down to 200 meters, Four do them," Natarle orders. The night vision goggles they had also had built-in range finders, which made estimating ranges grossly easy.

"Four, shooting now," the Commando replies after about another minute. They were coming in slow, so their motors and the movement of the boats was slow and quiet. **WhopWhopWhop**, the sound of the silenced 30-caliber rounds was something akin to hearing fabric flapping in the wind, not the sinister whip-crack of a normal firearm shot, or the louder boom of an arquebus. The one on the left went down in a heap as two of the rounds caught him in the upper back, the third in the neck. As his drinking buddy looked over and down to his downed friend, **WhopWhopWhop**, he took three in the side of his head and he fell to the ground no better than a sack of potatoes. That much was a relief to Natarle, the standard subsonic 30-caliber rounds were capable of bypassing standard Imperial armor, which was good news. They wouldn't have to resort to high-velocity ammo except at range or if they were blown for stealth purpose.

"Two down," Natarle notes. "Close up and tie off the boats, we have a lot of work to do before the day breaks," Natarle orders. The boats put on a small burst of speed and finished closing up to the docks after a little more than a minute's nervous wait. Nothing else showed up in line of sight to the docks before the soldiers disembarked, which made the task all the much easier...

...except the one that was already there. A soldier was on the ground, face-down in a puddle of his own vomit, and bitching about how he thought the bartender had pissed in his drink. A knife to the back of his neck below the brainstem and above the first vertebrae ended his gastric misery by disconnecting his brain from the rest of his body. The trooper was clinically dead before the heavy weapons team were even properly set up to provide a base of fire for a possible retreat. The rest of the team moved to and took cover in and around the various crates, barrels, and supply mounds around the pier to give them some cover in case an imperial assault came their way.

"Think we can do this?" Locke asks on the unit frequency.

"No doubt, Locke, I've read reports of a pair of mercenaries keeping whole battalions of enemy troops down. There's a lot more of us than two, I don't see why we can't win here," she adds. "Team, Heavy Weps hold here, Sniper hold here, Locke hold here. Silenced weps break down into fire teams and go hunting. And keep your god-damned safeties on, I don't want to explain to the Captain what went wrong," Natarle orders.

"Yes, ma'am," the baker replies. Natarle ended up pairing off with him.

The dock spanned out from the shoreline the city was built on, the waterfront had been reinforced with brick decades past to help keep the buildings that were close to the edge from sliding into the ocean with shoreline erosion. To either side of the docks were inns, taverns, stores, and some family dwellings. Uphill from the shore area were some larger houses that Natarle figured would be the more likely quarters of the Imperial troopers, and one at which she could see four of the Imperial Magitek units hunkered at.

"Sniper reporting, eyes on sentry, north wall, looking away at this time."

"Sniper, you are not clear," Natarle orders, making sure to maintain stealth for now. The longer they could play the game silent, the better. "Five, what is your location?"

"Five reporting from next to the pub, Commander," **WhopWhopWhop**, "Just did an Imperial commander." **WhopWhopWhop**, "and his drinking buddy."

"Eyes up, check the north wall of the town. If you can, sniper has reported possible sentries, move to and eliminate hostiles on the wall."

"Five rogers your command," the frequency clears up after a moment.

"Ten reporting, two tangos down at my location. I have a clear LOS to one of these Imperials on the armor, and the loser is asleep."

"Take him down," Natarle orders.

Three seconds elapse. "Tango down. Should I, erm, 'appropriate' his armor?"

"Sure, bring it back to the dock," Natarle orders. After about thirty seconds she could hear the strain of the armor as it clamored its way towards the dock

"God, this thing has movement issues, but if all I had was a sword or pike I would absolutely hate to fight it," Five notes.

"Roger that," Natarle replies. "Ready?" Natarle says to her teammate as she sights up the one awake Magitek pilot in the group of four.

"Do it," the baker says.

**WhopWhopWhop**, **WhopWhopWhop**, **WhopWhopWhop**, **WhopWhopWhop**, all four of the pilots slumped down over their controls, dead forevermore.

**WhopWhopWhop**, **WhopWhopWhop**, the shots came from down the road a block, and Natarle could just barely see the sentries on the north wall had gone down.

"Heavy weapons reporting, I have an enemy column coming down the east entry road, looks like one Magitek and seven Imperial troops."

"Heavy scouts," Natarle replies. "Anyone quiet in the area?"

"Three reporting, I have eyes on, taking the shot." The sound of the shots coming from a full-auto burst and the few yelps of their ranks was rather muffled, hardly enough to disturb the pre-dawn peace of the town. When the townspeople came out to feed their livestock, however, they would find a lot of dead Imperials among them, however, and that would be less than peaceful for a way to start the day.

-x-x-x-

Daylight had broke hours ago over the lands of Doma, the seventh day of siege against the fortress of Doma by the Imperial Army. General Leo was less than pleased with having to besiege an otherwise honorable nation such as Doma, but his orders were clear and he followed his orders unlike the self-gratifying homicidal screwoff Kefka.

Leo took a moment to reflect on his former tenure as a chocobo-riding Knight for the Empire, and how that skill had gone by the wayside with the advent of machine warfare ten years prior. Every day he was alive, he lamented the fact that there was little true honor in his duties any more, it seemed that he was simply destined to be a conqueror for whatever possible motivation the Emperor may have to take over the world. On this there was little information, even for his closest advisors. General Celes had made no mention of why the Emperor was doing this, which meant she did not know, and any answer Kefka may give would be one that Leo would not trust, so...

Finished tying his boots off, Leo shrugged into his heavy mail-sewn overcoat and buttoned it up. The mail inside the layers of heavy fabric was of a Mithiril composite and would stop just about any melee weapon used on him, with the possible exception of the claws on the Magitek units. He had seen the wounds those claws would inflict on anything, including full-barding plate for Chocobo. Such horrendous weapons were hardly necessary in a just Existence in his opinion, yet they were needed for the Empire's goal.

The thought of horrid weapons struck a nerve as Leo was strapping on his sword belt. His force, what was left of it after the very bloody assault on Maranda, was the force still the strongest of the Imperial armies and thus was assigned the toughest of three tasks to be had, namely the siege of Doma. The foes that had decimated his army three times over (4) were the most demonic, horrid forces of war Leo had ever seen, and that included the tales of the Espers from long ago. Prior to that day, he figured the Empire the most technological force of war in the world, after that day he knew he was outgunned by the ship that floated over the ground and he had little doubt that a rematch would completely break the morale of his unit. What was worse, however, was the smaller, flying and ground-walking armors they had that each was five, six times taller than the Magitek systems, and each was capable of annihilating a Magitek armor in a single stroke. The ship had amazing reach, but with the addition of the smaller units it had flexibility and power that Leo could only dream of ever seeing in Magitek form.

Leo finished strapping his sword on, verified the draw angle, and picked up his personal Genji Shield. Unlike normal shields, the Genji Shield was easily capable of blocking magic attacks as readily as it blocked the sword. Kefka had a similar shield, though Celes used a Crystal Shield and preferred to trap magic attacks with her Runic Blade instead of blocking them. Trapped attacks only made her more effective in battle, as the power used for the attack she could redirect into her own spellcraft. Varying ways, varying techniques. Were he not on opposite sides, he would love to ask the crew of that ship whether they were proponents of technology, of magic, or both.

In the morning sunlight, he looked southward toward where the river to Doma was, and sighed. He had little doubt the river downstream was run red with the blood of Imperial Troopers and Doma Knights, but such was the requirements of the battle.

"Sir, Captain Edal's team is returning!" One of the sentries shouts, pointing westward towards Doma. Leo immediately looked to the west, to see what their disposition was. Immediately his heart sank; Captain Edal was not among their ranks, and over half the team did not return from their latest assault on the stronghold.

"Infantryman, come here," Leo orders to one of the troops as they enter the bounds of the camp. "What happened to the Captain? Where are the rest of your unit-mates?"

"General Leo, their Retainer-Knight attacked us. His swordcraft...he killed us one by one, in pairs, on the defensive, even four at a lunge. We couldn't stop him; not even Captain Edal stood to him for more than a minute," the wearied, disheartened trooper replies. "If...he was dead, sir, we could maintain a presence at the walls, but every time we come forward he greets us, and kills almost anyone he faces down. Almost as bad as those metal giants we fought down south, sir," he concludes.

"Understood," Leo says. "You men form up with Captain Vellicht and get some rest. When next we assault the castle today, I will challenge this Retainer-Knight myself," Leo orders to them. "Major Smythe, what forces do we have at the ready?"

"Sir, we have ten units available at this time, plus your guard. The rest are recovering from losses incurred," the Major replies. "Shall I move up MacRuder and Zelse to be ready for a clean opening to the castle?" By which he was implying that Leo would win against Doma's Retainer-Knight without issue. Leo was less than sure of it himself.

"No, MacRuder and Gilline will move up to ready positions. I will approach the castle alone and challenge their Knight."

"Very good, sir," the Major looks to a courier nearby. "Send word to Captains MacRuder and Gilline to be ready for combat within the hour."

"Aye, sir!" the Courier replies before he begins off at a good trot toward the Captain's tents.

"Follow me, Major Smythe, we shall take a look at the situation and see if there is a way we can finesse the battle instead of bringing down the walls of Doma." The General was moving toward the command tents, where copious maps and force reports were available for him to read and review, hoping almost in vain that there was a way to end the siege.

"Aye, sir," the Major replies.

Some feeling, a buried part of his soldier's intuition, made General Leo look to the courier that Major Smythe had dispatched. For a moment he could see the courier, then an object far too fast to see properly slammed into the ground nearby him and let go a hellish explosion far more violent than the explosion of energy released by a destroyed Magitek unit. The body of the courier flew a good hundred yards as Leo watched it, then landed and tumbled as a child's doll would had it been thrown by the child. There was little doubt in the General's mind the soldier was dead.

"Enemies to the East!" Major Smythe shouts, thinking grossly incorrectly someone had acquired Magitek armor with the support missile launchers intact.

"No, Major, not enemies," Leo replies calmly as more explosions rend whole clusters of tens and the personnel inside to shreds.

"The ship! The flying ship! It's crossing the Red Bridge now!" One of the Empire's Templar shouts.

"No! Not them again!" Major Smythe shouts as the ship's tallest point becomes readily visible above the line of tents.

Leo felt this was how it would end for him. His army destroyed, crushed underfoot and under the guns of this wholly demonic technological marvel that had once already killed three of ten of his army while constantly retreating. This time, he did not have enough of the necessary heavy weapons or the air support needed to cause significant damage to the ship. He was defeated, and he knew it.

"May the Gods forgive us our Sins of this life against all who we have sinned," Leo says, expecting he would not live much longer. Despite the ship still being several minutes away and miles of distance apart, he knew they had weapons with reach rivaled by no Magitek weapon, and they needed only stay at distance while firing until nothing remained.

From the rear of the ship, flaming streaks of very large missiles, each missile visibly larger than a Magitek armor itself, ejected from silos and streaked forward of the ship, just as part of the front of the ship on either side of the bow opened up. The missiles he could understand, but why they had such large ports on the front of the ship baffled him for a moment. It did not last long, as the large blue ground machine had jumped clear of the opening and landed a mile outside the eastern edge of the camp. The maroon machine that could fly was next, launched clear from the right side and landed relatively the same distance away. The two were not overlong in beginning their fire, the weapons that had so terrified his units weeks prior now turned on them once again.

More units came from the machine, the green giant that could kill whole swaths of Magitek in a single stroke, followed by the other maroon machine, the one that appeared to be land-bound but carried plenty of firepower of its own right was next. From the ship, four emerald beams chopped through seven Magitek units that were shelling the enemy ship from afar and not even damaging it.

"General, what are you doing! Get out of here, sir!" one of the Templar shouts.

"Get the forces away from here," Leo orders in a half-daze. "Get everyone south, toward Barren Falls. Get them away from here, they aren't trying to kill us all, they are trying to break the siege," Leo says. "Go, get everyone to the south, quickly! I will try to stall them at the negotiating table," Leo orders.

"Aye, sir!" the Templar retorts before he begins issuing orders to some of the troopers to spread the word. Already the personnel were leaning in that direction, the enemy machines were flanking the base to the north and the main missile fire was coming in from the north as well.

Leo watched as the four machines on the ground were augmented by a massive, box-like machine that moved slow but carried incredible weapons, and another one that looked precariously like a bird when viewed dead on. He had not thus far seen the three massive flying machines, the ones that were red, blue, green, and fought primarily with massive swords, though he imagined such a massive ship was capable of carrying that and far more. After another launch of a strangely smaller machine with beam cannons for arms, he was not surprised to see the green sword-machine launched and hit the ground after a massive backstroke of its avian wings.

The General sighed. They would take their time, clearing out the north of the tent city as the troops fled south. That is what he wanted, though he like most in Existence abhorred waiting.

-x-x-x-

The coming of dawn had been a surreal shock to most of Figaro, to find dozens of dead bodies all over the place, all of them Imperial, callously, effortlessly, silently killed while they roamed the streets at night, slept in their Magitek units, guarded the wall to the north, screened the entrances to town.

As the sleeping Imperials came to life and began finding their comrades dead, they tried running. Tried, and failed. Those that tried to flee were mercilessly cut down by the commando team with their ranged weapons. Daylight was upon them, and two of the Commandos had taken their Magitek units to the wall walkway, to defend against the inevitable Imperial counterattack. The Heavy Weapons teams had set up on the east and west entrances to the town proper, awaiting the flood of personnel they would have to mow down with their machine guns and support laser. Newman had set up on the wall to pick off important targets before they could even get into range of the town wall.

Natarle and the baker entered the house of the mayor, and found the two Imperial Commanders tied up by the mayor and Locke. "I was wondering where you had disappeared to, Locke," Natarle says.

"Just asking these gents a few questions, Commander," the treasure hunter replies. "They speak of an set of smuggler's tunnels that lead outside the wall and some old rooms under this place," Locke says. "Care to investigate?"

"Might as well, we can place traps in the smuggler tunnels," Natarle replies, meaning explosives to seal them if crossed.

"Follow me," Locke says as he heads for the secret door nearby the main staircase in the house. He had received detailed information on how to open it from the mayor, and within moments had the door opened and was heading down the stairs.

Downstairs in the room, he followed the tunnel roughly southeast until it came to a ladder. They took it up and into the basement of one of the merchants of the town, nearby an old franklin stove. Once out, the kid of the house came to greet them. "Wow, you guys know about the smuggler's tunnels? That's so cool? Who are you?"

"We're with the King," Locke needed not say whose King, since any discussion of the King in this land invariably meant King Edgar. "Mayor says to let us into the underground storage. Password is Rosebud," Locke says.

"Right-o!" the kid replies in a squeal, then moves to the west wall of the house and throws a hidden switch. In moments a secret passage was open, this one of more dusty, cobweb-filled stairs headed down. "Good luck, misters, lady," the kid says as before they enter the sitarcase.

"Thanks, kid," Natarle says as she ducks down the stairs. A landing and a second staircase awaited them, then they hit the floor they were headed amid dozens of bookcases with books that Natarle could only guess what filled their pages.

"Reminds me of spelunking in the caves of old America," the baker says as they approach a long access corridor ahead.

"Indeed," Natarle replies. She had seen the inside of more than one cave in her life, the most recent being when they had to purchase illicit supplies for the _Archangel_ in Banadiya. She did not count the areas where they had found Selesce and Windam, those were more along the lines of temples than caves.

"Door," the baker replies as he puts his rifle sights on it. Natarle followed suit just as the door opened.

"What the—who are you?" the Imperial that came from the door asks in a hostile tone. "Surrender immediately!" he shouts as he draws his sword.

**WhopWhopWhop**, Natarle's assault rifle spoke for her, the three silenced rounds hammering into his chest plate and punching through with minimal effort. The trooper hit the ground clinically dead, as his cohort jumped clear of the room and attempted to rush Natarle. The baker put paid to that plan, **WhopWhopWhop**, two in the upper chest and one just below the nose brought his dead body to a skidding stop at the Commander's feet.

The Commander stacked on the now-open door, ready to enter and clear the room of any remaining Imperials. The Baker stacks up and gives her shoulder a squeeze, a clear signal to begin. Natarle drove into the room and went left, as the baker immediately entered and went right. One Imperial was in the room, his sword drawn and shaking in his boots, but since he was standing Natarle held no reserve for him. **WhopWhopWhop**, his body collapsed straight down and moved naught more.

The main interest of the room was the next thing she saw, and found herself rather disgusted by such conduct from anyone. It was the baker that had the comment to her feelings: "S&M as torture is a bad thing," he says before he takes a rather unprofessional tact with the body of the last Imperial by giving it another three round burst. The sound **WhopWhopWhop **brought her to rousing as Locke entered.

"No...way, that's General Celes!" Locke says as he approaches the bludgeoned lady in the white jacket and cloak that was chained to the wall of the cell.

"Who...who're you?" she mutters, her jaw likely broken from being face-punched by mail gloves (5).

"We're with King Edgar," Locke replies. "The Returners," he amplifies.

"The Returners! But...I'm an Imperial General," she bemoans, thinking she would be executed for what she was.

"After what your supposed subordinates did to you, were I in your position I'd cut their hearts out and kick them downrange," the baker says with a hint of disgust.

Natarle had approached, her rifle slung so she could use both hands. "Were I in your position, the word 'defection' would come to mind," the Commander says as she takes a quick gander of what injuries she had taken. "After this shit, you want to join the Returners, I don't see them objecting," Natarle says as she uses her multi-tool to release her chains from the wall. With a little struggle she unlatched the wrist locks, which caused her to basically fall free onto the ground.

"She's in a bad way," Locke mutters. "Can you stand?"

"Barely," General Celes replies. "Why did you...?"

"Because I have been the ruthless soldier before, and it just is not necessary," Natarle replies. "C'mon, I have a medic topside that can see to your injuries," Natarle says as she leads the group out of the room.

As they enter the tunnel again, they head left and farther down the tunnels, toward the end of the tunnel that supposedly headed outside the city walls. The tunnel was dusty, strewn with cobwebs and showing that nobody had entered the tunnels in quite a long time. As they advanced they had to switch on barrel-mounted flashlights to see where they were going, which surprised Locke and Celes that they had such powerful lights available attached to their weapons. At the end of the first tunnel they came to a storeroom of old furniture and contrivances, of which Natarle could tell with a cursory inspection it was expensive material.

The Baker was just as impressed as Natarle, apparently: "Jeez, this stuff would go for thousands back home, more maybe?"

"Likely," Natarle replies. "Only problem is, this looks like a dead end, where's the rest of the tunnel?" she asks, looking around with her barrel-mounted flashlight. After a moment she noticed a crease in the wall... "There, that cabinet is mobile," she says, her sight on an old curio hutch and the wall behind it with obvious side-to-side motion scratches on the brick.

"How do we move it?" The Baker asks.

"South Figaro is famous for its secret doors and hidden passages. Something mechanical in the area is the trigger," Locke says as he begins looking around with a torch that Natarle was not sure how he acquired.

"Wait a second..." the baker mumbles. "Something is not right here," he adds after a moment.

"What?" Natarle asks.

"The clocks, they are different somehow," he says. His barrel-mounted flashlight passes over five clocks in the room, one mounted to a wall, four free-standing grandfather clocks.

It was Celes that saw what was different before the others: "The clock in the corner is not working," she notes, having braced on a desk to take some of the strain off her fractured right ankle.

"Ah," Locke says as he approaches the clock. "I don't have a key to turn this one," he says as he pulls open the glass front plate.

"Here," Natarle hands him the multi-tool she brought with. Locke examined it for a moment, unfolded the pliers, and gave the winding mechanism a good twist. Much to their appraisal, the curio cabinet shunted aside noisily to reveal a small personnel door in the side of the wall.

Locke ended up helping Celes down the stairs, due to her multiple injuries she was having problems negotiating inclines. Natarle led off, the barrel-mount flashlight on her assault rifle showing the winding path through the storage tunnels and unused passages. For a minute they traversed the catacomb-like area, heading more eastward than else in an attempt to find the fabled eastern passage under the wall.

"Lights off," Locke orders over the radio. The group stops dead, shuts their lights off, and listens. In the distance, they could hear the sound of moving Imperial body armor, and it appeared they were coming toward or moving parallel to the team.

"Hold here," Natarle orders as she hands off her assault rifle to the baker. As she moved forward toward the flickering light of a torch, she drew the long-unused magic saber that she received in link to Magic Knight Umi, and readied for an ambush two bends away from the rest of the team.

The first of the enemy crossed the corner that Natarle was hiding behind, and she sprang into action. Caught unawares, the torch-carrying enemy did not even have a chance to reach for his sword before Natarle's swing removed his head cleanly at the neck. As the torch fell to the ground Natarle ducked into the hall behind the forward-descending body, her sword low and left from her initial swing, and began her next swing, a backstroke upwards and right. The second swing contacted the still-unawares enemy by way of his right hip, traveling upwards with minimal resistance due to the enchantments accompanying the blade, and finally exited his left shoulder after completely cleaving his torso in half at a strange angle.

The third enemy had enough time to reach for and draw his broadsword, but he made one grave miscalculation in so doing: he was too close to the wall to pull it completely clear, and a matter of three inches of blade remained in the end of the sheath, preventing him from completely drawing. Not that it would have mattered in the end, per se, since Natarle's third stroke came down on the hilt of his sword and once again the enchantments of her blade overpowered the local swordsmithing techniques that held no magic. His sword destroyed, Natarle back-slashed outward from the enemy's left leg and removed his shin at the knee cleanly; the enemy gave a tortured screech as he collapsed to the ground, clenching his now-halved leg and screaming like a banshee. Natarle finished his existence by way of a downstroke that removed his head cleanly at the neck, just as his first comrade had died.

The baker closed up on Natarle after she was heard to have begun vomiting from the ghastly sight of the dead bodies in the torchlight. Something about the nature of seeing such grotesque deaths in waving firelight such as a torch just overpowered her ability control her stomach. On the other hand, finding the exit was no more difficult than waking up the stairs at the end of the hallway that Natarle had done the killing in; the baker was carrying a load of claymores with him, so he set one up on a tripwire to keep anyone else from entering the tunnels and surviving it.

-x-x-x-

Leo just stood and watched. Waited. Watched as the last of his once-glorious army ran southward and away from the massive menace of the machines taller than most sensible fortifications. As he waited, he observed their movements to be not dissimilar to those of the Magitek formations he had built, trained, as they advanced in line abreast while shooting at basically anything they might consider hostile.

As the sword swinging machines approached, he belatedly remembered to strap on and secure his shield; he figured he would get some use out of it, if for no other reason to delay the inevitable as they mercilessly slaughtered him. Leo was good, good enough to routinely defeat Magitek-armored troopers without resorting to use of Magic, but he maintained no illusions about these machines. They were something so foreign, so much more powerful than Magitek, that there simply was no conventional way to slow them down. Kefka may have the spellcraft to damage one, in Leo's estimate, but Leo knew he did not.

The blue sword machine had taken the lead, violently slashing tents at random, apparently attempting to whip any remaining Imperials into a retreat. "Major, take this," Leo gives the Major his teleport summon beacon. "Use it to go back to the Capital and begin extracting my army from Barren Falls. I will not survive the battle today, but you must defend the Emperor. I do not completely trust Kefka, nor his intentions."

"And General Celes?" the Major asks.

"She is trustworthy, if a bit on the hesitant side. She does not completely understand her own potential, and that is why."

"Ah. Sir, I cannot leave you," he replies.

"Go, now, Major, or I will dispatch you myself," General Leo orders in a frustrated tone.

"Yes, sir," the Major says before he activates the beacon. In a moment he teleported away, just as the blue machine was approaching the common clearing that Leo was standing in.

Leo did something he had not done in a long time, he drew his sword and presented it in classic form to request a duel of one of the enemies. He figured it a gesture wasted on them, their whole rank was as pitiless, ruthless as his had become of late, though with the technological advantages necessary to slaughter Magitek wholesale. Fear was such a foreign emotion to him any more, years of commanding the best had removed the emotion from him more or less, but looking upon the merciless visage of the the green machine that used hand-carried cannons to slaughter infantry and armor by the dozen, he was indeed afraid. Even as a cannon burst of grapeshot-style particulate tore into a dozen of his Templar and left not one intact.

Much to Leo's pleasant surprise, his presence and gesture brought the blue one to a standstill, staring at him. The machine that looked similar to a bird stopped alongside, pointing its vast array of beams and missiles directly at Leo's personage. "What is this freeborn doing?" the voice came from the machine that walked like a bird with the multi-missile packs asks.

"He is requesting a duel," the blue sword machine replies. "I will give him a duel," it says before it kneels down and releases the pilot in a blue light to the ground.

Shock, trepidation; after the light halo disappeared, Leo could clearly tell that the pilot of that machine was a lady in blue armor and carrying a sword, much as the voice of the machine belied moments prior. Part of him considered that an insult; the rest of him considered it fitting that he would challenge a female knight that easily matched General Celes for beauty (despite being far younger) and probably could master magic as well, at a guess. Something about her presence made him feel as if he was in the presence of another magic-user.

The pilot stopped at ten yards, her sword held not in guard yet. "I am Umi Ryuuzaki, Magic Knight to the Rune God Selesce. I accept the challenge as offered," she declares.

"I am General Leo of the First Imperial Army. A pleasure, Lady Knight," he replies as he sets his guard. The Magic Knight set her guard as well, though the sword fighting style she used was unlike any other he had encountered before. Leo had little doubt that the lady would be very capable and extremely dangerous in close, something he was hoping his diamond-shaped Genji Shield would be capable to defend him from.

Leo had scant moments to notice that the other machines had stopped to observe the battle, some of the other pilots dismounting their machines to observe. It was insane, actually, wholly unexpected that he alone stymied their attack by requesting a duel from one of them, he figured. He cracked a slight smile for the realization that he had indeed completed his final objective to the Empire. He had stopped them from completely destroying his army.

The Magic Knight made the first move, a series of light thrusts to test the responsiveness of Leo's guard. The General was not caught unawares, of course, he was expecting her to start by testing instead of trying a full-on assault. Leo made fair to counter this by his own tests, using a series of wide-arc slashes to test how maneuverable the Magic Knight was, and how willing she was to take a hit in the course of the battle. Much to his surprise, she dodged the first, the second, and parried the third with the flat of her blade, driving her right shoulder in against the shield to drive the General away.

Leo staggered a step, caught unaware by her physical attack, and quickly found himself continuing on the defensive as she followed on with a series of lightning thrusts and slashes that kept him moving and guessing where her next effort would be. The Genji Shield took several hits that disconcerted Leo to a significant amount, since the Genji was supposed to be one of the heaviest of the shields and it still was taking damage from her sword. He even had the luxury of seeing her sword punch a discreet hole in the surface of his shield as she tried to thrust into his chest, which did not make him feel any better about his chances of surviving the duel.

It took Leo almost thirty seconds to regain his footing, but when he did he did so at the perfect opportunity. She was operating in close, trying to keep Leo from gaining the advantage of his longer and heavier sword, and she was succeeding in that sense. She made one mistake, however, in that she was using Leo's own shield against the General by using it to partially obscure his view of her. Such a tactic left her open to a stunt she had already pulled on him once, and he capitalized as soon as he could get a decent charge toward her. In an instant the tables were reversed as Leo drove his shield in against her slender body, and the sound was rather untoward as she let fly a surprised yelp on her way backwards and to the ground. She was not able to get to her feet before Leo was to her, and after she sat up she came face to face with the general's sword.

"Wow, that was fast," one of the other pilots says. The guy in question carried what looked like two broadswords linked at the pommel to create one large bladed staff. He also carried what looked like a pistol on his right leg, but General Leo was not entirely sure if it was one or not. The only pistols he had been familiar with were massive, wheel-locked muzzle-loading monsters, this one looked far too small to be one of them.

"I believe this duel is mine," Leo says to the Magic Knight. The reaction she gave to it was less than expected:

Umi flops down into her back, staring up to the partially cloudy midmorning sky. "I knew I should have stayed in bed this morning," she mutters.

General Leo sheaths his sword, confirmed of the fact that she knew she had lost, despite her unorthodox way of declaring so. Not that winning for the General meant a damn here, since he was still surrounded by both war machines and their pilots, all of which were armed. "A hand, Lady Knight?"

Umi did not hesitate one moment in taking the offered hand to pull herself to standing. General Leo interpreted this to mean that she knew he was on the level, a practicing knight and duelist among an army of more-or-less barbarians with technology. "I earned that," she declared. "It was a good fight," she says with a formal bow to the General.

"A pleasure, Lady Knight," the General says as several of the pilots approach.

"Sorry about this, but orders are orders," an elder among the men among the pilots says. "Captain says you are to be detained, so if you will come quietly we can make this as civil as possible," he says.

"Indeed. I am General Leo of the Imperial Armed Forces. There will be a ransom should you return me to the Empire unharmed," Leo says.

"Sorry, ransoming you off does not fit our mission profile, General," the same pilot notes. "By the time we are through, the Empire as you know it shall not exist."

It was Leo's turn for the comment of the day: _I should have stayed in bed a week ago_, he laments in the confines of his mind.

-x-x-x-

In a hellish twist of fate as far as Natarle was concerned, the counterattack that was so expected that she could feel its fury long before it began...never came. Newman reported seeing the Imperial Base Camp fold tent, pack up, and haul shit away from town as quickly as their armor forces could muster. This made Natarle wary of a possible feint, so she had a team of the assaulters assigned to each of the entrances, just in case the Imperials were trying to sneak in another route. After four hours, even that turned up naught. Everyone was under the assumption that the Imperials would come back to exact vengeance for their fallen. They were both right and wrong at the same time.

It was high noon before anything happened. Thoroughly convinced that the Imperials were gone, the town of South Figaro came alive again, hailing King Edgar and the Commando as heroes and saviors. The attention was not necessarily to their liking, but Natarle went with it on the premise that people had to be grateful to something sometime in their life, and she knew she would have been cheering with them had she been in their position.

A slight security problem had come of their rescue of General Celes. Two of the Commandos had to keep a mob off the General, which was fairly easy enough give the presence of the Imperial HeavyArmors that had been captured during the night. Natarle had quickly discerned the fact that the armors captured were a new model, not something that they had faced before, and breaking them down would give Murdoch's madmen a good chance to understand their machines and tactics while possibly providing for upgrades to the Gundams and Omnimechs. As to the security threat, it became a moot point after the Commandos passed the word around that General Celes had decided to defect, and was now going to assist the Returners in bringing a stop to the Empire and their insane practices.

Natarle had wandered back into the Mayor's house to find somewhere to get out of the sun, as her black uniform was causing her to heat up rapidly. General Celes had been laid up in the parlor of said house, awaiting extraction to the Archangel which was due into port within the hour, so Natarle took a seat nearby the former Imperial General to rest (on the hope that she did not fall asleep).

"Might I ask a question, Commander?" Celes asks.

"Sure," Natarle replies, figuring any stimulus would help keep her awake.

"I know you answered this one prior, but why are you doing this? Really?" She asks plaintively.

Natarle hesitated not one bit with her answer. "We are soldiers from a different world, General Celes. We came here by some form of cosmic accident, and are now neck deep in the war here. Why we are doing this is twofold: one, get rid of an Empire that is trying to consume the world in destruction and by extension us as well, two, to find a way home."

"Oh. What does that have to do with the Empire?" she asks, now curious.

"I can't say, sorry. That is classified, for now," Natarle replies. She did not completely trust General Celes yet, so she did not want to take a chance on a fail scenario like that.

"Oh. I know that routine, sorry Commander."

"Don't apologize, you have a right to ask. Some things I cannot tell, though."

Natarle's communicator beeps. "Go," she replies.

"Commander, surface contact. Frigate, flying the Imperial flag, due south of the harbor at six kilometers and closing. It may mean to make a forced landing, Commander," the Crazy Cook declares. "Oh, shit, it's shelling the shoreline, we have incoming!"

"Oh, shit," Natarle says. They could hear the whistle of the shells incoming as they dropped in, then the ground heaved underfoot to the explosions. "Newman, get your ass down to the harbor and see if you can't do something about that thing!" Natarle orders.

"No need, Commander. I have eyes on the _Archangel_ ten kilometers off its starboard quarter. With guns deployed."

Natarle and Celes looked out the south windows to where the ship was, and were rewarded with a view to a kill. As the enemy frigate fired a second pair of shells, both of which fell short into the bay, a pair of Linear Gun trails terminated in the starboard side of the ship. The two slugs ended up kicking up a rooster trail of water on the far side of the ship for 300 meters, which over-awed General Celes as she knew something of naval weapons and tactics she understood that those were very powerful guns. The Imperial Frigate itself broke apart at the middle, the two halves of the ship sinking rapidly to the cheers of the townspeople who had watched the short and brutal surface action from their houses and the streets.

"Team, sweep the impact areas for needed medical attention. Entry guards, stay on alert, that may have been a precursor to an overland assault."

"Negative, Commander, no activity outside the town at this time," the two scout-sentries reply. "They long gone and not bothering to come back," the dishwasher amplifies.

"East reports clear as well, Commander," the baker adds.

"All clear on the northern front, Commander," Newman says as he looks around to the north with his scope and binoculars.

"God, I am getting paranoid the longer this goes on," Natarle mutters to herself.

"You are not," General Celes replies immediately. "I would do the same were I in that position," she says as she finishes watching the Imperial Frigate sink below the waves. The _Archangel_ had passed over its grave site to attempt to find any survivors, but there had been none. The ship sank too fast for anyone to get off it. "Wait—that is the ship that mauled the First Imperial Army, is it not?"

"It is," Natarle replies. "LCAM-01XA, code-name _Archangel_. That is our ride, and as it happens our home away from home," Commander Badgiruel notes.

"Oh, I see now how you intend on challenging the whole of the Empire," General Celes interprets. "And I doubt the army would be able to stand up to it any more than they did the first time," she adds for good measure. "I now know who will win this campaign."

"And why do you say that? Plenty can still go wrong between now and when the Imperial Flag comes down over Vector," Natarle retorts.

"And you are capable of planning around any mishaps," General Celes says lightheartedly.

"I don't think I'm as good as you think I am," Commander Badgiruel replies warily.

"No, you just doubt yourself more than I doubted myself," Celes replies.

In due time the _Archangel_ moored to a welcoming crowd of South Figaro, all the more so that their king was on the ship. Word was passed around that units were to be formed up to take the fight to Imperial lands in the south, with the help of the Archangel and the other nations of the north. The _Archangel_ did not remain long, given that the Imperials were operating on a tight schedule and so had the _Archangel_ to do so to stay even with them.

Natarle was the last of the Commandos to board the _Archangel_, and as she looked back to South Figaro, she could not help but wonder if she was trying the impossible or if they really could win in the end. As soon as she was aboard, the ship slipped its mooring lines and headed out into the sea, where it would gain altitude and begin its trek across the Figaro Mountains, headed for Narshe and the next (hopefully the last) battle in the North.

-x-x-x-

General Leo had been rather reluctant to surrender himself when he knew there would be no negotiation between the party that had captured him and the Empire. However, he could tell that his life would not be used in jeopardy as a negotiating tool, since the first thing he got an hour after being incarcerated across from this strange girl was a varied meal of a large ration and such good cooking that Leo would have sworn it had been prepared by the Emperor's own galley staff. This was not the conduct of a crew that would kill him, thus he eased his mind to a more calmed state secure in the knowledge that he would live to see the end of this war, whatever it may be.

"Trays?" the young lady who had initially relayed the lunches asks as she approaches the two cells.

"Hey, Mir, do you know how long I still have in here?" the lady in the cell across from Leo asks.

"Somewhere over four months, Flay. I'd have to check the logs for an exact amount," 'Mir' replies as she claims the tray from that cell. The view General Leo got from her movements to claim that tray was definitely enough to catch his attention, though as was fitting his life of chivalry he immediately dismissed such thoughts.

As she stands completely up, Leo moved from the bed and took his tray to the small port in the bars to hand it off to her. "Please pass my compliments on the meal to the chef, milady," the General comments.

"I shall," she replies stiffly before stacking the trays and heading out of the cells. Leo was not overlong in retuning to his cot.

The ship was rather unusual, he could tell. It was not designed for water transport, though as had been demonstrated when they announced they were mooring at South Figaro, it could be used in the water. Primarily it flew, making it some form of mobile fortress that had no rival anywhere in the world—even the vaunted Airship in the possession of the wandering gambler, Setzer, was no match for this marvel. Their customs and methods were unusual at best, and they even allowed Leo the dignity of keeping his great overcoat, though after checking it thoroughly for weapons. His sword and shield would be stored and returned to him, he was told by the ship's Captain, a lady of immense beauty and voluptuousness that Leo had no problem imagining had been the soldier de rigeur of the prior battle—ruthless enough to get the job done at Doma, not ruthless enough to kill off his entire unit. Of that, Leo was thankful to no end, even if decorum prevented him from expressing it at this time.

The intercom in the area clicks. "Attention all hands, we are thirty minutes out from Narshe. Final battle checks are to be performed at this time on all weapon systems and machines. Thank you," the reproduction of the Captain's voice was very accurate to how she sounded in close proximity, which still baffled him how they could have such amazing technology.

"I would love to see these places we keep going..." the prisoner across the hall says to the walls around her.

"And why is it that you are incarcerated?" Leo asks offhand.

The prisoner across the way glances at him, then looks back to the ceiling. It was several long moments before she said anything. "I tried killing my boyfriend when he got arrogant with me," she replies.

It did not take Leo long to understand the gist of her comment. _A fratricidal lady? I guess not even they have the best personnel_. "To what end would killing him serve?"

"Save me the trouble of killing him later, or having someone from Blue Cosmos kill him," she replies. "He's dead anyways, my bad, someone else, doesn't matter."

_I see why she was locked up, her callous disregard of that man's life is abhorrent_, Leo thinks. _She is her own worst enemy as well as a hazard to anyone who challenges her belief, _he concludes the thought.

"And why are you in the brig?" she asks after a moment.

Leo almost bristled against the accusatory fashion of the question, but instead decided that replying in kind would only be suitable. "I challenged the ground forces, specifically one of the Magic Knights, and won the duel but lost the overall battle."

All she did was grunt at his response, as if winning and losing made no difference to her. Leo figured that highly uncivil of her as well, though if she had been incarcerated for some time civility would be the least of her skills, if a skill of hers at all.

After that, both lapsed back into silence. Leo still had his heavily-mailed overcoat, he had not been divorced of something that may afford him a few seconds extra to live but wouldn't outright save his arse, which he stared up and down in an examining fashion. The hairlines of cuts and scrapes expertly repaired over the years with tribal citizenry and more recently town garrisons had given him a workout and a small test of his skills, but really not enough of a challenge to speak of. Leo had been off and on caught praying for a challenge of some kind, and he thought he had found one in the Knight-Retainer to Doma, but before that happened his army had been power-crushed as his army had done so to Tzen and Albrook before.

The irony of the matter was not lost on the Imperial General. Leo lived on the expedient that he had been brave enough to challenge their machines to a duel, him on the ground and armed only with sword, and by expedient of one of their pilots accepting and acceding to a fair fight. Were that not the case, Leo would have been long dead long prior to his incarceration. Any one of those machines had more than enough firepower to turn him, his armor, shield and sword into a char mark on the ground. His army fared no better; what had survived the second assault would likely either desert or be rotated into the other armies under General Celes and Lord Kefka. Though Leo had no real special love for either of them, he figured better those forces still trying to defend the Empire, and with their backs to the wall perchance they could find some way to stop the impossible Juggernaut he was incarcerated in.

It was good for a sigh before he laid back onto the cot and tried to get some sleep. If they were now to counter Lord Kefka's assigned assault to capture the Esper, then their use of the ship would be limited by the approaches and terrain of Narshe. You could not use heavy impact weapons or missiles callously in such environs, less one started a rock slide that was more dangerous, damaging than the Imperial forces you tried to combat, he figured.

-x-x-x-

A large guard had been posted at the entrance to Narshe, as Natarle had figured one would be. Despite their conduct in South Figaro and Doma, there would be no solicitude here, and Natarle could sense it. After all, the sight of her team breaking out of Narshe and gunning down a good portion of the guard (as well as their 'pet' mastodon) would be fresh in their minds.

Regardless, her duties were her duties. She approached only armed with her pistol and magic sword; King Edgar with his royal sword; Banon, unarmed; two of the Commandos armed with assault rifles still with silencers attached.

"HALT!" One of them shouts before Natarle could come even with the school outside the walls of Narshe. Three moved forward to meet the approaching team, and by orders the two Commandos dis not try to stop them. Besides, if they wanted to use those pikes they would have to fall back before they could set them and thrust, which theoretically gave the Commandos plenty of time to take them down. "You are not welcome here. Leave immediately."

"Nice," Natarle mutters. "King Edgar?" she asks, indicating him.

King Edgar steps forward; "I am King Edgar Roni Figaro. I am here to speak to your elder and Arvis."

"Like hell," the guard says. "King Edgar doesn't visit this frozen wasteland," he says before taking a swing at the King. The Commando to that side stopped it, but only just barely.

"Chill out, man, we're not here to fight you!" The dishwasher says quickly as he shoves the guard's fist back and away from the King.

"As you did before?" he asks in response. "I remember well your definition of not fighting us! I still have the scar where one of your arquebus hit me in the shoulder!"

"Can we chalk that one up to 'professional obligation'?" the Commando asks in response.

"Then allow me to extend you the same courtesy, Imperial scum!" He says as his hand goes for a knife. Both assault rifles centered on him before he could even attempt a draw, which caused him to hesitate immediately.

"You have that one all wrong. We are not Imperials, we are Returners," Banon replies to the rapidly degenerating conversation at hand.

"Yeah, right, and Figaro is commanded by a great big talking pumpkin. Do not try to fool me, old man, a Returner would not save an Imperial Soldier willingly," the guard says.

"Not unless the Imperial Soldier was being controlled by a slave crown," A man behind the guards says.

"Arvis! What is this bullshit you speak of?" The main guard replies immediately, looking to the older man.

"This is an Imperial Slave Crown. I rescued the soldier from the cave after the Esper destroyed their armors, she was wearing this," he holds up the offending 'crown'. "Vector is the only place these are machined and used, not even the best smiths in Figaro can match them, am I not right King Edgar?"

"Indeed," the King replies.

"Lord Banon, long time," Arvis says as he gives a deferral bow to his immediate superior.

"Indeed, Arvis, a long time but well spent," Banon replies.

"Have you taken leave of your senses, Arvis?" the guard asks as the Elder approaches.

"No, I ordered them to remove the Imperial Knight from Narshe before you captured her," Arvis replies coldly. "Something about her...tells me she is something special, maybe not even of this world," Arvis replies as the Elder approaches. "I tried to stop you from pursuing, but you would not listen to me."

"Indeed, and for it we have them to thank for a dozen dead, as well as most of our guard wolves," the guard replies.

"Inconsequential losses, compared to what approaches," the Elder replies. "No doubt you are here with reason to defend Narshe from an impending Imperial assault, my Lord Edgar," the Elder notes as he approaches, kneels, and kisses the King's ring.

"That is our purpose here," King Edgar replies. "And they, the Archangel Team, are here for the same purpose."

"What obligation do you have to fight here?" the main guard asks Natarle directly, more or less staring her down in an accusatory fashion.

Natarle was getting used to such conduct, and ignored his biased attitude.."Professional, as well as mercenary to the Returners and to King Edgar," Natarle replies in a tone that clearly stated the main guard was full of shit for even thinking about questioning it.

"There is no time to delay, we must ready for the Imperials, they are less than three hours march away from here," King Edgar declares.

Moments later, King Edgar's statement was confirmed by a watch-rider that was riding a large yellow bird in from the south. "My lord Elder, the Imperials approach from the deserts of Figaro! They will be here before midday meal!"

-x-x-x-

Negotiations had been terse and very fast. Operational planning had been just as rapid.

Deploying had been the fastest the team had ever done so. Murrue had been one of the first to realize that the terrain almost completely invalidated the use of the _Archangel_, even as a fire-support platform. The winds at the altitude the Esper had been taken to, the hills above Narshe, would prevent it from holding stable above the battlefield, which rendered it more or less useless except as an over-large fighter. And, excepting under the lake east of Narshe, there was no place to hide it in all reality. Thus, a full ground team was deployed with heavy weapons to counter the Imperials in the confining terrain of the north mountain slope, with their backs to a chasm and the Esper itself.

The plan was simple: token resistance in Narshe would suck them into the mines, where a controlled detonation would seal their more useless shafts with Imperials in it, thereby taking out part of their forces. Eventually the Imperials would come up to the hills looking for the Esper, and they would walk into a wall of gunfire like no other they had encountered before, and that included their actions against the _Archangel_ and her mobile forces prior. Should problems arise, the _Archangel_ itself would take high-altitude passes at the battlefield, Chandratta using his superior aiming skills to strafe the enemy in a demonic, oversized rendition of a close air support mission. He could not use the heavy guns, like the Gottfrieds or Valiants, since there was far too much chance of those guns causing severe damage to the mountain and killing the ground team inadvertently.

The force that had been deployed was impressive, equal to what Narshe maintained as guards but greater in combat effectiveness. First, the Commando team was on the ground, including the four HeavyArmor frames they had captured. Second, the Ship's Marine Platoons (3 squads to a platoon, seven to a squad) had been deployed in their new gear and heavy weapons, one team with lasers, the other team with machine guns. Third, the pilots were all on the ground, armed with weapons appropriate to their size and skill as well as their own array of arms. Fourth, a goodly ration of the Mechanics, without much to do since the units were all in the hangar, had also deployed with rifles and crowbars, though the Commandos had turned the captured HeavyArmor frames over to them to use. The final touch...

"This terrain is good for our purposes, Captain," Natalya notes audibly as she pulls up the view visor on her Elemental suit. They had captured two full points of them, ten suits total, and had them repaired to Clan specification. Both teams were equipped with the traditional Laser and SRMs combination that made the Elemental such a dreaded weapon even to Omnimechs.

"Your team's field of fire?" Murrue asks

"500 meters, excellent so long as it does not start snowing," Natalya replies, as it had been dropping flurries off and on since the team hiked up to the place where they set up.

A series of hills and valleys across a veritable canyon floor gave the Archangel Team plenty of room to absorb an Imperial attack. The range, 1000 meters from their forward guard positions to the first bend in the path to where they were, gave them excellent range advantage unless they brought portable missile launchers. The downside was the hills here and there blocked visibility off and on, except for those posted as highground shooters, and Murrue had few set up high lest they draw an inordinate amount of fire in such a fashion. The Elementals were distant and in a depression, that way when the enemy crested that hill the Elementals could jump the Magitek and tear them to shreds by hand. It was less than fair but effective, and effective is what Murrue needed. If that Esper awoke, the devastation it could cause before the _Archangel_ could stop it would be massive. _If_ the _Archangel_ could stop it.

"They're coming," Kira notes on the open frequency for the ground action. "I can feel the fight at the gates, the Empire is going to blow it in," Kira says, his eyes closed tight as he focused his mind on the distant battle. "The gate is down, Narshe's troops are falling back to the mines now," Kira adds after thirty seconds.

"Miriallia, can you sense if they are expecting us?" Natarle asks.

"No, they are not—oh, no, Kefka is among them," Miriallia replies immediately.

"They entered the original Esper site," Kira says, still focusing on the distance. After a minute, the whole ground shakes heavily. "First tunnel closed off," he notes. Less than a third of the Imperials that entered that tunnel had been killed, but all of them that had entered were out of the battle effectively. Even if they got out in several hours, they would not be able to help the rest of the team in the real battle.

"Good work, Warrant Officer," Murrue congratulates the Crazy Cook.

"And that was with my left hand," he replies with an obvious smile to voice.

"Great," Athrun comments with sarcasm.

"Enemy team entering general mine shaft six," Kira notes. Mine Shaft nine would be the one that eventually led to where the Archangel Team was holding. Shaft Six was also trapped...after a minute again, when a column of enemy Magitek and troops had entered the shaft, the lead soldier carrying an arquebus tripped over a monowire trap line, one that led 50 meters back the shaft to several pounds of C8 concealed behind a stalagmite with crush-type detonators in each brick. When the explosives went, it caused a massive cave-in that buried half the enemy column and trapped the remainder.

"Kefka is swearing up a storm right now, cursing all of our names to the heavens," Miriallia says. "Especially you, King Edgar, he thinks your demolition teams are responsible for this," Mir notes with an almost-giggle about it. "He also just ran through the guard they captured for sending them down trapped tunnels. Another guard just told them the only tunnel that we didn't trap was tunnels eight and nine," which was partially correct; eight had been trapped, but using claymores instead of C8. They likely would still cause a cave-in, but the purpose of the Claymores was to kill personnel, not damage material or cause cave-ins.

"He just sent a small detachment of troops to enter shaft eight. God, they look like they're ready to crap bricks," Kira says.

"What a good waste of Demolitions," Athrun mutters. "A dozen Claymores kills four enemies."

"Hey, I wasn't expecting them to wise up that quickly," the demolitions expert of the Commando team notes in exasperation. Moments thereafter the claymores were felt to go off, though not as badly as the C8 traps had shook the ground they were hunkered down on. "And still, that is not all the Claymores I deployed," he notes pensively. A couple of the other Commandos had a grim chuckle for that thought.

"Hold on guys, looks like they're coming through Shaft Nine right now," Kira notes. "They should be here in a matter of moments. About a hundred of them, foot, Magitek, and even armored attack dogs."

Indeed, they could hear the rattle of Magitek units approaching up the hillside. It was a haunting sound, listening to the clanging of their actuators echo around the canyons, but the Archangel Team was fast growing into a professional mercenary unit they often worked as, less affected by fear as it was prior to the beginning of their operations in Cephiro. And then there was the reality that they had already hammered flat more than once in battle, using both infantry and mobile weapons.

At a thousand meters, Newman watched as the first of the enemy HeavyArmor entered the canyon area, then immediately stopped as it got a good look at what was arrayed against them. "Cap'n, he's shouting something back the column," Newman notes.

"Let him, we'll see what they do when they get in here," Murrue says. "If they can stack their whole formation in and march on us, we hose them as they come on," Murrue orders. "Otherwise, some of them will escape..." she mutters.

"Right-o, boss lady," the Crazy Cook replies to the implicit order to kill them all and make sure to count the bodies properly.

"Captain, they know we're here," Newman says. "They've begun stringing out in line abreast formation, two ranks deep with a solid wall of HeavyArmor and Magitek forward."

"All right, Newman, call out their range," Natarle orders.

"Uh, Kira, you can't count for shit, kid. There's a whole helluva lot more than a hundred there," Newman notes as more infantry began filing into the second and third ranks.

"Don't get your panties in a wad, Newman," the dishwasher replies crassly. "Just tell me when they are in the fire sack and I'll thin their numbers with my 'leeeeetle friends'."

"I take it you mean the glow stick you put behind a rock from them?" Which was also throwing an eerie green glow on the said rock that could not be seen by the Imperials but could be seen clearly by Newman.

"You got it."

"Ten seconds," Newman says. "Sniper requesting permission to engage commanders?" who like their South Figaro counterparts were wearing green armor, making them easy to track in on amongst brown-red armor suits and the various Magitek units.

"Green light after Claymores," Murrue allows.

"Firing now, now, now!" the Commando flipped close the detonation switch on these Claymores, which were set to command detonate instead of trap triggered. Once commanded, the whole line of Claymores down the east side of the pass detonated in chain, filling the air with over 8400 lethal steel fragments headed from northeast to southwest and concentrated mostly on the middle area of the gorge—the lethal 50 meter mark where the mines did their bloodiest work with the best chances of kill probability.

No warning, nothing. The enemy formation was marching uphill toward where the Esper was known to be for a moment, next moment they were skidding downhill on the blood and entrails of their own teammates. Three out of ten of the HeavyArmor units were disabled by the pilots being killed or wounded beyond the capacity to continue the battle; the remainder all took some form of injury and even some mechanical damage as the shrapnel embedded itself in less-protected armor plates and punctured unarmored parts of the various armors. Those that remained uninjured were left to choke on the propellant fumes and scent of the blood of their dead or dying comrades.

"Sniper reporting, they stalled badly."

"Start doing their commanders, Newman," Natarle orders.

**WRAM, WRAM**, the sound of the unsilenced Barret was not so much the high-pitch crack of a normal rifle as it was a small explosion when heard in the confines of the gorge. A meter-long tongue of flame erupted from his rifle with each shot, which rudely drew attention to him but also belied his range and accuracy to a tee. With each shot, both a single commander and a single solder on the other side fell flat, killed grotesquely by the fifty-caliber slugs blowing through vital parts of their body.

**CrackCrackCrackCrack**, one of the Commandos had his rifle on four-round burst and loosed a volley at the enemy formation. Simple math put at least two of the slugs in their vicinity, one of them even contacted with a trooper and blew through his upper arm.

And still the enemy trudged uphill toward the Esper. "FOR THE EMPEROR!" They could be heard to shout as they continued to march forward and began a charge up the hill at full running pace, swords and arquebus set and ready to do battle.

**WRAM, WRAM**, another pair of HeavyArmor units skidded forward to a stop as the pilots died very quickly from the more-than-an-ounce of lead slamming through their bodies. The units were stable when not moving but collapsed forward when in motion, making another decent obstacle for the enemy to cross.

The Mechanics made their presence known next, using the four captured HeavyArmor as laser platforms to punch major holes in the enemy armor. One of the armors even had the heavy beam generator, and two others carried six-silo missile packs that had not been fired prior. The screech of missiles headed downrange was something that gave Natarle chills, though the first volley overshot the target area by a good 300 meters and detonated in the snow. The lasers fared better, being in stationary positions and having enough time to line up the shot they did not miss.

**WRAM, WRAM**, a HeavyArmor and a Magitek Armor with the heavy beam generator went down, stripped out of service by Newman and his rifle. Immediately he began tracking in on the next two he wanted to do, as they were passing 300 meters to the front line. More of the rifles could get a shot and they began firing on the enemy soldiers.

And still the Imperials continued their march.

The sound of enemy arquebus echoed back up the hill in response to the Archangel Team's guns, those few of the enemy that had such ranged weapons. Most of the rounds missed, as an arquebus ball would be lucky to strike the same time zone at the range they were being fired at, but such things are still subject to the whim of fate. A Mechanic went down, screaming, as a ball struck him in the face. When he hit he stopped moving, and the mechanic next to him checked for signs of life. He then picked up the assault rifle he was carrying as well as that of the downed mechanic and began firing both in a grossly unprofessional dual-wield way (6).

**WRAM, WRAM**, another pair of HeavyArmor went down, just after they had begun firing their own lasers at the group. They had missed this time, but the next salvo may not miss anyone, so Newman prioritized them. The pilots could not do anything about it, either, since they were exposed and easily shot at.

The ground started rumbling underfoot, which confused Natarle. There were still explosives available to detonate down in the mines, traps had been put on most of the primary shafts, but the rumble was worse than the explosives fired prior. She quickly put such worries aside and braced to begin firing just after one of the support machine guns opened fire on the enemy ranks, which were beginning to look ragged from the rents tore in their line by other fire.

"Enemy at 200 meters, Captain," Newman declares.

"All forces, open fire, fire at will," Captain Ramius orders.

Prior to this, most were holding their fire as per orders, that a few would fire here and there to suck them into the kill zone. Once released, the whole group began firing at any enemy moving at range, between hills, over hills, around boulders.

Natarle herself did not fire. She simply watched as the rest of the team did the job, including the Elementals. Intellectually and by military code she knew she should not give the Elementals the key to basically killing off the ship (their powered armor suits), but in the end she trusted in their ethos and sense of honor. As to how well they fought, she needed only watch as the whole point targeted the remaining Magitek units and Heavy Armor units, and missed very little of their shots. Each SRM was easily capable to fragging the pilot with spall, and the lasers were hard to defeat for the Magitek units, but not for the HeavyArmor. Some form of barrier was interfering with the lasers, preventing hits, though the barrier did not stop the missiles and certainly did not stop the incoming bullets. She kept a mental note of that fact—such a powerful defensive mechanism could prove exceptionally useful for the force, she figured.

The remaining Magitek did their best to fire back, of course. Natarle watched as lasers and missiles, even a heavy beam (Fire) type came back her way from the enemy. A shout to one side, a tortured screech to another, yet as the enemy ranks thinned there was no more. A Marine had taken a laser in the body armor, something that the armor was not completely effective against, and went down hard. Two Mechanics had bought it from the heavy beam, in the case of both the beam literally incinerated their torso, and the beam also slagged down the support machine gun they were using into a sputtering wreck of cooking off ammo and a pile of twisted, malformed metal that almost looked like a Ma Deuce (7). Natarle looked away quickly before her stomach was upset a second time this day.

Natarle could tell that the spell Hikaru used, her _**Ruby Lightning**_ spell, had a significant morale effect on the enemy. They knew of magic, everyone knew this, and they used a form of it to drive their armors, but even in their own ranks the units that could use the spells of yore were the most revered and the most feared. Thus, the spellcraft and the appearance of magical weapons among the team demoralized what remained of the enemy troops as they sprinted from crag to crag, trying to get closer to the Archangel Team to begin an attack. She could sense more than else they knew it was useless..

The full-force press only lasted thirty seconds. Without a spoken order on either side, the fighting petered out and died off completely, as the Archangel Team ceased firing the remaining enemies began dropping their arms and surrendering. Not one of them approached closer than 150 meters, yet they knew that if they closed any farther they would be dead before they could close to melee ranges.

It was a minute of silent staring at the Imperials over gunsights before anything happened. "Imperial troops, leave this town and mountains immediately, and you will not be fired on any further. There will be no negotiations," Natarle shouts more than loud enough to be heard by them.

There was no immediate movement in their ranks for over a minute. Apparently without prompting, the two remaining Magitek units turned around sharply and began moving back toward the pass they had entered the gorge from. The going on the way out was just as rough for the Magitek as it was coming in, as the terrain was craggy and broken, a good place to build ambushes as the Archangel Team had done to them. The team stood down and watched as the whole enemy rank picked up their weapons and walked away, headed south and ultimately home.

"They have balls," Mu notes as he approaches Captain Ramius while still watching them walk away. "But...they just can't beat us at our own game," he concludes.

"What terrible price victory is," Captain Ramius replies, looking over the dead and the dying of both sides, hers and the enemy.

-x-x-x-

"So, this is the Esper?" Captain Ramius asks hours after the last shot had been fired.

"It is...beautiful...and a bit frightening," Fuu remarks as she observed it from range.

The frozen form had been relocated to its present resting place, remote from the village and easily defensible for just such an attack that had come to Narshe. To get to it, one had to traverse mountain paths, caves, the gorge of death (as it was now being called) and had to cross a canyon on a bridge that Magitek would not have survived the crossing. The resulting location, a mesa high in the hills north of Narshe, was the best-defended location that Murrue could think of, excepting for the legendary Sealed Home of the Espers.

"This is the Esper indeed," Arvis replies. "We cannot tell what kind it is, we know so little about them."

"There are different kinds?" Athrun asks.

"We know little of them, but we do know that there were different kinds of them, each with different skills in the ways of magic. The Gods created each kind of Esper for a specific purpose, though we don't know what those purposes were...or are, nowadays."

"It looks like a massive bird, with a long tail," Umi notes.

"With the body of some form of lizard or dragon," Mu adds. "That is not normal for an Avian," he adds.

"Oh, yeah, you're right," Kira comments, seeing in the ice-distorted frame of the Esper what Mu was saying.

"Could it be released? It looks almost pitiful in there, nothing should be entombed in ice like that," Hikaru says.

"No, to release it would unleash destruction unseen in ages," Arvis replies immediately.

On this, they would have no choice. Their proximity to the Esper had awakened it, and combined with the battle mere meters south of it it had regained all of its consciousness. The beast strained against its prison with both mind and physical form, entombed in the magic ice for over a thousand years it had plenty of time to build rage as it slept, its dreams consumed by hatred for humanity.

An explosion rent the edge of the cliff on which it had been perched, though this was not the intent. The magical fire it used to create the explosion sundered the aged magic ice with ease, the enchantments that bound the Esper weakened from the days of the caster that has so entrapped it. As it unfurled its wings the Esper let out a beautiful and terrible screech like none other heard by mortal man.

"By the founder, it is impressive if nothing else," Natalya says, still enshrouded in her Elemental armor. Looking at the massive form of the Esper, however, she doubted the support laser on her right arm would be of any major use against it.

"Oh, good Gods, it has awakened!" Arvis shouts before turning to run. The warble it loosed was enough to stun him motionless, it was that frightening.

_Damnable humans! That you yet live is an insult to all real life in Existence_! The voice echoed inside their minds, clearly heard and clearly directed to them. _I shall rectify this failing of my brothers a thousand years past. Face me or kneel; death shall see you either way__,_ the Esper declared to them as it landed and perched on the cliff-edge that had been shortened by its abrupt unsealing.

"Like hell I'm gonna give you a freebie, arrogant flying lizard," Athrun says as he takes aim with the assault rifle he had used in the battle earlier in the day.

_Then you shall be first_, they hear before it braces to warble again. In this warble, one which had a different tone from the prior two, a large lightning bolt struck Athrun directly on the left shoulder and knocked him to the ground skidding. The discharge also affected Natarle, Umi, and even one of the Elementals, as lightning has incredible propensity to jump from one target to another when the intended target is in proximity to other things. As the four thus affected scattered away from where the lightning struck Athrun, all eyes were on the Aegis pilot as he hit the ground and rolled prone, face down. His body convulsed twice, notably, then spasmed several times in a random pattern. Notably, he did not move apparently of his own afterwards.

"Athrun!" Kira was the first to shout.

"Oh, my God, Sir Athrun!" Fuu shouts, as the Aegis pilot had landed mostly at her feet. Fuu was going to bend down to check his pulse, but never got a chance.

_And you shall be next, young Mage_, the Esper begins, clearly staring into Fuu's eyes at a range of less than five meters. _Tell me before I exterminate you, how many of my brethren did you slaughter to infuse yourself with such power? How many did you take pity on before they were killed, or do you consider Espers nothing more than tools to grant yourself power over other humans and Espers_?

_Oh my God, he thinks I've committed some form of grave massacre because of Windam's power being in me_! Fuu squeals inside her own mind. Fuu could think of no way to convince the Esper otherwise; all she could see in the ruby red and unblinking eyes was an imminent death, of not just her but of everyone else witness to its release.

"Leave her alone!" Hikaru shouts as she steps forward, clear of the others. "_**Ruby Lightning**_!" Hikaru shouts, taking aim at the center-point of the beast.

The attack struck it clearly, hard, but showed no sign whatsoever of having injured it. _Foolish human, your attacks are meaningless. Your weapons are disgraceful, far less than I destroyed a thousand years ago. I will give you credit for heart, but your Existence ends today_. Hikaru found herself staring into the ruby eyes next, though rather than choking on the thought of death as her friend had she drew her sword and readied for it.

_No, Hikaru will be killed trying to save me...why, we came this far, we saved Cephiro, why is this the end_? Fuu rails against the fate she could see, not knowing that what she believed would be was detested by everyone on the mesa with the bloodthirsty Esper.

Only Fuu heard what transpired next. _Windam, best you act before a comrade is truly injured. I give you release hence and forevermore_, a voice says only inside Fuu's mind, though it sounded distant even to the Magic Knight. Perchance the wizened man that had said so was speaking only to Windam, and she heard an echo of it?

Immediately thereafter, even before Fuu had finished realizing what had been said, her armor flickered bright green, then faded again. This drew the Esper's attention back to Fuu, sparing Hikaru what would have been a pair of claw swipes from none-too-pleasant-appearing claws that the monster had. As she looked down at her armor, wondering what happened, her magic glove surged bright green, the gem giving off a powerful green glow that had everyone's attention and even cast a shadow of the Magic Knight opposite her hand.

A green glowing shell of pure power formed on the cliff edge to which the mesa was bridged, as tall as the Gundams and just as wide. The piercing avian call that emanated from the shell and shattered its physical bound was thrice louder and infinitely more beautiful, stunning to everyone who heard it. As the shards of the shell fell to the ground, Yzzak gasped sharply, recognizing the physical form of the Rune God Windam before it took on the shape of the Rune God that Fuu had used in defense of her friends. The others were not far behind in realizing this was the true form of the Rune God that Fuu was partnered to.

The Rune God furled back its massive wings as it settled its grip down onto the cliff, literally staring across the bridge to the group and specifically the genocidal magical beast. As the group watched, Windam lowered its head to a level closer to where the pilots were, the massive avian neck putting its beak just barely over the edge of the mesa, the emerald gem in its forehead glittering in the afternoon sun.

The angry, stern gaze of the Rune God was naught but fixated on the Esper, and even it knew that it had challenged something far more powerful than it would ever hope to be. Immediately the Esper furled its own wings, released its coiling that it was about to use to strike down Hikaru, and bowed itself to the point that its beak touched the ground. _Avian God of another land, why have you become manifest upon this world_? It asks in a far more respectful mental tone than which it had declared it wanted to kill every human in the world.

_I am become manifest, that you do not repeat the grave errors of the past with senseless slaughter in the present and annihilation in the future you so desperately seek_. The wizened, authoritative voice of Windam resounded not simply in the minds of the persons on the mesa but in the minds of everyone for hundreds of kilometers. Those present and those who could hear saw through Windam's massive eyes the Esper, as his thoughts, sight, hearing, scenting were broadcast far and wide to even the most reclusive, the most hateful towards magic. _The soldiers before you are not of this world, have had no part in the slaughter of your brethren and comrades. They deserve your enmity no more than I deserve your hostility. In the cold, hard reality that we are now beset, it is these soldiers whose goals are far more just than your way of going about saving your comrades, for they seek to stop those who would continue the slaughter of the Espers, they do not seek annihilation of anyone. If anything, it is you who is the greatest enemy of Existence in these hills, magic beast_.

_This is insulting! Though you may be a God, you have no right to pass judgment on my actions, when it is you who help the damnable Humans who have_—

_Hold your tongue, knave_! Windam fairly shouts across the telepathic plane, a shout heard almost completely around the world. _They have slaughtered nothing! They have defended lives, human, nonhuman, magical, nonmagical, time and time again. They have bled the ground red of many planets in their battles, and even in the hideous void between the stars have they done battle to save those who you do not even acknowledge as being worthy to live! They have calved comrades, on Twycross, in space, here today, in battles that would make even you quake in abject terror. Even have they defended your person from being captured and slaughtered for the essence of your being, to power new and more powerful Magitek units for the Empire. These warriors have lived far better and far, far more honorable than you ever shall, dishonorable knave. You know only how to slaughter, and for that I have only the greatest of pity and loathing_.

_Loathe, pity me if you will, God from another world. This does not change the fact that I act in response to millennia of slaughter. And I will have the vengeance of the Espers for the actions of the Humans, then and now_.

Windam's piercing call was more defiance than his initial, and insanely frightening to any who heard it. More than one of the Archangel Team would come to find themselves in need of a change of shorts afterwards. _If it is the slaughter you shall continue, then you start by killing me first, dishonorable monster. Or you disabuse yourself of such notion right here and right now. I do not care which you choose, but you will not leave these hills without doing one of the two_.

The Esper recoiled from shock, the thought of challenging a God overwhelming to his sense of Existence. Though an Esper was good, the beast knew he was grossly outclassed by the God across the canyon and would not survive more than a bare handful of moments in such a battle.

_Why do you protect them so_? The Esper asks simply.

_The mass-murderers of your era are long dead and good riddance to such scum_, Windam declares coldly. _I protect all life, here, upon my home planet, elsewhere, for it is well known that life exists, and to deny this is to deny Existence itself. When you destroy a life as you so wish to do, you are destroying a part of everything and that includes destroying a part of the Espers as well_.

There was a silence in between the two, the Magical Beast and the Rune God, for over a minute. _I fail to understand this, Rune God_, the Esper declares simply. _In what fashion does killing the tormentors of the Espers harm us_?

_All life is interconnected in ways that even we Gods cannot fully understand. Though death is a necessity of life, and is often a necessity in protecting more lives than are killed, it must be used sparingly lest all life be impacted in ways that cannot be restored. And it is entirely possible that one of these so-called tormentors may be the answer to thine torture, the one that sets the Espers free of their imprisonment and cruel fate that you challenge_.

_I refuse to believe that_, the Esper replies immediately.

_It is often said that what Human hands build cannot be undone but by human hands. This paradox I have seen time and time again, as those who would challenge and even succeed in annihilating humankind are themselves annihilated shortly thereafter by their own failings, their own lust for blood. Pursuing this course could very well cost your brethren their existence just as readily as you would deny theirs_. Windam had backed off his rage fit, and was now speaking more as a wizened deity than as an angered God about ready tio shred the arrogant upstart to pieces.

_I disdain this course, yet it is not my place to challenge the wisdom of a God. I disdain this with a heart of venom, rest assured, but I shall relay this warning to the Espers that live on today. What that I could beg the forgiveness of your lordship for my transgressions, yet I have earned no such credence on this day_, the Esper replies as it bows again.

_Your penance shall be that of siding with Existence, Magical Beast. You shall be called upon to pay unto the world in due time, but for today you shall go free and unharmed. Relay the word to the other Espers upon the planet, and if possible to the Espers who hold their own negative world. The time for a reconciling of past dues is at hand, and whence we Rune Gods call upon you it shall be for the ultimate of reasons_.

_Understood, Deity of another world_, the Esper replies meekly.

_You are dismissed_. The Esper bows in deference once again, then takes wing and directs itself south by west. In less than a minute it was out of Windam's view. After it was gone, Windam looked back to the group of warriors from the Archangel, though this time its head was held lower, to the point that those who saw with Windam's mind saw only glimpses of those not immediately in front of it._ Magic Knights, Warriors of other worlds, citizens of this world, know that it is not only your own voices that cry out for the right to Exist, but all the voices of Existence seek to live for yet another day. It is your duty to live as such, and to defend life, yours, others, when it must be done. Magic Knights, upon your oath to Cephiro and the Archangel that bears you, I challenge thee: dismantle the Empire of hatred, of lust for power that grows in the south of this world. Upon this task shall you make your road towards home, and by this task you shall continue the necessary tasks of life itself. Go now with the grace and honor that has carried you across worlds and sustained you through horrid battles unimaginable by the denizens of this world. Duty, life, home, and honor await you, wherever you shall go_.

In a flash of emerald light, Windam was gone.

-x-x-x-

Natarle finished up her report and saved it. It was not hard to do, in the end. Between herself, Umi, Fuu, Captain Ramius, Commander La Flaga, and Kira, they had all remembered what had been said by the Esper and the Rune God to a tee.

'There is no arguing with a Rune God, if a millennia-aged Magic Beast would defer to it then it stands to reason that said Rune God knows its position and knows the way of Existence. Thus we are indeed fated to continue' her final line had read. Prior to this long day, she had believed that they were groping at straws and simply surviving, drifting from one battle to the next. By evening's sunset she knew far better.

Her mind kept coming back to the Esper, and how it had been ready to kill the whole team in one stroke, but instantly afraid of the Rune Gods. This made Natarle wonder what the true differences between Humans, Espers, and Gods really were, and to what purpose each should live their lives. She needed not answer that question for herself, Windam had made it infinitely clear that her place was to save lives, here and elsewhere, but what did that mean for others in Existence? Was there more purpose to life than even religion taught, or was there no purpose to life but to live and be alive? The thought of even trying to answer such questions gave her a headache.

For now, Natarle closed down her system. Someday, she might know the answer, but she was not taking bets on it. She moved to the communication monitor in the stateroom and dialed the code for the medical ward. Immediately the monitor popped on, with the doctor standing there. "Yes, Commander?"

"Athrun?" she asks immediately.

"No change. He's still alive, but he's right on the edge. If you are religious, I suggest prayer, and no shortage of it," he declares.

"I shall, thank you," Natarle replies before she thumbs off the monitor.

On a whim, she decides that she did not yet want to leave the stateroom yet, since she was not at risk of being bothered here. She resumed her seat and folded her hands on the table in front of her. After a moment of consideration, she pulled off the magic glove that linked her to Umi and by extension to Selesce, closed it between the palms of her hands, and began.

* * *

Author's Chapter Afterword:

Three stunning, vicious Imperial defeats. Shall the next campaign be a bust? This I leave up to your imagination, since Kefka is not the type that will accept the possible of defeat with any modicum of grace. He would much rather see the world fried over and depopulated before he took a willing defeat. Such is the way of madmen, ne?

The battle between Leo and Umi, though short, was interesting to write nonetheless. Initially I was going to have Leo lose, but just barely to Umi, but the dice roll wicked and I do adhere to the change of plans they bring. After three decent clashes, Leo rolled a set of boxcars (12 on 2d6) and took the gold. Of course, he technically still lost, per se, but those are mere details in the face of the evolving battle. Most of his army survived the engagement, so they will be seen again.

The commando assault on South Figaro was helluva fun to write. Rarely do I do any battles like that, where a small unit gets in and causes that level of widespread havoc among the enemy, which makes it all the more entertaining for me to write (a rare treat it is). Sometimes doing things on a small scale is preferable to doing the large battles and all that.

Narshe was a beauty. I hated the 'defend the weakling' missions in FF6 because they were unrealistic (I never had problems winning). Long-range support personnel on the highground could have had the Imperials for lunch, but nooo... no such realism in the game. I also enjoyed doing the inter-service rivalry between the Commandos and the Sniper-trained Newman, as in IRL military units there are such little rivalries between branches and units. Always fun to throw in the random needling between teams and all that. I also relish the thought of playing with the Rune Gods, for it is often overlooked that each of the Rune Gods are each their own entity and are subject to having their own whims, goals and desires.

On an IRL note, I am almost through with moving at this time, though for some reason my Sat Internet is fritzing and not entirely cooperative. This does not mean that I will be more frequent in the posting, however, as coming up on 22 August I have a certification test for computer networking. Wish me luck; it may be vendor-neutral, but it is no measure of easy. Expect the next chapter to be delayed, in all honesty. The test takes priority, unfortunately, and I have a lot of study to prepare and do between then and now.

Next to come: with the Empire rudely kicked off the northern continent and the morale of the armies of Figaro and Doma surged, the Returners go about assembling the necessary army to take the war all the way to Gestahl's throne room. Of course, the Archangel Team is going to be arse-deep in sorting out the negotiations, so...

* * *

Review Replies:

Six reviews as well as one honorable mention. Thank you all!

**Knives91**: Terra will indeed get her humored events, rest assured.

**DeathZealot**: There will be issues with Kira piloting for some time to come, comrade. Rest assured he does not like the Warhawk but he is piloting it at this time...

**chm01**: I have not seen all of the Rayearth movie, yet, but that is an interesting fact. I'll keep an eye for it, see where it goes and if it may have an interesting impact.

**Maddery**: Most of the FF6 cast will show, but not all. Who, however, shall be classified for now; I try to spoil as little as possible.

**Etienneofthewestwind**: Rest assured the kitchen crew shall only get stranger after this, trust me.

**Evil Manic (Anon)**: Such crossovers are very real possibilities, comrade, but as to where they go I list that as classified. They will be somewhere, someday, and with very cataclysmic results along the whole path :P

Also, I should note some honorable mention to **Strata-Assassin**, who has begun a full read and review on the story. She is also an author in her own right, and her story _Weapon's Waltz_ is a good read for those of you with a strong stomach. It mixes classic Gundam SEED with Tom Clancy-esque covert operations and all the fury of the escalating war. I highly recommend it.

* * *

The Gripe Sheet:

One outstanding correction from the last chapter. **Maddery** reports that I declared Fuu's hair to be green, which it is blond in all the MKR artwork I have. Thank you for noticing this.

* * *

Footnotes:

(1): Nautical Sunrise is that time period between when you can see the beginnings of light and when the sun first crests the horizon. Nautical Sunrise is just as bad for ships and stealth operations as full sunrise is.

(2): Transition in this case is a tactical term meaning switch from your presently readied weapon to another weapon, be it a secondary, an attachment, a breaching weapon, or a single-use (grenade) weapon.

(3): **M**eals **R**eady to **E**at, a food product that is not all that bad in practice. I have had MREs before, they are good but a bit expensive. Still and all, if you want a food product for emergency situations, this is a good one to have.

(4): Decimate does NOT mean to cripple a force by severely damaging it with over half casualties or similar. Decimate means to kill ten percent of a unit, or one out of every ten soldiers. To decmate a unit three times over means to kill three out of every ten soldiers.

(5): This refers to gloves of chain mail, not quite the armored gauntlets of knight's (plate) armor, but not something easily cut through by any right.

(6): Dual wield may be popular in video games, but it is impossible to use properly IRL. I have video of me demonstrating why Dual Wield does not work IRL, dual wield with paired .357 Magnums, I need to chop it up and post it on YouTube. Stay tuned for more intel on this. (I also have some kickass video of me using a pump-action shotgun fast-fire and some standard .357 work, as well as .45 Auto)

(7): Ma Deuce is the nickname for the M2 Heavy Machine Gun. Fires the same rifle round as the Barret .50 Caliber that Newman uses, but is automatic and very accurate. Carlos Hathcock used a Ma Deuce with a scope to get the world's longest-range sniper kill in Vietnam at over a mile.


	23. The Waiting Line

(Section 3, Chapter 07: The Waiting Line)

Simple plan.

Complex execution.

Strangely typical for the _Archangel_, Murrue figured.

"And this is where it gets tricky. We have the guaranteed support of Figaro and its lands. Two regiments. We should have little issue getting the support of Doma. Two more regiments, and Doma's troops are crack troops. Four regiments infantry and support are not going to be enough, even counting us into the invasion plan," Murrue concludes. "I figure six regiments minimum, preferably more if we can factor more into it."

"Six, seven regiments, minimum," King Edgar notes with a hint of depression. "And that if they don't catch us out on the open field. Were that the case, we would need upwards of fifteen regiments to hammer through their forces on hand," he completes his estimation sourly.

"That means we have to try and get forces from the Independent States to the east," Mu notes, looking over the maps. "Kohlingen, Jidoor, Zozo and their lands. Are they capable?"

"Kohlingen region, not likely, not more than a battalion," Edgar notes. "Jidoor definitely has the financial power to do it, but their population is kind of thin. Zozo, well, the only thing I have heard of that town is that it is the crime capital of the world. There may be no official government there, if it is half as bad as the rumors. But..."

"But what? Something up?" Mu asks in reply.

"But, we may be able to hire out an irregular formation from Zozo if we can find enough people brave enough to try it," he notes.

"Use Jidoor's financial backing as leverage to hire mercenaries? Interesting way to go about it," Natarle notes wryly. Something about the way she had said it twigged Mu's senses, but he was not sure why offhand.

"It will have to go that way," Edgar replies immediately. "My kingdom can do a lot with technology, but the Empire is as far ahead of us as you are ahead of the Empire."

"Oh," Murrue never really considered the disparity between the groups in that fashion, but it made sense.

"You have a pair of factories in your territory," Yzak notes. He had been included in the briefing and strategics, as it was his brain that had saved the ship's bacon more than once. They wanted Athrun as well, but Athrun was still laid up in the med bay. "It will be years before the Empire can do complex electronics, much less Figaro, but what about using intermediate firearms? I've toured the factory in South Figaro, it's a drop-forging metal foundry and factory, with some work we could use it to produce early bolt-action rifles," he notes.

"How long would it take to outfit two regiments with rifles?" Murrue asks. "And how hard would it be to also make some of the older machine guns?"

"I don't know. Depends on how high we can get the throughput at those factories, or if we could even get more going," Yzak replies. "Best guess, we could have a regiment outfitted by July, the other one by late August or early September," Yzak estimates.

"Too slow, that would put us campaigning in the winter. If we added a lot more personnel to the project?" King Edgar notes.

"Faster, maybe," Yzak notes. "We can design the systems by which you can outfit your army with weapons more comparable to ours, but they still aren't going to be a machine gun to each trooper. That's just way too complicated," Yzak notes. "As to machine guns, the Ma Deuce is the simplest machine gun we have, and it should do for the job," Yzak notes. "It may work..."

Edgar could only smile. "How effective would a mixed regiment of pikes and firearms be?"

"Forget pikes," Yzak replies immediately. "A bolt-action rifle with bayonet is far better than a pike or arquebus," he adds. "And you have the manufacturing capacity to build them, all we have to do is retask it, follow?"

King Edgar looks to Captain Ramius. "May I have the lease of Yzak and some other persons he may need to complete this as quickly as possible?"

"Yzak?" Captain Ramius asks.

"I'm in. I'll need a couple of the Mechanics, those that normally work on the Duel would be best. I think I can get the remainder from personnel already at the factory sites."

"Also, we should have Nicol and his mechanics tasked to building a third factory, for purpose of building LAWS weapons," Mu opines. "We're going to need lightweight, heavy firepower for taking down their Magitek units. I can't think of a better way than that," Mu says. "Too bad we can't have Athrun doing this as well," Mu notes.

"Yeah, true," Murrue says.

"We'll have it situated on the south shores, west of South Figaro. There are enough people in the area we can reallocate to it," King Edgar adds. "Is this how you fight wars?"

"This is how wars are supplied, King Edgar. Fighting them is a different story entirely," Yzak replies deadpan.

-x-x-x-

"Still in here, Nicol?" Commander La Flaga asks as he approaches the bed that Athrun was still situated at.

"No change," Nicol says by way of greeting.

"He won't be out for too long," Mu says as he grabs a seat next to the bed in question.

They were silent for several minutes.

"How's Fuu holding up?" Nicol asks.

"I think we have her cleared of the notion that she was at fault for Athrun's present condition," Mu replies. "Natarle actually had one of the most clever ways to go about it, a board of inquiry to cover the facts of the matter."

"Make it official and on the record that Fuu was not responsible for the incident and injuries to Athrun?" Nicol asks before the doc could.

"Yeah, that's basically it," Mu replies. "You going to be ready in a day or so to begin in on the factories?"

"I will be," Nicol replies in a soured tone. "I still can't believe we are doing this."

"We have to, unless you want to live here for the rest of your life?"

Nicol sighs. "We'd have to do this in either case, though."

"True, that," Commander La Flaga replies.

"Other than that, what else is going on?" Nicol asks, having hardly left the medical ward since the encounter with Tritoch days ago.

"Nothing huge," Mu replies automatically. "Umi tried pretty hard to rip Yzak's face off earlier today."

"Foul language again, I take it?" Nicol asks, unsurprised when he got a positive nod. "He'll learn...eventually."

"Or Umi will actually succeed in tearing his face off. Betting is in her favor right now, six-to-one odds."

Somehow, the sight of seeing a faceless Yzak and Umi stomping away holding the remnant was supremely amusing to Nicol for some reason. Not that it would happen exactly as he envisioned, but the thought was what counted.

"All the machines are in working order, so Murdoch and his team have been chillin' out. They took about two hundred empty two cubic meter crates, put holes in certain facings, and made a three-dimensional climbing maze. They charge five credits per try, person that gets through it in two minutes or less wins fifty credits."

"Can it be done?" Nicol asks.

"Yeah, but it will take you a few tries. They didn't make it easy, naturally," not to mention climbing and crawling through a tree-dimensional maze could be very disorienting unless you really paid attention.

"Thanks, commander," Nicol notes after a few seconds of silence.

"What for?"

"Few of us worry about each other when it hits the fan. Yet, you're here to check on Athrun and apparently more to check on me. Thanks," he replies.

"Sad but true," Captain Ramius notes as she steps up to the bed to look at Athrun, then check over his monitors. "Still no change?"

"No, not a movement," Nicol replies.

"How're you holding up, Nicol?" she asks as she takes a seat next to him but about a meter distant.

"All right, I guess," he replies. "All this time has given me a lot of time to think," he notes.

"And?" Captain Ramius asks.

"I don't think this is astronomical coincidence. Each time, we have been somewhere where we could help with the ongoing problems of the world in question, and...well..."

"You think someone is manipulating us, putting us in places where we can help the locals?"

"Maybe. I don't claim to know much about the Gods, or how they operate, and it's probably for the best. Still, I'd have to guess that something very powerful is causing this, and at a guess that power would have to be something along the lines of a God. Or greater."

"A god...the Rune Gods?" Captain Ramius asks.

"No, they were the first I knocked out of the running for this. If they were doing this, they would be effectively screwing themselves," Mu replies before Nicol could. "Remember, their physical arm, the Magic Knights, are stuck on this ship as well. If they were doing this, they'd be doing it to themselves just as fast."

"Oh, right," Captain Ramius replies. "But...why would a God want to...well...do this to us?"

"Comes back to my original disclaimer, Captain. I don't know, and even if I did there's no guarantee it would have any logic we could understand," Nicol notes.

"Oh," Captain Ramius notes. "Has anyone offended a God recently?"

"Not to my knowledge," Mu La Flaga replies. "You?"

"Nope," Captain Ramius replies.

"Entertainment purpose," the doctor adds to the conversation. "Maybe one just picked up on us and is doing this for entertainment purposes, basically."

"Could be," Mu notes. "Still, this is a bit much for a few laughs." The Commander's gesture encompassed the whole room, but more or less meant the whole trip.

"Gods would definitely have a different outlook on these matters, and that is where we come in," the doc replies. "I know, it is a cruel thing to say with the Rune Gods helping us, but a lot of the ancient Gods of the various tribes of humanity were like that. All this love, peace and purpose-based monotheism-based religion is a new advent, past three thousand years at the best. Prior to that, the Gods were portrayed in a far different fashion, and if those portrayals are true, then that is a lot of power and probably several thousand years of pent-up frustration to take out on we mortal pawns."

"The Doc definitely has a point," Nicol notes in surprise.

"Any way out of this?" Captain Ramius asks.

"If this is a God working on us, likely not. If it is random chance, likely not. We just keep trying, and maybe we shall get home someday," the Doc adds as he crowds in to check Athrun's monitors.

"So basically all we can do is hope we survive?" Commander La Flaga asks.

"That is all we can do in this case, except for making as much of our own luck as possible," the Doc adds.

-x-x-x-

The first factory was quite the large one. Crewed by around 200 persons from South Figaro and the rural areas around it, it was a metal processing and forging factory, with drop-forging equipment more or less exactly to spec of what they would need (with some modifications) to make the barrels and other metal components of the rifles. The second factory, actually built into Figaro Castle itself, would be the facility that produced the lovely brass cartridges that would give the infantry enough firepower to manhandle a sword-only force for lunch, and oh, by the way, a single rifle shot can render a Magitek Armor pilotless.

The third factory that Nicol would be setting up would be the real surprise for the Empire. A factory to build basic LAWS rockets and grenades, two things that would prove to be amazing force multipliers come the first pitched battles, and he would build them from the ground up. In a way Yzak envied him the task, though not a mechanical tinkerer to the degree Athrun and Kira were, he enjoyed building mechanical contrivances. Unlike said two pilots, he was also willing to push the limits, which is why this plan was actually happening to begin with.

His first task, however, would be getting the first factory up to standard and begin producing the rifles they would need, as well as the bayonets that would allow the rifleman to do the routine of a pikeman as well, should it be needed.

The sound of the inside of the factory and machine shop was something that Yzak relished at one level, given that he was studying to become a contract machinist specialist before he signed up for ZAFT. The Regent seemed perturbed about the noise, but the one accompanying Yzak on this mission simply plugged one ear.

"Machinist, where is the foreman?" the Regent asks a Machinist that was walking past holding a large metal cylinder.

"Line D-3 in the factory block is where I saw him last," the Machinist says before he got back to his duties.

Finding Factory Line D3 was not the most difficult task. Finding the foreman was turning out to be far more difficult than initially appeared, as every time they went looking he was in a different location. "Sorry, chap, last I saw him he was headed toward the smelting area," another of the press workers notes after the fifty line checked.

"This is starting to get on my nerves," Yzak notes to the other two with him.

"It is," the other from the Archangel Team replies.

"He's around here somewhere, but he's the kind of guy that likes doing his job more than the paperwork, and far more than talking to myself or the King," the Regent notes.

"Well, that I can understand," Yzak replies, noting clearly to himself that there were days he'd rather fight a pitched battle against a Trinary of Clanners rather than deal with Commander Badgiruel or La Flaga.

"Ah, here he is, we've finally found him," the Regent says as he gets clear sight of the Foreman talking to two of the area managers. The three closed up on the three from the factory, waiting patiently as something was discussed between them, which boiled down to reconfiguring the A lines for something...

"Not now, Regent, I got a crapload of work to do for the King," the Foreman says as the two managers walk away. "He wants rifles, I need to get to work reconfiguring these machines for it," he says.

"Now, now, Wilhelm, these two are here for that purpose. The plan to refit the Royal Regiments with rifles was actually a plan derived by—"

"One of those mercenaries from the Archangel Team, yes, I know all that, and I got a lot of shit to do before we can begin modding the equipment to specification," he says.

"Then you two may get along," the regent says while indicating Yzak. "This is Yzak Joule, one of the pilots and a skilled mechanical engineer from the Archangel Team, and this is his assistant in this endeavor, Umi, err, Ryuuzaki, did I get it right?"

"Yes, you did," she replies.

"Ah, you two are the help the King promised in achieving this. So, tell me, what kind of rifle are we building? Flintlock, wheel-lock?"

"Bolt-action cartridge breech loading," Yzak replies as he pulls out his note-puter and fired it up. He also had two high-capacity satchel batteries, in case it had to be used for a severe length of time, so he had plenty of power for it. "I have a graphic and exploded diagram of the requirements for this rifle, but if you were thinking about simple rifles with a flintlock mechanism, I can tell you now to throw that idea in the bin. One bolt-action rifle has five times the power, ten times the range and ten times the fire rate over even the fastest of flintlocks, and all that on a bad day."

"This I must see, come to my office and we'll talk there," the Foreman orders. The whole group headed to the office in question and closed the door, which silenced most of the noise of the factory around them. "All right, it sounds as if this is a miracle weapon you are bringing us, explain how it works, please."

Yzak sighs as he takes the proffered seat, though he like the regent waited for Umi to be seated first. "The rifle uses a pre-prepared cartridge that loads into the breech of the rifle, instead of ramming it down the barrel. In this case it is possible to fire and load a round in a matter of seconds, not twice or three times a minute." He had the necessary graphics up on his machine, which he used to demonstrate the workings. "You draw the bolt up and back, then as it cycles forward it picks up a round from the magazine below the bolt, here, and rams it into the breech. When you lock the bolt down, it seals the breach for firing. You fire, the slug goes out the business end. Once that is done, you pull the bolt up and back, which automatically ejects the fired round and recocks the gun, then push it forward to ram home another round. Repeat until you run out of rounds in the magazine here, which on the rifle I am planning on implementing is ten rounds."

"And how accurate is it supposed to be?"

"Sniper rifle accurate," Yzak says. Seeing the blank expression from the foreman, he continued: "with this rifle, I can reliably hit a man-sized target at 800 yards with little issue, farther than that if I had a magnifying scope sight."

"Larger magazine? And can a trooper carry more than one magazine?"

"Possible, but not recommended. This rifle is supposed to load by a stripper clip, where you use a bundle of rounds and push them down into the magazine. Easiest if we simply keep it to that," Yzak says.

"And how long would it take to make one of these?"

"If we can get the whole factory reset and ready for it, we can make theoretically ten rifles an hour on this equipment, maybe more, and that is including the bayonet." Yzak was making extrapolations, but they were the kind that he could only make after seeing the process in action, and so far what he was seeing of these factory workers well exceeded what he expected.

"Explain that."

"Present maneuver formations are a combination of arquebus and pike. A bayonet is a knife or spike on the end of the rifle, which turns a rifleman into a pikeman if need be. Honestly, if you start firing at five hundred yards, more than three quarters of them will be dead before they get close, but just in case, you have the bayonet.

"Got it," he says. "Good Gods, we may just win this one yet," the Foreman adds.

"I'll be alternating between this factory and the other one in town, due to the requirements of the ammunition I'll have to get them set up to roll brass, stamp it and form the cartridges. The ammo is just as important as the rifle, without one or the other you are really having a bad day," Yzak notes with a hint of humor.

The foreman nods thoughtfully. "I think we can do this, but one thing. I kept hearing tales of a weapon that fired a dozen rounds at a pull of the trigger..."

"And on that, I bring to you the other weapon we'll be building here, the M2 Heavy Machine Gun," Yzak begins.

For her part, Umi knew she was here more or less to cadge the personnel into keeping going, and to supervise and relay information as necessary (particularly weapon tracking and auditing when the manufacturing got into full swing). After all, Yzak would not have brought her along unless she could best do the role of a dignified commander and graceful manager, she figured. All in all, she wasn't far off on her purpose, but way off on the 'why' of the matter.

-x-x-x-

Commander Badgiruel really hoped she would have a chance to clean up before seeing the King and Regent of Doma. Riding a Chocobo a week with the King of Figaro may have gotten them to their destination, but she also suspected she smelled like a Chocobo stable right now. She couldn't tell, all she could smell was Chocobo. Regardless of how far away she was from the birds.

Still and all, the bastion of Doma was an impressive sight nonetheless, an ancient-style castle that had some modifications for modern amenities, like mechanical ventilation and running heated water, at least according to King Edgar's description of the place. He had visited Doma twice on visits of state prior to the onset of the invasions in the south.

"Halt!" the front guard says as they approach after having dismounted the Chocobo.

"King Edgar Roni Figaro and Commander Badgiruel to speak to the King Wyatt Ju Doma. He knows we are coming," King Edgar says smoothly.

"A moment, sirs," another voice declares as the speaker steps through the personnel entrance in the portcullis door. "Ah, King Edgar of Figaro, it has been long, good sir," he says with a gracious bow to the King.

"Indeed, Lord Cyan," King Edgar says with a warm smile. Natarle could tell it was a gesture reserved for those whom he had trust, respect, not the colder smile of a professional politician that the representative of the Empire got. "This is Commander Natarle Badgiruel of the Archangel Team, and is here representing their interests and employ," he continues.

"A pleasure," Natarle says with a formal bow of her own. Lord Cyan had returned the favor.

"Please, we have quarters waiting for yourself and your companion, no doubt you are wearied from your travels," he says. "The King has scheduled a strategic meeting of our Lords for tomorrow midmorning. I am told the meeting shall be with an eye toward assembling and preparing a force to take the northern grievances to the Emperor," the retainer of Doma notes.

"Ah," King Edgar replies, instantly deriving a world of intent from that one statement. "Please, Lord Cyan, lead the way," King Edgar prompts.

As Natarle enters the castle proper, she unsteps her assault rifle sling and switches to carrying it by the grip handle instead of having it slung. Inside, she realized that she would not need it inside the castle bounds unless the Empire decided to lay siege to the castle once again. And should that be the case, Natarle had a long-range radio to call down distant thunder onto them again.

The castle itself was an odd one, as it was built literally straddling a river on two sides, with the river curving down the middle of the stonework of the castle itself, which lent it water even during a running siege. Fouling the river would be a simple task for an invading army, though the ability to use the river to get rid of waste either way was still a plus. The inside of the castle itself was fashioned in two levels, a ground floor and a balcony supported by some massive stone columns, making it something of an impressive structural wonder in its own right. There were some machines here and there, but nothing so much as the machines in use by Figaro Castle, and Natarle could only imagine what machines permeated the Imperial Capital Vector.

Inside the Donjon, the main keep of the castle, the decoration was even more lavish than in Figaro. More than a few tapestries covered whole walls, expert weaving of scenes that Natarle could only guess as to their significance. A few suits of armor and decorative polearm racks were stationed along the walls, the armor of a type that no longer provided ample protection but still had aesthetic value. Up the forward stairs and right were the main quarters for the Retainer, the Regent, and the distinguished guests of the King.

"Your quarters, King Edgar. Please summon if there is any issue," Cyan notes.

"My thanks, Lord Cyan," King Edgar says. "I gander the next meal is dinner?"

"Indeed, such should only be a few hours off," Cyan notes.

_Wow, I did not think it was that late already_, Natarle thinks behind a passive face.

"By your leave, Commander," Edgar says to Natarle.

"Thank you, King Edgar," Natarle notes in response.

"This way, my lady," Cyan leads her down the hall one room and on the other side of the hall to another set of quarters. "These would be your quarters, lady Badgiruel. Please summon if there is any issue outstanding with them," he says with a bow.

"Thank you, Lord Cyan," Natarle says as she returns the bow. Without further ado, Natarle stepped into her quarters and relieved herself of her gearpack, which included (among other things) her Earth Alliance Officer's uniform, which was what she considered the closest thing she would wear to a dress. She also had a small collection of decent arms, as well as traveling rations of MREs. King Edgar had carried his own rations and arms, and Natarle had made it a point to have him bring a rifle and learn the principle of using a proper rifle, as demonstration what his army would be worth when refitted.

The quarters were impressive, easily far better furnished and decorated than the quarters and stateroom on the _Archangel_ combined. A separate bathroom that was thankfully enclosed was also included, and there were several casement windows that she could see a good percentage of the courtyard from. A franklin-style stove in the room would provide heat if she had any temperature issues, and might also be useful for heating up her MRE packs if that is what it came to, though Natarle could sense more than else cooking in the area would be excellent.

Without further ado, she collected up her uniform and necessary undergarments, moved to the bathroom, and proceeded to take one seriously long bath. Five days on a Chocobo that smelled like nothing else she had ever dealt with was more than enoughmotivation to give herself a very thorough scrubbing.

-x-x-x-

Nicol found himself doing a rather strange thing with his spare time of late, as a way to vent unused feelings. Though potentially duplicating effort, Nicol had begun writing up a straight account of the things he had done since beginning with the _Archangel_, lo those many days past on Cephiro. Though it could be considered a bit redundant in the face of Natarle's open reports to the Earth Alliance command, he did it anyways. Besides, her reports were more or less for a tribunal. Nicol figured they would only make it as an official record as to what they did. Nicol's aim was to tell the odyssey of the _Archangel_ in its clear fashion, which would be an entirely different tasking at hand. Not to mention, someone needed to know the whole truth of what happened here, the leftover hatred and the triumphs of the team. And of course to tell of the loss of Dearka.

Not to mention, should he get a chance, Nicol would have killed for even a small kid's electric keyboard, much less any fashion better of a piano.

"Unhhh...that hurts..."

"Need two aspirin?" Nicol asks automatically, used to asking such things without regard to who asked. It was only a few seconds later that he properly understood who had said it, and he froze up. The former Blitz pilot looked up from the table he was doing the transcription on and looked to the speaker on the medical bed just beyond. "Holy...you're awake!"

"Yeah, point being?" Athrun asks weakly. "How long have I been out?" he asks, after coming to the realization that maybe something happened that he did not remember.

"A week," Nicol says. "This is excellent news!"

"What's the big deal about it?" Athrun asks weakly.

"You don't remember what happened?" Athrun indicates not. "You got half-nuked by an Esper. You hit the ground and just twitched after the lightning struck, we thought you were dead until after the argument between Tritoch and Windam."

"Oh," Athrun says, not remembering any part of that. As far as he was concerned, his day had ended shortly after the shooting in the craggy pass. "Anyways, who do I talk to about a few Tylenol?" Athrun asks.

"I'll get some," the Doctor says as he turns toward the dispensary cabinet.

"What's been going on, since I was out?" Athrun asks.

"A lot," Nicol says. "We're converting some factories to make rifles for the northern forces, we're building coalitions to head south and basically counter-invade the Empire, Commander Badgiruel and King Edgar should be talking with the King of Doma right now or close to it, and otherwise the ship has been recovering from the losses we've taken recently. It has not been completely pleasant, really, but not impossible to bear."

"Oh," Athrun notes calmly.

"And...you've had a steady stream of visitors, just about everyone's stopped by at least twice, just to check and see how you're doing. Captain, the pilots more like three, four or more times a day. Hikaru, I think about six a day, same with Fuu, Umi a little less."

"Oh;" and this one was not so much as a proper word as it was a squeak from Athrun.

As if there was something destined to accentuate the point: "Any change—Athrun!" Captain Ramius begins asking, then immediately changes her tune when she saw him blink. "Finally, we all were beginning to get worried that Esper had caused more damage than we could undo," Captain Ramius notes as she sits down.

"Esper...I don't remember it," he comments.

"You may not, but much of the world does, having seen the Esper through the eyes of the Rune God Windam."

"The Rune God...stopped the Esper from massacring us all," Commander La Flaga notes, having followed the Captain in.

"Natarle recorded everything from that telepathic conversation, I think you'll like it, especially the one that got the mental beat-down was the Esper that decided you need a couple billion volts persuasion to die."

"I'd love to," Athrun says. "I just...need to get better, that's all," he notes.

"All right, all of you get out of here, go on, shoo," the Doc says. "This patient definitely needs some rest," he says as he starts waving them out of the medbay.

"Aye aye, Doc," Commander La Flaga says. "We'll have some reading material for you later today, Athrun," Mu notes on the way out. Even Nicol evacuated as per the Doc's order.

"I must be running a circus today, there's been more activity in here than in the past month," the Doc mutters. "All things considered, I think Nicol just became 500 C-bills richer off some of the Mechanics."

"How?"

"They figured you'd cling on for several months, but eventually lose. Nicol figured otherwise. Nicol won. Not that I condone taking bets on who lives and who does not, but it is good to see you beat the odds against," the Doc says as he gives Athrun a glass of water and a bottle of Tylenol. "Ration those, and keep to the directions on the bottle. After a few days, we'll get you up and walking, see what parts of your body took the most damage and how we can correct it."

"Yes, sir," Athrun says immediately.

-x-x-x-

"Ah, excellent, King Edgar, well come," the King of Doma says as the two approach and shake hands vigorously.

"I wish this visit could be under better circumstances, but now is the time to move with aggression, and maybe we can avoid all becoming vassals to a perverted Emperor and his insane flunky." By pervert, he did not mean in a sexual fashion (if anyone qualified, it would be himself), he meant as in having no proper sense of right and wrong.

"Milady Badgiruel, a pleasure," the King says with a deferential bow. Over last night's dinner, they had learned in extensive detail some of the battle that the _Archangel_ had been subject to, and how the _Archangel_ had survived and even won those battles, one grossly outnumbered ship fighting against insane odds. There was little question that Natarle Badgiruel, Lieutenant Commander of the Earth Alliance and Commander in the Archangel Team, was one of the few masters of war on the planet. "I have heard much of your team's exploits, and yours in particular,"

"Highness, thank you," she says as she returns the bow.

"All right, we might as well get straight to it, since the sooner we get this cemented, the sooner we can convince the Western States to join our cause," the King says. "First, Commander Badgiruel, please detail your course and intention for taking the Empire out of commission for the Lords," he requests.

"Gentlemen, my intention is to attack the Imperial Capital, Vector, in such a fashion that they have no possible recourse but to surrender and dissolve the Empire. This will be accomplished by punching a discreet hole in the Empire's guard forces around Vector, by entering and securing Vector, and by expedient of eliminating the command structure of the Empire, namely Emperor Gestahl and Lord Kefka. This will accomplish the necessary tasks to allow us access to necessary resources to find our way home," Natarle begins her briefing.

"An auspicious plan, but do you grasp the totality of what you are saying? Killing an enemy officer is very poor sport, Commander, killing an Emperor is more than ample cause to escalate a war." This was from one of the Lords of Doma, whom Natarle could remember his name as Gahstmane.

"Under normal circumstances, yes, that would be far more destructive than anything else. However, by all accounts the only thing driving this war is Emperor Gestahl and his insane ambition. If you take him down, yes it may seem deplorable, but at least it eliminates the reason the war continues."

"All right, we shall set aside the question of the morality of killing an Emperor, for now at least," one of Doma's many Knights says.

"How do you intend on getting through the Imperial armies around Vector?" Lord Cyan asks, since this was the one hanging point he figured the whole operation had. Once inside Vector, he was convinced losing was impossible.

"Blitzkrieg, an old technique of war from my home lands," Natarle says. "We punch a small hole in their defensive line, going for penetration more than area denial, and the forces follow our armored thrust right through and into Vector itself. This way, we get the Capital without a costly siege action," Natarle says. "First, we will have our own advanced infantry weapons. Second, we will be able to salvage enemy Magitek units and use them against the enemy of their own right. Third, we have the _Archangel_ and her Mobile Forces, which is more than enough to do the initial break-in phase of the assault and provide limited cover for the follow-on forces. We can break in, the question remains whether we can have your support knowing that our intention is to eliminate the Emperor?"

"You have my support," Lord Bezz notes directly. "My lands were hit hard by the Empire when they brought siege to Doma. I have thousands of men with little more than a burning desire to kill Imperials."

"He does not jest on that, and I am in agreement," Lord Wilker replies. "The sooner we put a stop to their scourge, the better."

"Then, what questions have you?" King Edgar asks.

"We know somewhat of your industrial retooling for making these rifles. Are they as advertised? Can they really strike down a man at a mile?" another of the Knights asks.

"Yes, with a caveat," Natarle notes. "The farther away you are, the harder it is to hit the target. However, the rifle we are preparing to manufacture, and may be manufacturing right now actually, is capable of putting a shot out to two thousand yards, minimum. The heavy machine guns, which will be a lot more rare than the rifles, are capable of even worse." The thought of having already begun the production was grossly optimistic, but Natarle was not above touting the ZAFT Pilot's skills any more.

"Supposedly you are working on a way for the Infantry to take out the Magitek units at range?" another Knight asks.

"Well, first off the Magitek Knights can be stopped by the same rifles that all personnel will have, simply by shooting the Magitek Knight. Second, we are working on a man-portable rocket weapon to use against the Magitek forces and other hardened targets, as well as hand-carried grenades that are a lot safer than the lit-fuse type commonly already in use. Third, the Omnimechs we have are easily capable of turning Magitek into scrap in very short order. We will not be caught shorthanded when we have to go head-to-head with the enemy Magitek forces, that is for sure."

"It would seem thou has already planned this campaign thoroughly so as to assure a victory," the King of Doma notes. "I find myself a bit frightened that you have such a ready grasp of a strategy with having been here mere weeks," he notes.

"The principles of war do not change from planet to planet. How you fight the war is what changes," Natarle notes.

-x-x-x-

(27 March 986)

Miriallia's telepathy helped guide Nicol and Fuu toward the town of Kohlingen, though so had Windam for that matter. In the end, the backwards stealth used by the team worked to their advantage, however, as the town appeared to be little more than a low-tech farming town, nothing like the large urban expanses around Figaro or the more rustic bustling city-centers of Doma's lands.

It was a wise decision that they did not enter or approach town on the Stormcrow, as Murrue had initially assigned to them. Though dressed oddly enough to draw instant attention to themselves, the fact that they were not piloting anything, just walked in with only the Rorynex showing gave them an instant leg up, so to speak. The locals were not immediately hostile towards them, which itself was a good sign.

The other thing that was working for them was the fact that the King's brother, Sabin, had tagged along for the journey as well. In all reality he wanted nothing to do with the crown, but he did want to end the war. Fuu thought he was tossing away an opportunity like no other; being a normal civilian from Japan, she had no clue what being royalty was really like and as such had a rather idealized version thereof in her mind. She would have been seriously shocked by the reality, but Sabin wasn't going to disabuse her of that image she held.

Finding the mayor of Kohlingen was easy enough. Getting in to speak to him was just as easy. Getting the answer they wanted...

"So, you're saying that you plan on invading the southern continent, and you plan on assaulting the Imperial capital. Do I have that much of your plan right?"

"You do," Nicol replies calmly.

"Kid, has it ever occurred to you that the Empire has more forces available than the northern continent has total with an extra pair of regiments to spare? Not to mention the Magitek they use? You are asking for an early death," he says.

"Have you seen or heard of the _Archangel_?" Nicol asks in response.

"A bullshit story to raise hopes against the Imperial onslaught. There is no way a ship can float above the lands and wield cannons capable of what is said of the _Archangel_," he replies immediately, definitively.

"An interesting look at it," Nicol says. "I take it from context that you would not support your prior claims to support the Returners, then," Nicol notes.

"Correct, boy, the Returners are getting far too bold. I question whether or not they would be a suitable replacement to the Empire, should they win. With such a desperate struggle, I have to wonder if it is freedom or power they are after," he notes coldly.

Nicol sighs, a feeling echoed by the rest of the team.

"For your sake, and the same of your friends, I suggest you disabuse yourself of this notion and find somewhere to live a peaceful life. Death on a battlefield to the south is not going to get you a proper family and estate." Such a thought immediately caused Nicol to blush almost beet red, for two reasons. One, he was planning on asking Fuu out on a date sometime after the shooting was over, two, he was rather incensed that anyone could consider such an important matter as one's freedom on the same level as one's family, which he also qualified as important but far more suited to after the world was cleaned of the hazards of the Imperials.

"This isn't working," Fuu says in Japanese, which intended the comment only for Nicol.

"I know, he isn't going to budge," Nicol replies in the same language.

"Then best we be off," Fuu notes.

"Is there no recourse that you shall budge on?" Sabin asks in a lull between Nicol and Fuu's discussion.

"There is not, mister..."

"Sabin," he adds, not using his full name likely to conceal his royal lineage.

"No, I cannot send my town's men to die on the southern continent for no good reason," the Mayor concludes.

"Then we occupy your time no further," Nicol replies. "Thank you for at least hearing us out."

"I still advise you reconsider this folly, kid. It can only end in disaster," the Mayor says as he escorts the three out of his house.

"Well, that could have gone far better," Sabin says. "The line of mayors in this town have always been obstinate. don't take it as a personal failure to convince him, your pitch was excellent. He just did not want to hear anything but his own bleating," Sabin says.

"I figured as much," Nicol replies though still disheartened.

"Be at ease, Nicol. As Commander La Flaga always says, we can make the impossible possible."

"I will admit that last dig he had on you, about comparing freedom to family, that was not on the level. It is his autonomy right now that allows his family, if the Empire comes in here he can expect the rules about that will change drastically," meaning that the Imperials would take all the good-looking ladies for their own purposes. Nicol and Fuu had noticed that he had a wife and (at a guess) six children, just from those they had caught a glimpse of when they were peeking in on the conversation in a fashion that was not entirely stealthy.

"It cannot be helped, some people think in those terms," Nicol says, remembering clearly the anti-war protests in the PLANTs in the days prior to him signing up to join the official war effort.

It was several minutes of walking before any of the three said anything. "If you always live at the threat of being killed, if you live with no rights of your own, what is your life worth at the end?"

To whit, neither Fuu nor Sabin had an answer to Nicol's pressing question.

-x-x-x-

(31 March 986)

The turnaround on the factory was exceptional, in Yzak's opinion. And they even managed to get the ordinance factory running even faster, which made things simpler in the end.

They had ready supplies of all the necessary components for the firearm, the Enfield Mark IV bolt-action battle rifle, ordinance-grade steel for the barrel and bolt, high-grade for the magazine and trigger group, wood for the stocks, excellent steel for the bayonets, brass for the shell casings, lead and copper for the jacketed bullets, the components necessary to make nitrocellulose-based gunpowder. All in all, the only thing the Kingdom of Figaro was lacking was the proper 'motivation' to assemble them into a decent rifle.

For that, they had Yzak, who had ruthlessly dogged the whole factory crew to get them into shape to make rifles at the needed rate to properly outfit the regiments, two from Figaro and two from Doma as per King Edgar's orders.

Yzak had watched the whole process as it was being executed. First, he watched as the Blanchert lathe took a properly formed Enfield stock and a blank of oak that was slightly larger and square and began cutting the blank in passes to match the finished form. Each stock could be turned out in a matter of ten minutes, after which it went to a final drilling step where the necessary holes were drilled for the barrel, magazine well and trigger group. His next stop was the drop-forging facilities, where a worker pulled a superheated steel rod from the foundry furnace with a pair of insulated tongs, then placed it on a drop-forging machine that had a huge metal press on it with component holes in it that matched what would need to be punched into it in mirror, that way the machine punched the right pattern onto the steel blank. The operator punched the breech end of the barrel and housing four times, each time adding or modifying to the shape already held, until it was ready. The noise made by the drop-forging was hellish, but it was worth it in Yzak's opinion. After forged, the piece was reheated, quenched, then reheated only slightly and left to cool in water to provide the necessary strength from tempering it. With this done, the barrel would be able to survive its own internal forces as a cartridge was fired. Once cooled, the barrel went to a bore tap that cut first the hole in the barrel for the bullet, then a second bit went through and cut out the rifling grooves that would make it extremely accurate. All in all, the barrel was the most complex part from a full machining standpoint, but not from an 'assembly required' standpoint.

The bolt of the rifle was manufactured on a different line, of separate components and assembled by a series of workers. The parts were made similar to the barrels, drop-forged, though rather than several steps each part only had to be hammered once, and to get the hot metal in place a worker used a smaller set of tongs to pull the metal blanks out of a blast furnace and array them on the press. Each press hammered out one each of the necessary parts for the bolt, and did so at the rate of thirty bolts an hour (they could do far more, but the metal supply was not all that fast just yet). Once forged, the parts were quenched and tempered in the same fashion as the barrel, giving them the hardness to survive the battle. Once cooled to an acceptable temperature, the parts were assembled by another person on the same line, freeing the drop-forge operator to hammer out and temper the next set of parts for the bolt.

The magazine, magazine spring and magazine shuttle were also drop-forged, and all on the same line as one another. Once forged and tempered per their individual requirements of each part, another worker assembled the magazines, of which each trooper would receive two magazines since they were so easy to manufacture. This would allow them to rotate magazines so the springs did not wear out so fast. The trigger group and necessary mechanism was forged and assembled on its own line in a similar fashion, though the trigger for the Enfield was a lot more complex than the magazine. Also, the necessary sights were assembled on a small line of their own and tempered, then the elevating flip-up rear sight was assembled by someone with really nimble hands who could manipulate the twist screw into the sight frame.

Final assembly was performed on the final production line, which received the readied parts from each line and simply out a part onto the rifle where needed. Each worker on the line was responsible for putting together the whole rifle, then stamping the Figaro Industries logo and the serial number onto the rifle barrel just forward of the breech. When they were finished assembling and marking the rifle, the weapon was racked to finish cooling internally.

This had begun yesterday. Yzak was ready to try his fast-paced engineering work out today, and for that he had a case of 500 rounds, .303in Ball (full metal jacket) ammunition. Outside the wall of South Figaro, he had gone out with the factory foreman and Umi, who was overseeing the ammunition factory, and set up a target stand with a simple paper target suspended between two poles. There was a moderate breeze rolling across the plains today, which he knew would affect his aim to a small degree at 100 yards. Very small degree.

The demonstration began with him breaking down the weapon and thoroughly greasing all the moving components, something he learned was a religion of the Infantry: keeping your weapon cleaned and oiled was the only thing that would save your ass come time for a firefight. With that accomplished, he loaded a single round into the magazine before he put the bolt in and locked it into place. The bolt went forward and down smoothly, and he had visually recognized it picked the round up from the magazine as it was closing. In one swift motion the rifle came up to his shoulder, centered on target, and he fired the first round from the first Figaro Enfield Mark IV, Rifle serial number 00000.

Without any warning before the shot, Umi only managed to partially cover her ears, the Foreman not at all. Both bellowed their rage at the aural abuse, but overcame that quite quickly when they realized one important fact: it worked.

It only got better when they realized the addendum to the important fact: it worked _as advertised_. As they approached the target, they could tell that Yzak had shot a 10-ring shot that grazed the bullseye ring, completely cold shot.

"Good God, and you say this rifle can do that at over 1000 yards?"

"In good hands, yes, it will do that range," Yzak notes. "It's reliable, robust, tough, ten rounds in the mag, and the cartridge was the low-end of what people used to knock out elephants and other large game on my home world back in the day. Enough of these will fuck up the Imperial Army and send them home in bloody chunks." Umi did not bother trying to slap Yzak, she just kicked him in the arse hard enough to sting. "Damnit, girl, that's getting annoying," he notes crassly.

"So is your mouth, boy," she replies just as crassly. "But it works, and that is what counts," she says with admiration. After all, she was the person more or less responsible for the ammunition working.

"And all this in two weeks. No wonder the Imperials are afraid of you guys," the Foreman says as he begins the trek back toward the ammo crate. He wanted to try the rifle, as did Umi.

-x-x-x-

(2 April 986)

Jidoor was a worse bust than Kohlingen had been. Not only had Nicol been flatly denied any form of assistance, the populous had more or less ran them out of the wealthy town of several thousand persons, to which Nicol had to retreat under fire while using his Rorynex judiciously to keep them from murdering himself, Fuu or Sabin. No simple task, that, and in the end he knew he had to take fatal shots at a few of the foppish assailants, and more than one of them was dead due to his actions. There was no two ways about what had transpired, the Archangel Team and Returners were not welcomed in Jodoor.

On the other hand, Jidoor could be sorted out after the Imperials were dealt with, Sabin had stated clearly. First things first and all that.

Zozo came next, for which more than just Nicol, Fuu and Sabin would be going in on the ground. The ground team would be augmented by Pytor, who could be very intimidating when needed (and also knew more about fighting than even his fellow bondsmen-inductees admitted), Commander La Flaga, Kira, and Hikaru. This gave them a good amount of personnel to go looking for possible recruits as well as defend themselves if needed.

Zozo, as a resort location...less than stellar. As they walked into town, they came across a body laying in the road.

"Knife to the back," Athrun says. "And he's been here for some time," he notes as he tests the body temperature to be stone cold. An attempt to move the arm resulted in evidence that the body was suffering complete rigor mortise.

"I'm beginning to think this was not such a good location to be recruiting personnel," Commander La Flaga notes as he checks the body himself.

"Guys, we're not alone," Kira notes as the shadows began moving with purpose.

"Great," Mu says as he sees the unmistakable flash of a thin sword in the little light available to them.

Almost simultaneously, Fuu, Kira, Hikaru, and Mu pulled their magic weapons from storage in the glove and readied them for a battle of rather epic proportions. Pytor had a sub-machine gun for use in close quarters, the Gunther KA-23 with silencer for 'delicately' dispatching an assailant should it be necessary. In this case, as the dozen-plus bandits started filtering out of the shadows and toward the group, the necessity of the task was obvious.

Nicol, who was covering the right with Fuu and had his own sub-machinegun shouldered and readied to fire, did not. Something else...nonhuman and rather large...moved in the shadows behind the shadows that the bandits had come from. Something about the way it moved...reminded him of an incident several weeks past in the hills of Narshe..

No cry, no static feeling, nothing. As the bandits began to close in, drawing various weapons ranging from swords to wheel-lock pistols, the Archangel Team braced for the worst. The worst, however, happened to the enemy, not to the Archangel Team. A searing hot blast of some type erupted in three places among the bandit ranks, immediately incinerating eight of them and lighting three more on fire, who began running around the area in classic rendition of the human torch.

Those few scattered that survived the initial blasts looked around, wondering what the hell just hit them, those that were not trying to pat looser clothing of growing smoldering or flames. After a few moments more, they could sense the static electric feeling exactly akin to when Athrun had been struck by lightning in Narshe, and several of them immediately dropped their longer weapons and crouched, hoping to minimize their target profile to the lightning. The bolts of electricity struck and consumed in pure energy three more of the bandits, leaving only two standing.

Pytor, sensing that now would be an opportune time to finish the fight, did so with his Gunther. The two remaining bandits were not wearing armor of any fashion, and as he sighted up the first that was forward of the crew the shadow that Nicol was observing began moving again. He depressed the trigger for a three-round burst on the target's chest, and had the satisfaction of seeing him collapse forward and face down, three massive holes in his chest courtesy of the Gunther's larger slugs. As he sighted up the second, he froze, staring not at the enemy but at what was behind it.

The enemy never saw his fate coming, but the Archangel Team did. As the body itself collapsed to the ground, the head severed by the large claws on the object of their terror, Fuu could not help but wonder why this was happening all over again.

_We are now even_, Tritoch informs them telepathically. _Though I still shall not trust you any farther than I can sneeze you out of my arse, one of our ranks has a pressing matter to discuss with you_. Tritoch looked to the tower that was looming over them, three blocks away. _The central tower of this town, the top level, we shall be waiting there. Do not delay long_.

"Aye aye," Mu replies just before the Esper takes wing, headed for the top of the tower indicated.

"Is this on the level?" Pytor asks after the Esper landed on the said building.

"I don't know, but if these bandits are any sign of the quality of this town, I would much rather deal with the Espers. At least they'll kill us fairly quickly," Nicol notes morosely.

"Any votes against?" Mu asks. Nobody spoke up. "All right, we have a lot of stairs to climb, so let's get to it."

Getting to the tower was no difficult task, especially after the way the first group of thugs had been erased from Existence. Though unseen in common man for over a thousand years, the art of wizardry was still easily recognized, and all it took was one instance of Hikaru's _**Flame Arrows**_ to get most of the thuggery to stay way the hell away from them. For the remainder there was Mu's halberd, Hikaru's broadsword, Nicol's paired swords, and Fuu's two-handed sword to quell any further opposition.

"Man, Commander, you weren't joking about a lot of stairs," Kira says as he stops about four levels short of the top to take a rest.

An eerie, solo clapping sound came across the night air and from the staircase they were getting ready to take up to the next level. "Impressive. Most intrepids do not make it this far before succumbing to the banditry of the lower levels. It has been long since I spoke with anyone other than the Slam-dancers," the man's voice notes.

"And your point is?" Pytor asks.

"Come, now, you do not need to be so hostile, old man. All you need to do is accept that you aren't going any higher, awe can have a civil conversation."

"I would not be so arrogant about stalling us, mister," Nicol says offhand, looking at the side of the tower and upwards. "An Esper has asked us to the top of the tower for an important meeting. The same Esper you no doubt saw annihilated sixteen bandits in two strokes."

"Now I know I did not hear that right," he says.

"Oh yes, you did," Kira says. "A flying Esper, five times longer than you are tall, a combination of lizard and flying beast that calls massive lightning and fire from the sky, might be able to do even more than that," Kira adds.

"Oh, shit," the man says. As he emerges briefly into the moonlight, they could tell that he was at the least fit, likely a bodybuilder or martial artist. "Espers? Here? In this world?"

"Oh yes," Commander La Flaga replies.

"SHIT!" He shouts before jumping clear over the rail of the balcony. The whole crew rushed to the side to watch him plummet to the concrete below, where he struck the ground and did not move again.

"Kira, Mu, Nicol, I have heard of depressing personalities in my time, but this is far beyond anything I ever expected to see," Sabin notes as he watches a pair of bandits approach the body, check it, and walk away.

"Now that just makes me feel bad for the poor schlub," Mu notes.

"I guess fear of Espers is still very real in this day and age," Fuu notes with a bit of sadness.

"Unfortunately, we don't have all night. Should we continue?" Pytor notes.

The last four levels were easy to transit with the brief respite, and soon they were upstairs in the top-level room of the building. As they entered, Tritoch climbed in to the room from an open window, apparently watching their progress from above. There was another being in the room, one that looked like a bald, wizened old man with a beard that literally reached to the floor. Tritoch indicated they should talk to him by a nod of his head in that direction.

"You must be the ones that serve the Avian God," the old man says. "I am Ramuh, an Esper. We have heard your call to action, and should the Avian God beseech us we shall join your effort."

_I was expecting to find some help here, but this...whoa_, Commander La Flaga thinks.

_The time of your penance is fast approaching, Magic Beasts. On this campaign you shall aid the _Archangel_ against the tyranny and genocide of the southlanders, but you will do so as they order, not as you so choose. Far more is at stake in this coming battle than simply wiping out those who would drain you for your essence, and it must be done right or far more problems will come_. The mental voice of Windam was pronounced but not full of anger as it had been those weeks past.

"We hear and shall comply, Avian God," Ramuh notes.

-x-x-x-

(11 August 986)

Both Figaro's two Regiments and Doma's three regiments (one more than initially planned on) were refitted end to end with the bolt action rifles and crew-served Ma Deuce Machine Guns. Doma had taken on the responsibility of manufacturing the Ma Deuce, since they had their own mines, transportation systems, and more than enough population to run a factory or two. As such, the M2 Heavy Machine Gun came into production late in June, and with a production run of five a day, more than enough had been manufactured to give the regiments some serious firepower.

Natalya was the first called upon to whip the Figaro forces into shape. The Crazy Cook was assigned to Doma's forces. As such, there was a literal expectation that the troops would be more than capable to the task, since their drill masters and assistants were professional soldiers who knew what ranged warfare was all about. They also had to learn how to fight in urban terrain, since by all accounts Vector was one massive city. Fighting open field battle was one thing, fighting in close was another.

"Observe," The Crazy Cook says as he stacks up on the door to the first simulated room. "When you do this, you do it fluidly, do not stop in the door. I will only show the first entry, normally you do not enter except with two or more persons," he says.

The squad he was working with right now watched intently as he demonstrated again how it was done, using one of their rifles to do the job. As he entered he immediately, gracefully slid right as he brought his rifle up and fired a single shot into the target standing there. As he ran the bolt he swiveled onto the next target and gave it a headshot. "Clear!" he shouts as he ducks back out the door, then to the next simulated house and the door there, since the holes in the walls were for observation, and not considered windows that a trooper would normally inspect the room's contents from before entering.

Room two went the same way, he entered and went right, drilling one target with a precision shot, then another. There were three targets in the room, though.

"Now do you understand what I mean? When you enter, you enter, you do not stop at the door and prevent the rest of your team from entering."

"Aye, sir!" the squad chants in response.

"Now, pair off and prepare to do it yourselves," the Crazy Cook orders. "Remember, stack on the door, second shooter has his left hand on the left shoulder of the point man. No exceptions," he orders. The eight men broke down into four pairs, then moved to their individual rooms as ordered. "Room one, go," he orders. Immediately the two troops entered, and this time they moved properly. The first went right and forward, then serviced his first target. Before he could even begin to turn on the second target the second soldier had entered and put one dead center in the target's face.

"Room two, go," he orders as he walks down to where he could see the action in said room. The two troopers entered in the same fashion and fired one shot each, a fatal shot into the chest for each of the felled enemies. Both had centered on the third target, the lady, but neither fired.

"Room three, go," he orders loudly as the two on that room sim were waiting. Immediately he noticed one error and a partial in their actions, though when they entered they got the one target in the room among three. He figured he would have to go over the points again that they messed up on, but it should be easy enough. These were very disciplined troopers, the only thing outstanding would be their training.

"Four, go," he orders. Immediately, a comedy of errors cropped up, including the one that he had just warned them on. The entry man realized his mistake after a moment's hesitation and continued the entry properly, and fired his required shot. The secondary had his own shot, and took it, though he would have only winged the enemy, not outright killed them.

"All right, form up," the Crazy Cook orders. Immediately they safed their weps, moved up to the assembly area, and stacked in a proper line. "All right, people, we did this one better than the prior ones, but we have room for improvement still. We're going to keep doing it until we get it right first time, every time," and the other sergeants were going to do the same for the rest of the squads and platoons. Everyone got the entry training, since taking Vector would take a lot of troops inside the superstructure, and would likely be very bloody.

There were moans from the troops.

"First, when you stack, the rear soldier always puts his left hand on the left shoulder of the entry man. Second, DO NOT block the doorway, keep moving into the room. If you can not go right, go forward. Third, center mass shots. Now, pair off, stack up, and do it again, and we keep doing it until you get it right first time every time."

The groans were discreet from the team, since they knew this 'demonic' soldier only made things harder when they complained.

"Such difficult drilling, I don't think I could continually do this and do it right."

"It is a different form of fighting, General Celes," the Crazy Cook replies as she approaches to observe. "One, go!" he orders. The 'range technicians' (a couple young boys he had hired from town to do some drudgework to keep them out of mischief) had moved the targets around and patched them so they looked 'new' and could be trained on again. This time the soldiers entered to a wildly different target scope, but training is the master of the battlefield and they got it right.

"They improve continually," Celes notes.

"They will need it and more," the Crazy Cook replies. "The worst we can do is send half-trained soldiers out onto the battlefield against the Empire's veterans. That would be disastrous." He looks to the second door. "Two, go!"

"And when is enough training?"

"When battle becomes nothing more than a bloody drill to them," the Crazy Cook replies. Celes was quite abruptly reminded why people called him The Crazy Cook by that one sentence. "Three, go!"

-x-x-x-

(19 August 986)

"Aegis report status," Miriallia orders over the radio.

"Aegis standing by, awaiting launch clearance," Athrun reports immediately.

"Aegis, you are cleared to the starboard-side catapult immediate," Miriallia orders. "Good luck," he appends.

"I will need it," he replies, and for good reason. Though he had been 'cleared' for piloting some time ago, he did not take it back up. Now, months after having been blasted by Tritoch, whom through the vagaries of divine intervention (literally) was now on their side, he was stepping back into the cockpit to take part in a modified Clan ritual.

The issue was simple. As both confirmation of their restored piloting status and as practice, the Clan pilots Kristen Redmond and Pytor would engage in a Trial of Position using their newly-assigned Omnimechs and do so with simulated weapons. Athrun drew the short straw between himself and Tolle, meaning he had to face the bigger and nastier of the two. Tolle had broke almost even with Kristen Redmond, who was a natural at gutting Gundams with her lasers. Now it was Athrun's turn to face the Clan nightmare known as the Warhawk.

Athrun positions himself and prepares. "Athrun Zala, Gundam Aegis, Launching!" he half-shouts just before he jams the throttle all the way forward. The catapult reacts automatically and adds an extra 100 Km/h to his exit velocity.

"Mechwarrior Pytor, this is your Trial of Position," Natarle notes on the radio. "A successful outcome ensures your place on the deployment team, as well as likely giving you a significant amount of bragging rights. Athrun is not going to be a pushover by any standard, even having not piloted for weeks. Good luck, Mechwarrior."

"Aff, Command," he replies curtly as he rams forward the throttle on the Warhawk. It was a lot larger than the frames he had piloted before, and almost three times more durable than the Hunchback IIC he had been soundly defeated in last he fought in meaningful battle. It also had far more reproducible firepower than the Hunchback IIC. _I am not past my prime, as Nikolai said more than once. It is he that was sundered by the guns of the Archangel's mobile forces, and they saw fit to take me on as bondsmen. I shall not disappoint their faith in my veterancy_, Pytor thinks as he flips several switches in the barely-familiar cockpit, changing his radar settings out and verifying his weapons were in simulation mode. No sense firing real shots in a simulated battle, after all.

Even piloting a far larger machine, the sight of the Aegis as it transformed from mobile armor mode to mobile suit mode, then rapidly descended was wicked and significantly frightening to Pytor. He had watched the Mobile Armor in action on Romulus, as it and the other Gundams and the Rune Gods tore the garrison forces to shreds as the _Archangel_ itself destroyed three Dropships in a single salvo each. Malthus had dishonored himself and the Clan by continuing to harry such a potent force without any justifiable military gain, and only now did Pytor properly understand why they lost so thoroughly.

The Archangel Team was _driven_, even more so than the Clans' crusade against the Inner Sphere. They would get home, hell or high water or little green squeaking aliens, and woe would certainly betide those who tried to stop them. This Pytor now understood, and he respected that more than most would assume.

As the Aegis touched ground about 1700 meters off Pytor's right forequarter, Pytor immediately locked him up with the sensors to keep a solid track on his machine, and immediately thereafter activated his targeting computer while slewing the torso of the massive Warhawk to target his Gundam. Aegis was not caught unawares, of course, as the pilot immediately began a circular strafe with his shield up, to keep the massive assault 'mech from having an advantage over him. Pytor responded with his Large Pulse Lasers, which would make things far easier for him at that range and actually could damage the shield carried by Aegis. Two shots, two hits, both on the shield, though the PPCs effectively would not have damaged the shield as the anti-beam reflective coating on the shield would dissipate the PPC bolt better than the relegated Blue Shield System. (1)

The return fire from the Aegis was hellish, for starters, though Athrun did not keep the pressure on. Three shots from his beam rifle as the Aegis jetted to a different location, one partially concealed from Pytor's view as he moved laterally to avoid the fire. Two of the three shots contacted, resulting in a hit to his left arm and left leg, both hardly consequential. As he continued moving the Aegis maintained its position for a second too long, and Pytor popped off another pair of PPC shots along with one laser. The laser and one PPC missed, but the second contacted Aegis on the right leg with a grazing blow, but still apparently caused simulated damage to the Gundam. As Athrun jetted up and right, closing by about 200 meters in the process, Pytor could tell he was not moving the left leg properly, which meant his battle computer thought it had lost control from the knee down.

As proof, when Athrun landed the Aegis it started limping at an uneven pace, headed farther right and trying to flank Pytor's assault 'mech. To keep his machine cool, he fired only the PPCs at a range of 1400 meters, both of which contacted the shield and caused no overt damage on his scanning system. Again with the three shots, though as Pytor was charging the Aegis down at full throttle the targeting solution to his 'mech was dead simple. All three hit, two in the center of his torso and one to the right, leading his battle computer to screech defiance at the damage he was quickly taking.

Six hundred meters closed in less than ten seconds, and with the Aegis not ready to jump again, Pytor found he had the opportunity of a lifetime. He was running his machine with the Enhanced Imaging implants few of the bravest (or most foolhardy) Clan pilots use, and with his EI activated he set the Targeting Computer to dwell on the right leg of Aegis, where he had already struck once. He fired all four of his weapons, and contacted with just one ER PPC, which was actually an acceptable outcome given he was trying to hit just one small part of the 'mech while running dead out and the Aegis itself was still moving. This resulted in something that Pytor was flat-out not expecting, the Aegis fell over onto its right side, temporarily pinning the beam rifle under its side

Temporarily, but not completely. As Pytor circled around its head, the Aegis sighted him up and tried firing several shots. The one of the four that Athrun fired from prone hit in the dead center of his 'mech, which breached his armor in simulation and bored in on the precious gyro, damaging it significantly. Pytor immediately noticed the machine's balance was skewed right, though he fought against it as the veteran 'Mechwarrior he really was and continued the battle. While walking around the enemy machine, he slewed his torso to the right and down, centering on the Aegis as it struggled to twist to where Athrun could easily fire on him. At close range of 500 meters, Pytor let loose with everything on his 'mech except for the flamer, and only one of the PPCs missed. With the shield out of the way, the three shots tore into the right side of his Gundam and did some major damage. Before his machine could finish dissipating heat and recharging the PPCs, the Aegis depowered and collapsed.

"Mechwarrior Pytor, we show your foe has lost neural linkage between the cockpit and the upper half of his Gundam. This battle is concluded. Congratulations are in order," Commander Badgiruel declares on the unit frequency.

"A toast to the pilot of the Aegis, as well. One more strike on the center of my 'mech, and it would have been me on the ground, not he."

"Still, you got me, no two ways about it," Athrun declares as the Aegis stands up. "Taking the leg off a machine, how did you do that so skillfully?"

"The Warhawk has an advanced targeting computer and this machine has the Neural Interface. I can target specific locations on a 'mech with only minor difficulty."

"Oh, wow," Athrun says. "I think I need to take a look at that when we get back to the ship," he notes.

-x-x-x-

(5 September 986, 2015 hours Figaro time)

"Ah, it feels so good to relax, at least for a night," Tolle says as he leans back in the hot springs, popping his back in several locations.

"A long road, seven months of manufacture and training, and tomorrow it begins," Yzak says in response.

"We build an army, we unleash an army," Athrun says in preemptive counter to any protests of how 'unfair' it would be for the enemy.

"Seyla," one of the Clanner Engine Mechanics replies. He had taken leave of being an engine mechanic to help drill the Figaro regiments, and was fairly confident they would not fold in their first battle. Especially with the _Archangel_ in support.

"And then, there was one," Yzak says. "Just Vector. Then I build us a way out of this dimension."

"How do you intend on doing that, really?" Tolle asks.

"The Imperials use teleporter systems to move large formations from place to place. They haven't used any in five months, since they know that doing so is suicidal now, but it goes without saying it should still be intact right now. We capture that system, and modify it to teleport not just between places, but dimensions. We're going to be defying a lot of 'laws' of physics here, but I think it can be done."

"I'm not going to comment," Athrun notes sardonically.

"That was enough of a comment of its own right, pilot," the Engine Mechanic says.

"Hey," Murdoch says as he enters the springs.

"Hey, Chief, how's it going?"

"Everything is ready on our end, polished to a shine and loaded to the top with ammo. When we hit them, it's gonna be big, loud and real bloody," he says as he slowly slinks down into the springs.

"Excellent," Tolle replies with an evil grin.

-x-

(Same date and time)

Flay had been ordered held until the conclusion of hostilities, due to the fact that she was a security hazard at several levels. And the Doctor had needed only a quick discussion with her to conclude that she was out for revenge, mainly against Kira but also against the rest of the ship. Being imprisoned had hurt her deeply, well past the point of mental instability.

General Leo, well, was General Leo. There was no two ways about his conduct, really, he was still the honorable General day in and day out. And, unlike Allster, he did not believe that the continued incarceration was dishonorable conduct. In fact, the time in the brig on the _Archangel_ gave him plenty of time to search inside, understand why he lost and understand why the eve of the Empire's destruction was upon them.

The argument between the Esper and Windam had been one that mirrored the conflict he was party to, only in a different organization structure. Leo had initially found it amusing, not to the level that Flay had, but after consider what had been said, it was not funny. Genocide was what people were thinking of, seeking, and he had been party to it. After that realization, Leo had never felt so violated before. A week after, he was willing to sign on with the Returners to stomp out the Empire, but he was still imprisoned on the _Archangel_ and he could understand that.

The answer was simple. The Archangel Team was _driven_, ready to do the right thing at a moment's notice and to hell with anyone being naughty. That being said, they also had a lot of survival instinct and the ability to understand even the most complex political equations in mere minutes, and how they did that was beyond Leo. He could only guess that some or more of the could read minds, which was not entirely impossible but rather unwelcome as well.

"Meal time," Miriallia notes as she enters the cell block with two trays. Of late, the first she had been giving their meal was the General, which though chafed his sense of honor (the lady in the brig should start the meal, by his upbringing) but he could also understand why. Flay liked to badger whoever came in, lately complaining about her continued incarceration, though what Leo heard her mumbling in her sleep was more than ample evidence to keep her locked up. She wanted Kira dead, only after veritably raping the poor sod as far as he could tell. Not so much sex or love as power, he could tell. Leo had seen people like that before, Lord Kefka being one of them.

"Thank you, milady," Leo says as he receives the meal. "I can sense...the invasion begins tomorrow?"

"It does," Miriallia notes.

"Then be wary the Kraken forces, submarines deployed out of Albrook for sinking transport ships," Leo notes.

"I think the commander's already compensated for them, but thank you nonetheless," Miriallia says as she moves over to Flay's cell. "Meal's here," she notes as she slides the tray into Flay's cell.

"I'm filing a complaint of illegal incarceration when I get back to the Earth Alliance."

"You go, girl," Miriallia replies facetiously. " all rights, you should already have been executed for that stunt, Flay, consider yourself lucky you are alive."

For what it was worth, the look on Flay's face when told that fact was more than enough entertainment for Leo for a day.

-x-

(Same date and time)

"It's almost over," Fuu notes. "All those months of training and trying to forge alliances, and tomorrow we sail for the South. I can't believe it is almost time," she adds wistfully.

"Yes, almost time," Miriallia replies as she arcs her back to stretch it from the strain of constant tactical drilling. Kira had written an excellent program that took into account the team's skills and fighting styles, which she used to practice her own tactical coordination skills to make sure she was able to command the mobile forces to their best. So far she was doing excellent, but she had little doubt that Natarle could still smoke her four times of five, maybe more.

"Then what?" Hikaru asks.

"Yzak has a plan for getting us home. After that, we try to get you home as well," Miriallia replies. "That is, if you want to go home."

"I don't know any more," Hikaru says. "I do want to go home, I do want to see my friends and family again, but I also don't want to leave this ship."

"I agree, this place has become our home. We've been here almost a full year now," Umi says. "If I've been tracking the days right, I should be close to fifteen and a quarter now," she says.

"I lost track of how old I'm supposed to be, though I don't think it matters any more," Miriallia says. "I think I'm somewhere between seventeen and a half and eighteen."

"Fourteen, fifteen, and already soldiers. And I thought the Empire was depraved for starting Terra and I out at an early age."

"We chose to become Knights, sort of," Hikaru retorts.

"And we chose to help the ship in its time of need, because without the help we would have gone down with the ship," Miriallia notes.

"Why?" Celes asks bluntly.

"Well, surviving the evolving war qualifies as a good motivation as far as I can see," Miriallia replies almost immediately. "Same thing on Cephiro, Dustball, Romulus, Twycross, and now here, on this world. We had to do it, or we wouldn't be this close to going home," she concludes.

"And, if you don't object to my prying a bit, then what?" Celes asks after a moment.

"Hard to say. Returning to the Earth Alliance is out of the question, they'd court-martial us and hang us for this," and her arm wave encompassed more than just the ship. "Probably back to my homeland, Aube, just to avoid the firing squad. Maybe we'll work on stopping the war, but I am not entirely sure right now. Getting home is the big part."

"And Tolle?" Celes asks. Their relationship was about as obvious to her as a coal pile in the hangar, as it was to anyone else who spent a length of time on the ship.

"Oh, we'll definitely have to make arrangements when we get home," she replies.

"And if he runs off? Or tries hiding?"

"I have a magic bow and telepathy. There is no running, no hiding."

"Whoa," Hikaru breathes.

-x-

Though the work on the _Archangel_ was done and its crew relaxing, the work of the soldiers on the ground was not.

Cyan stood watch as soldiers loaded themselves into every available boat, be it a ship of war or a measly transport, with hordes of supplies and support personnel to make sure they were fully outfitted and ready for the battle. Several of the troops nodded as they passed him, which he returned as his stern gaze swept back and forth across the docks. Tomorrow morning, they would set sail, and with four days to their expected landfall point, it would be an arduous journey for the five regiments of crack troops.

Cyan never really considered himself a professional soldier, per se, since his duties were more to the King of Doma rather than to the army. However, he knew how to recognize good troops from bad ones, and the troops that he was leading into battle now were some of the finest, easily the match to the Imperial Army in training and morale, far superior to them in armaments. Unless the Commander on the _Archangel_ screwed something up, victory was very close to certain.

There would be no pretense here. The only objective of this coalition was to tear down the Empire. Four powerful forces were allied against the Empire, and four forces would bring certain doom to their ranks. The two Regiments of Figaro, the three Regiments of Doma would provide the main punch, the mass of force to crush the Empire's scattered and shaky formations. The Archangel would prove the armor, the main thrust that began the blitzkrieg, or lightning war, that would shock their whole command structure to the core.

And the fourth force, a partial unknown but far more feared than any mass from the North, was the Espers of old legend. They wanted blood, plain and simple, for the Empire's off and on raids of their homeland, stealing the Espers for their own cruel and malignant purposes. The Rune Gods gave them a rally point, a pillar by which they would challenge and assault the Empire, exacting their bloody vengeance on the army and the imperial command structure for their grievous losses. And Cyan would not fault them a shred of their intentions; the Empire was bloodthirsty, malignant to the core; its demise would strip away a cancer eating at their world.

"You ready, troops?" Cyuan asks as a battalion of the heavy infantry boards the ship.

"Sir!" their Lieutenant comes to attention. "Incredibly ready, sir, just give us the word and we'll storm their lands with pocket knives," he replies with a huge grin.

"You shall get the chance. Remember your orders and your command structures. And for the sake of the Gods, do not shoot the Espers. They are on our side, this time around."

"Yes, sir!" he replies.

"Dismissed," Cyan says.

-x-

"And, as it stands, we're featherbedded with supplies. If the assault bogs down, we can leave the 'mechs and Gundams here as the Archangel takes a suborbital hop north to pick up supplies to ferry back to the troops. Also, with the long-range radios, we can move the Archangel between the assault fronts to support the forces on the ground, all three vectors of attack."

"When they find our Regiments up north and west, they will never see the Esper assault coming from the south. They doom themselves," King Edgar says. "This...is a marvelous drink, what is it called?"

"Jack and Coke," Natarle replies as the King lowers his glass and takes another sip.

"All right, everything executes as planned," Murrue orders. "We launch at high tide tomorrow morning," she orders. "Dismissed," she concludes.

King Edgar, Captain Ramius and Commander La Flaga left before Natarle did. Before she exited the stateroom, Natarle stopped to look over the growing collection of flags they had. On the 'allies' side they had the Earth Alliance, ZAFT, the Rune Gods had a flag with their three symbols, the Federated Commonwealth, the Draconis Combine, Figaro, and Doma. On the enemies side, they had a flag of Zagato's personal crest, the Earth Alliance, the Jade Falcons, and one of the Empire.

King Edgar retired to his quarters about the same time that Gundam Pilot Koenig and his fiancé (for lack of a better term) did so as well, and both appeared to be in a very good mood this night. He could tell he was in for another of those nights that he got less sleep than they did, for reasons that only a telepath would properly understand. He totally underestimated the severity of the situation by an order of magnitude.

Commander Badgiruel had seen the same scene as Miriallia practically dragged an unresisting Tolle into his own quarters, which abruptly told her who would eventually ask who for marriage in the end. She did not begrudge them the relation, either. Not everyone on this ship was prepared to be the professional soldier as she was, though her leanings of late were leaning far different than a year ago.

Commander La Flaga and Captain Ramius, unbeknown to anyone else at the time, would share quarters this night. The months of growing intimacy between the two would only grow closer as the Captain politely requested he share quarters with her tonight.

* * *

Author's Chapter Afterword:

If you can't smell the blood now, check your nose for obstructions.

Five regiments, outfitted to early WW2 combat standards, against an indeterminate force of Imperials with wildly varying equipment of their own. Then there is the Esper Factor which will crash into them in extremis in the next chapter, and I intend on pulling no punches on that term. You can expect to see massive amounts of blood in the coming battles, as you rightfully should from me. I pull no punches, and I like it that way. So do a lot of you guys, which is why I do this.

On a personal note, the silence is broken officially. After my exam, which I passed by a fair margin of success, I began the planning phase of this chapter while finishing up a few that were almost completed of other stories. I took two weeks out basically to study and prepare my soul for the exam, and I am glad that is behind me. Now to take another in a few months :P

Also on a personal note, I have the first of my shoot meet videos up on my Youtube account. Search for author CSSstravag, you'll find them. No comment as to which of the persons in the videos is I. I have a lot more video from that meet to chop up and post, so stay tuned for even more. Not to mention, I intend on doing some non-firearms videos sooner or later, so...

All right, now that I am through diddling around, this is it for this chapter. Thank you to those who dropped reviews, and keep the inspiration coming, comrades. Also of note, I have a poll up on my profile page, so any of you who have an opinion on whether my stories are too bloody or not should take a moment to vote. I respect opinions of others, and I would like to hear what you have to think.

Next up: The invasion goes south, literally, and runs headfirst into a wall of Imperials. Who will survive?

* * *

Review Replies: Eight reviews today on this chapter, and for that I have thanks to all of you. In order of the reviews received:

**Knives91**: Always a pleasure to cause mass casualties, Thank you.

**Etienneofthewestwind**: Well, Celes' status will be examined in greater depth in coming chapters, so I shall not spoil that surprise, comrade.

**CHM01**: I think the Espers are going to be a bit more complex than simply helping the Archangel. So stay tuned.

**Deathzealot**: The whole thing is up in the air right now, the next chapters hinging on the outcome of the dice as the invasion begins. The only thing I can guarantee at this point is it shall be bloody, and the story is not over yet. As to replacement personnel, you can expect they will get some local recruits to cover losses and fill the personnel gaps they've had for quite some time. Remember the bondsmen taken did not completely cover the losses they took even all the way back in Cephiro, so the whole ship has been running short on personnel.

**Kite Lanford**: Thank you for the review, comrade. As to quantum physics, it is hard to really say what is and is not possible in a physical sense, since we do not even have a complete understanding of matters ourselves. Theory holds that what happens to the Archangel should not be possible, but theory is just that, and there are numerous theories as to how this could be possible. I like to think of it as possible but unlikely, and that will catch up to them sooner or later.

**Evil Manic (Anon)**: A similar idea has been presented, and like all such ideas it is classified whether it shall be done or not. Sorry, minimizing spoilers, comrade, but it is a killer idea :P

**Maddery**: Most of what goes falls back on three of my old principles of writing:

1. The main characters drive a story, but the main characters can't win the whole story. Goes back to the fact that real wars aren't won by aces.

2. Introduce a chaotic variable to a storyline, things will change. No questions asked. (as such, the Archangel is the chaotic variable in this telling.)

3. Reality is a far stranger place than most fiction.

As to the rest, things will be picking up with those characters that do actually show in this series.

**Bien**: Been a while since I heard from you, comrade. And I would think by now that it was obvious the Gundams have serious problems in some stand-up battles, but that will be even more evident in coming chapters.

Thank you, one and all, for the reviews. Keep the inspiration coming, comrades, your dreams are but a drop of fuel for the ongoing nightmares of the Archangel.

* * *

The Gripe Sheet:

One outstanding major gripe. The use of sound effects, particularly gunfire sounds, has been toned down per **Maddery**'s outstanding complaint about it. It will not go away, just be used in limited circumstances, where most suitable.

* * *

Footnotes:

(1): Blue Shield System is a semi-official Level Three battletech component set. It is designed to cut the damage from PPCs in half on a mech equipped with it, but to my knowledge has no other usefulness. I use it in limited circumstances in Level three play.


	24. D Day

(Set 3, Chapter 8: D-Day)

(7 September 986, 0730 Local time)

The coffee thermos passed clockwise from Natarle to Miriallia, who poured herself a mug of the much-needed 'fuel of armies everywhere'. Afterwards, it continued its clockwise journey to Sai, then to Kuzzey, each pouring themselves a round and adding their personal choice of condiments to the brew. Truth be told, each of the crewmembers in question wanted the whole thermos and more, but they had one of the cooks on retainer to bring refills as needed. Thankfully, they were not relying on one of the Tonberries to bring it.

If ever a case of a whole bridge staff that looked like hell, today was it. Even the Captain looked rough, though to combat she had her own thermos of coffee with a high-power brew all its own to keep her going until the fleet was underway. Not the least of whom had been affected had been Chandratta, whose head audibly bounced off his console several times as the bridge staff drank their fill of coffee to get their minds going properly.

Such would have been hilarious to the outside observer had it not been for the invasion to come. The reason even more so, given why they were so exhausted.

"Helm, engine up, levitator up, prepare to enact move orders. Weapons, full systems checks every six hours. Communications, signal the fleet for readiness checks. Control, have the Aegis on standby on the foredeck in then minutes. It's time to begin this invasion," Captain Ramius notes with something feigned of her usual resolve. It did not take much effort on anyone's part to tell she was incredibly exhausted of her own right.

Things began happening immediately as the ordered personnel began their tasks with slowly clearing minds, their overtired bodies poking at the basic tasks without issue. With only a little more time than usual, the systems were running, being checked, and the Aegis was headed toward the starboard catapult to climb up onto the ship's foredeck. Even Athrun was feeling far worse for the wear, due to his proximity to last night's activity.

Sleep was forthcoming for nobody in proximity to Tolle's quarters. Miriallia had kept him up and going for over four hours, to which they could sense that Tolle had not really objected. Everyone else had, of course, but the Captain was not about to break it up, mainly because she was preoccupied of her own right, which in all likelihood only contributed to everyone's sleep deprivation of its own right. And nobody on the bridge was going to complain about that within earshot of the Captain, of course. All in all, three hours of sleep before shift-change was definitely not enough for general purposes, but thankfully they had four days of approach sail before the landings. And Miriallia had already sworn to the Captain that she would 'take it easy' on Tolle, which left her maneuvering room but more or less guaranteed more sleep for the personnel around the bridge and officer's quarters.

"Conn, Helm, engine and levitator showing green and ready," Mina replies after a few moments. Since her quarters were down in the Enlisted bunks in the gravity toroid, she did not suffer the side effects that the rest of the bridge crew did.

"Conn, Weps, system check commenced, ETC is ten minutes."

"Conn, Comms, message is out."

"Conn, Control, Aegis is up and ready."

"Helm, take us out and lay the course in. Landing Beach California is our destination," Murrue orders.

The invasion had been divided into five beaches, split between two separate parts of the Southern Continent: California and Washington beaches on the northwest side of the continent would be handled by the Figaro First and Second regiments, with the intention of landing about a hundred kilometers away from the Western Pass in the mountains surrounding Vector. An overland march toward the enemy would ensue afterwards, with contact estimated at the narrows of the Western Pass, and that is where the Mobile Forces would come in. Gold, Sword, and Juno beaches were to the northeast of Vector, actually practically in sight of Tzen, and would be the rougher prospect for the invasion and ground action since that would be the expected invasion direction. Doma's three Regiments would be doing the job there, and the troops of Doma had a higher concentration of machine guns per platoon than did the troops from Figaro, due to the expected increased resistance. The Clan Omnimechs would also be assigned to their front, due to their higher firepower to tonnage ratio.

The unstated third invasion corridor would likely be the clincher in this engagement. Natarle fully expected the Empire to be able to stifle, maybe even completely stop the invasion to the north and west of Vector, but the Empire had always sheltered a terrible beast within, the Espers that it raided from time to time to further its Magitek research. The Espers seemed to love the Rune Gods and took orders from them with alacrity, and it went without saying the Espers as a group wanted blood, and lots of it, for the Empire's depredations. Now would be as good a time as any to do the job in that respect as well. Thus, a third operation was arranged for two days from now, for the Rune Gods and the Magic Knights to execute alone. If there was one lesson that the Archangel had derived from their prior operations on Cephiro and in the worlds of the Inner Sphere, it was that magic and technology worked very well when used together properly. Magic also tended to do a helluva lot of damage to technology when used right (or wrong) which justified the risky gamble that Natarle had offered to the Magic Knights.

"Conn, Helm, my course is 1-6-5 at ten knots forward. We should be seeing the invasion fleet begin slipping their moorings in a few moments and moving to join us, Captain," Newman replies.

"Very well," Murrue replies. "Four days," she says, really meaning 'four days of mounting stress'.

"Operation Overlord was a lot shorter distance than this," Natarle replies. "Still, the Germans could look across the channel and see the invasion fleet. It isn't that simple for the Imperials here," she adds.

"Right," Murrue replies, hardly cheered up by such information.

"Conn, sensors, electronic emissions consistent with Imperial Sky Armor detected at range, estimate area of Vector and surrounding military bases," Sai reports.

"Any movement in contacts?" Captain Ramius asks.

"Negative, just sitting on that line of bearing," Sai replies immediately.

"Doesn't look like they know we are coming," Natarle notes. "This is a good thing," she adds.

"It is a start," Murrue replies wearily.

-x-x-x-

(9 September 986, 1045 hours)

While a ship is a thing that runs 24 hours, not all its crew is active at all times. For the remainder of those off-duty and not asleep, there were many ways to rest and relax on the _Archangel_, which made things easier on the crew. The cafeteria in particular was one of (former) General Celes' favorite places to hang around, since a lot of the crew congregated at the cafeteria and it had the largest of the video projector setups around the ship.

Nowadays, Celes worked as an advisor to King Edgar on Imperial tactics and technology, to assist in developing an effective strategy. Since being chained up and beat down in the smuggling tunnels below South Figaro, Celes had come to the conclusion that what she was serving was something she did not want to serve, or even see continue to exist. Thus, her present employ and her stationing on the _Archangel_ with the King. At the least, though, she had to admit that she hadn't seen much in the way of his supposed lecherousness toward anyone. She also had to admit that whenever nearby Commander Badgiruel his conduct was rather clear and definitely not perverted. Celes would easily have sworn that King Edgar was actually afraid of the ship's commander under that circumstance.

The other place she liked hanging around was the hangar, since there was always something interesting happening in the hangar. It had become something of an informal rule of the ship, that if you sought entertainment you went to the extremes on this ship: the extreme forward (the hangar area) or the extreme rear (the engine area, the hot springs and the holo-rooms). The hot springs she did like, but not as much as the Magic Knights or the bridge staff; the holo rooms she avoided altogether, as the content shown on those projectors was either whorish or wildly over-the-top violent, neither of which she found entertaining. So, her preference was the hangar.

This time around, only a few were actually doing anything in the hangar, and that not much in the way of physical activity. The mechanics, completed of their tasks to prepare the machines for the upcoming campaign, were assembled around a table, playing a game of cards. Poker, she had learned, was a favored way of staying close to one's duty station and screwing off when there was nothing to do. Reading pornography may have been the premise of some others on the ship, but the mechanics kept that to a minimum as far as she could tell. What happened in their quarters stayed there, and Murdoch ruthlessly enforced it.

And, of course, being the cool, calm and professional soldier she was, Celes excelled at games of cards. 'Reading' her intentions was close to impossible, as she was excellent at deception.

"Mind if I join?" Celes asks as she approaches the table.

"Sure, we just started—"

"Fair warning," Murdoch begins before anyone else at the table could say anything. "This game is the result of a bet I lost. Strip Poker, five card draw. You may not want to play unless you want to chance losing your clothes," he warns, to a pair of raspberries from two of the mechanics.

Phrased that way, Celes had a bit of a time deciding whether or not she would take the challenge. Seven months exposure to the crew of the _Archangel_ had drastically changed her outlook on life into something far more daring than she had been as a General in the Imperial Army. Though Leo was known for the caution among herself, Lord Kefka and General Leo, she preferred to use deception and caution as her tools, Leo deception and maneuver, Kefka maneuver and insanity. Between the three, Emperor Gestahl could take any objective, just a matter of sending the right person for the job. Though, now she was less cautious, more decisive and far more challenging than in the past.

The decision did not last long. "I'm in," she replies after five seconds. Of course, she could not help but notice the looks of anticipation around the table, though she thoroughly intended on hosing them all (including Murdoch) before she lost anything really important. In seven months of games twice a week or more, she had the skill and all the qualities to beat them.

"Deal Lady Celes in, then," Murdoch replies after she takes a seat. Chips were issued to her and a new hand was passed to everyone.

"Pass," one of the mechanics for the Aegis says.

"Pass," Murdoch notes.

"Raise ten," the guy to Murdoch's right says.

"Match," The Timber Wolf mechanic says.

"Match," Celes replies, seeing that she already had a pair of fours to go on, it was a good start. The ace, queen and ten would not hurt her in the long run, either.

"Out," the dealer says.

"In," the Aegis mechanic notes.

"Out," Murdoch says after a short decision period.

"Call it," the dealer says.

"None," the Aegis mechanic says.

"Two," the guy to Murdoch's right notes as he drops two cards and gets two back in response.

"Three," the Timber Wolf mechanic requests, and gets his cards.

"Two," Celes requests, dropping the queen and ten from her hand. In response she received an ace and a ten in response, which was an auspicious start to her involvement in the game.

"Call?" the dealer asks.

"Call," the Aegis mechanic notes. Murdoch was skipped since he had already surrendered.

"Call," the guy to Murdoch's right says.

"Call," the Timber Wolf mechanic replies.

"Call," Celes replies, knowing she ran a good chance of winning right now.

"Drop 'em," the dealer orders. Everyone dropped their cards, with a pair in one hand, a pair in another hand, a broken flush in the Timber Wolf Mechanic's hand, and Celes' two pair for the win.

"Why am I not surprised?" Murdoch asks as the chips are grudgingly shoved over to Celes.

"Your technique, my veterancy as a General, inevitable outcome," Celes replies with a sweet, almost heart-melting smile as she sorts and stacks the small pot for the start of her tenure in this game. A game of cards was something not done in a while for her, but she came up among the ranks of the Imperial Magitek Knights. Definitely not afraid to play a game of cards, even when the bounty was the ludicrous loss of one's clothing.

"At least we're not playing strip fencing or strip quickdraw," the Aegis mechanic notes.

"Then we'd be really fucked," the dealer replies as Celes begins sorting the chips she just received.

-x-x-x-

(9 September 986, 1930 hours)

"I probably should object to the strip poker match held in the hangar today, formally object I mean, but..." Natarle's sentence trails off.

"You won't object, and you're not going to punish them because one, they lost to Celes, badly, and two, it's unenforceable," Mu offers to complete her thought. When he said 'badly' he meant it: It had not been a complete blowout victory, Celes had ended up losing and regaining her shirt twice in the match, but in the end even the great Murdoch ended up having to 'technically' forfeit his underwear, though Celes had been humane about such things and allowed them to keep their clothing. Mu suspected this was due to the fact that she didn't want to really piss off the Captain.

Natarle nods. "That's what it comes down to," she replies. It was an old dictum of law anywhere: write a law that you cannot enforce, and you will undermine your authority when people realize you can't enforce it. In this case, saying 'no strip poker matches' would just drive them into unused storage rooms or crew quarters, since the Mechanics did the strangest things when they set their minds to it...

"Don't worry about it. They learned a lesson today, don't play a game against an Imperial General when your dignity is at stake." Umi had learned that lesson the hard way against General Leo, and despite the fact that Leo had lost the match by default she was still a bit sore about it. Umi was said to have been sharpening her skills with a vengeance for a rematch, but Natarle predicted the same outcome as before due to the fact that even in her heaviest armor Umi weighed in at less than half of what Leo weighed with just his sword and shield, much less with his armor on. Weight factored into such battles, and Natarle did not see Umi getting much larger than she already was, maybe some in height but nothing drastic in physical mass.

"What that I could hire away some of your mechanics when the shooting is over, but alas, a ship like this runs on mechanics," King Edgar notes whimsically.

"You might be able to get away with recruiting from the Imperial City's ranks, I hear that a lot of the city is technological and needs a lot of maintenance," Natarle offers. King Edgar simply nods in response.

Mu thought Commander Natarle's conduct was a bit unusual today, and far enough past normal that the glass of red wine she was holding would not have accounted for it. Still and all, he said nothing about it. "So tell me, after this is over, what of the two Regiments and Battalion from Figaro's lands?" The Battalion had come as something of a rude shock to everyone, since Narshe had taken a beating when the Empire went through it. The quintessential north-men of legend, Narshe had mustered a full battalion of its best mountain fighters, and prior trained on hunting rifles they were easily capable to work that many would have called 'sniper detail' in other regards. A company of each had been attached to each of the regiments to provide high-value target interdiction. It was wild to see a soldier routinely take headshots on a silhouette target at five hundred yards without a scope and hit more than miss.

"They will have to remain in Vector to keep the peace," King Edgar replies immediately. There was little talk of not succeeding, since the planning and logistics were so thorough as to easily beat out the Empire's tactics. Celes was thoroughly impressed with the planning and supplying of the invasion, and she had gone over the plans herself to come up with any possible ways that Kefka could put a serious cramp on the assault. Her findings were thin, but there was one major possible that if the Empire threw everything at Washington and California beaches, they could possibly cast those teams back into the sea, at the cost of getting screwed from the other directions. If they hit Gold, Sword or Juno Beaches, they were screwed by the numbers since the Regiments from Doma were heavier equipped and more than willing to take the fight right up into their face. The King's Retainer, Cyan Garamonde, would definitely do his best to make sure the invasion did not fall apart on his side.

"Do not worry too much about it, King Edgar," Natarle offers. "Unless they are waiting for us right on the beach, they should not be able to overrun the troops. I don't expect we will catch them completely unawares, but we should have little issue getting to Vector." The rest was a bloody abattoir after that, of course. City fighting was one of the nastiest forms of war in Existence, and they would inevitably get a taste of it in due time.

"The remaining outstanding variable is the Espers. They have said they would support the Rune Gods, but can we avoid the massacre they wanted so badly?" Edgar asks, since he knew playing with magic at this level was something that if he made one mistake, it was all over. Being King was not normally something this absolutely crazy or absolutely lethal. You usually had to royally screw up for someone to try overthrowing you, but right now even the hint of a mistake could be lethal.

"And that relies on the Magic Knights," Murrue begins. "I...never really wanted to put this kind of pressure on them, after all. Only fifteen and they're on world number five to save. There's something wrong with that thought," she concludes.

"The Gundam Pilots aren't far ahead of that curve," Mu adds. "Oldest of them is seventeen, and already they are elite soldiers. This..." he just shakes his head.

"Can't be helped," Natarle notes sourly. "We have to do what we have to do."

"Indeed," Edgar replies immediately. "We have to do...even if we must kill an Emperor, we must stop the senseless slaughter."

"And then we work on getting home while straightening out the southern continent," Natarle notes, though even Murrue could sense the slight hesitation in her voice.

-x-x-x-

(10 September 986, 2100 hours)

Hikaru and Umi had been waiting for more than ten minutes before the third of them showed up. Umi had last saw her moving in the general direction of Nicol's quarters, which lent credence to the possibility that Nicol and Fuu were seeing each other. Hikaru, out of a respect of whatever Fuu was doing, was not going to poke at the matter regardless of how inquisitive she might feel.

Fuu did show up after a few, though nothing untoward was about her appearance or person, so whatever she was doing did not involve much effort on her part, Umi figured. With all three Magic Knights ready, they could begin their part of the operations. Though they had the plans memorized, they still stopped to listen to Natarle's final parting words about the matter.

A speech, they did not get. "I have two things and that's it," Natarle begins. "One, try to make sure the Espers do not go on a massive rampage. Two, make sure the three of you come back alive."

"Without a doubt," Fuu notes.

"Can do," Umi replies immediately.

"See you at Vector," Hikaru adds.

"Maybe sooner," Natarle replies. "We may have to call for help from your teams to get us off the beaches, if that is what it amounts to," Natarle notes.

"Windam will be leading the airborne teams," Fuu notes. It was detailing that the three of them had worked out in the prior days, who would lead what segment of the operations in and around Vector with the Espers. "If we have to assist, it'll be my team that comes to the rescue. Just, please call before you get in too deep, we may take an amount of time to get to you," Fuu notes, recalling that the Tritoch had not been all that fast in the air.

"Got it," Natarle replies, realizing that she had not thought about the timing factor involved in such an air-mobile reinforcement.

"Thank you, Commander," Fuu gives Natarle a formal bow. "Stay safe, and we'll see you in the Imperial Palace."

"Thank you, Hikaru, Umi, Fuu. Come back alive," and Natarle returns the bow.

Natarle watched from the catwalks as the three Magic Knights mounted the Rune Gods to which they were partnered and moved toward the taxiways. Hikaru and Umi led off, each going to the left and right catapults respectively, and once more the ship rattled to the sound and feeling of the catapults ejecting first Umi, then Hikaru out into the nighttime sky. Fuu launched third from the starboard catapult, twenty seconds after Hikaru had exited the ship, and just like that, the Magic Knights were on their own.

" 'Through the gates of Hell, as we make our way to Heaven, through the Nazi lines, Primo Victoria,' " Natarle recites of an ancient 'heavy metal' song she had once heard when she was young (1). It was all she remembered of it, except for a date said many times in the song that matched the date of D-Day, the first day of Operation Overlord, the invasion of Europe in June of 1944. And today, it was she who was playing the part of General Bradley, storming the enemy shores to bring down the tyranny. Of course, she knew that was similar to the style Tolle was always looking for, but she did not remember the name of the artist that had done it.

Only, the odds were far more heavily skewed in her favor than in the Nazi favor this time around. After all, the Allies did not have the _Archangel_ when they stormed Normandy. It would be close, but not in defender favor as it had been on the sixth of June, 1944 AD.

Out in the skies over the ocean between the southern and northern continents, the conversation had taken on a wildly different tack. "What took you so long, Fuu?"

"I had to ask Nicol something," she replies evenly. Nothing more was asked by Umi, since she had drawn conclusions from that one reply, though in due time her conclusions would be found to be grossly wrong.

The three flew east in silence, heading north of Tzen to avoid overland visual detection. They would overfly the fleets headed for Gold, Sword and Juno beaches, a move that Natarle figured would boost morale in the enlisted as they saw the Rune Gods on the move. It was something that had slightly confused Umi, until she stopped to think of it: the average person put more faith in the Rune Gods than in the Gundams. With enough understanding, she could tell someone why: a Rune God is a god, a Gundam is just a machine in the end. Machines are expected to eventually fail. Gods are not expected to fail, regardless of the height of the challenge stacked against them.

_Gods have failed before, Magic Knight. Many Gods have lived, and many have faded into obscurity over the eons. Even more have been killed by circumstance or interfering parties or even bad luck over the ages. We three Rune Gods are fallible just the same, Umi_. Selesce was not about to tell her about what had long been rumored among the Gods and more powerful beings, the battles of Ragnarök.

"Huh? Something's on the ocean," Umi notes, looking forward across the waves.

"You're right, there is something there," Hikaru replies.

"It's...a submarine?" Umi thinks aloud as the three Rune Gods continue flying more or less right for it.

"A sub? It's not one of ours, then," Fuu says as she looks at it more closely. It did not have the lines of one of the transports, and it was flying a flag...and heading straight for the transports, none of which had any armaments more than the infantry weapons carried by the troops being carried by the ships.

"We gotta stop it before it warns the enemy fleet or sinks any of our ships," Hikaru notes as she lowers down toward the ocean. "_**Ruby**_—"

"DON'T!" Fuu practically shouts. "The lightning will damage our own ships at this distance!"

"Oh," Hikaru groans, not having realized the problem with her attempt until notified.

"I got 'em," Umi says as Selesce pulls the large version of her slender longsword. The Rune God of Water went up, high, then down at a dizzying pace, sword set toward the surface of the water and the smaller submarine that had surfaced.

The sword that pierced the hull was technically longer than the sub was wide, which made the matter all the more speedily destructive for the hapless Imperial crew. The sword penetrated to the port of the sub's conning tower and immediately penetrated into the control room. On its way through it chopped through the ship's captain, through the periscope and platform, through the engine control panel and the torpedo panel immediately to the left of it, and then out into the hull on the far side. On its way down and starboard, the sword also passed through part of the compartment immediately below the control room in a corner, creating a double venting as the sword finished punching through the starboard side of the hull halfway down the sub's starboard side. To make things worse for the sub, Selesce dragged the sword out in a rough fashion, making both the entry and exit punctures far larger than if just a rapier strike as the Rune God hauled the blade out and back. Selesce jumped off the 'deck' of the small submarine as it began rapidly taking on water, consigning it and most of its crew to the deeps of the ocean. Rayearth remained stationary for a few moments to verify the sub went down below the waves, which it accomplished in a matter of two minutes and twenty seconds, leaving only a cloud of foamy bubbles and an oil slick as its gravesite marker.

The first blood of the evolving campaign had been drawn. Selesce had struck properly, as the report of the invasion fleet was sundered by Selesce's strike when the engine panel was destroyed. There would be no warning for the Imperial forces as they wanted, needed, to repel an invasion at the shores.

-x-x-x-

(12 September 986, 0530 hours)

The kids of Tzen were all too happy to leave town nowadays, as the Imperials were making things stuffy and sometimes violent around town. No running, no playing, nothing like that. So, the few remaining adults in town usually ordered the kids down to the shores south and east of the town to fish. It was a lazy task, really, and a good one to keep the kids of both genders out of major mischief for which they might be executed by the Imperials. It also worked to some of the older kids' advantage, as they would set poles, sneak off into the few nearby tree clusters or bushes, and snog...or something more than that, if Zach's description was anything accurate of what he found a few weeks back by accident.

Today was a day like any other. The kids left early to get good positions on the shoreline and settle in for a day of catching fish. By six of the clock, they were all settled in and their lines were out into the sea.

And then, today was a day unlike any they would ever see again.

"Oi, Michael, what is that?" Zach asks as he points out to sea.

"Huh?" Michael asks. "Oh, my word, those are ships! And rowboats coming right for this shore!"

"Figaro and Doma?" It was no major secret that after defeating the Imperials in the north, those two nations wanted to come south and settle things on Imperial turf to their terms. Only problem was, nobody had an idea when they would come or how many would be coming, or even if it would be this year at all.

"That may be them, I can't see the ship's flags from here," Michael says as he watches the rowboats coming ever closer. The troops in the boats seemed of a different type than the Imperials, and each seemed to be carrying a pike, which made them Figaro or Doma for sure. The Imperials typically carried sword and musket or sword and pike, some of the Imperial Templar carried shield and halberd, nothing like they were seeing now.

The major transport ships were still closing on the shore, but ahead of them a series of small rowboats were seeing to getting the troops onshore. Some of the boats were small motorized boats, their noisy motors propelling them swiftly up to the shoreline. The seas out from the shore were alive with a forest of spikes pointed upward, troops dressed unusually for anything they had ever seen before and armed just the same.

The invasion was on, and the kids got to watch the landing phase.

"Everybody ashore!" one of the troopers shouts as the motorboat nearest them unloads its troops. "C'mon lads! We've got a war to go to!" the same trooper shouts as he waves his men up the shoreline, which they trudge through the shallows toward the beachline. Figaro and Doma had been intrigued by the thought of the Higgins Landing Craft, but only a dozen of them had been built, and all were deployed on Figaro's side to better facilitate getting their regiments in place quicker. With the smaller force available to Figaro's forces, they would need to deploy faster to maximize their limited power.

"Move it up!"

"Go! Go!"

The kids simply watched as their chance for getting any fish today was completely blown by an invading army. It didn't take the older kids long to realize that these troops were something completely different from the Imperials, even though most of them still carried a sword every one of them carried a large rifle with a bayonet on it that looked strangely like a sword in its own right. And they all had on their shoulders the symbol of the royal family of Doma. The beach was coming alive as squad after squad of troops disembarked and took up positions, looking outward at the plains south of Tzen for any sign of Imperial activity.

"Thou art from Tzen, no?" a larger guy asks the kids as they had bunched up more or less in the center of the beach as the troops moved about them, setting up the most unusual weapons that two persons worked on. The large guy was kinda intimidating, especially that he carried two swords of the distinctive curved type, though the grandfatherly appearance, massive mustache, and easy voice instantly endeared them to him.

"Yessir, we are," Zach replies immediately.

"Thine Empire, a garrison within thine town's bounds, I gather?" he asks after a moment.

"Yessir, about fifty of their laziest and most cruel troopers, sir, and six of the latest Magitek."

"Thou hast the gratitude of Doma," the old guy notes before looking up and around. "Sergeant! Thou hast a mission!" the indicated soldier approaches and stop at a respectable distance before bowing. "Deliver unto Lord Bezz that he has need to take Tzen, and with grace needs to fell their Imperial Garrison. We need not forces at our backs," he orders.

"Understood, Lord Cyan, it shall be done," he says before he moves off and toward the north.

"Be at ease, children, in hours Tzen will be free of the Imperials, and thou shalt be freed to watch the evolving campaign." As Lord Cyan had said this, the _Archangel_ crossed between them and the sun, casting a huge shadow onto the ground. The children looked to the massive ship as it floated gracefully above them. The whole ship shuddered slightly as the catapults fired, ejecting first the Timber Wolf and the Warhawk onto the ground to provide armored support for the evolving invasion. The kids gasped as the two massive Omnimechs landed with ground-shaking impacts, then after physically looking around the area they began trudging south by west.

-x-

The invasion hit the western shores of the southern continent faster than anyone expected, and this included the small Imperial Magitek patrol that was on shore. Now hours past, the two regiments from Figaro had eliminated the enemy Magitek with almost pathetic ease, replaced its flags and found sufficiently steady personnel to use it. Now the enemy's weapons were serving the invaders, and the enemy would find that as the battles progressed they would see their own Magitek used against them more and more. King Edgar and the Regent considered it a cornerstone of the deployment, that though the main armor punch would be provided by the Archangel Team the Regiments of Figaro would have to pick up the slack. The tanks that Edgar researched from the _Archangel_'s historical database would have been excellent for this kind of warfare, but building them would have been pretty close to impossible (except for the Empire, of course), much less supplying and maintaining them in the field.

The _Archangel_ had dropped the Gundams on this side of the invasion plan, since the likely enemy heavy counterattack would follow the short path, which was being handled by the forces from Doma the battlemechs would be needed there. After all, Doma's crack troops had less than half the overland marching distance to Vector that the regiments from Figaro had to contend with. The enemy would fight the short war with more ferocity, since they would obviously have less time to contend with should they fail there.

"King Edgar, word from the _Archangel_ that the forces from Doma have landed as scheduled and are moving on Tzen to secure the town now. Everything is going to plan," his radio operator notes.

"Acknowledge report," King Edgar replies immediately. The least courtesy he could afford Commander Badgiruel and Captain Ramius was to inform them he had heard the latest news and gossip, especially since they had been kind enough to transfer him to one of the transport ships as he requested. "Get the Chancellor on the line," he orders after a few more moments, looking at a map of their invasion area. The markings were deliberately deceptive, in the case that the maps were compromised by the Imperials in some fashion or another the enemy would have a hard time of discerning the real plan. Also, Figaro's maps said precisely nothing about Doma's invasion corridor, likewise for Doma's maps. And neither map even mentioned the possibility that the Magic Knights would be able to secure and utilize the assistance of the much-feared Espers. The possibility of requesting the assistance of the Espers had actually remained classified to the command elements of each side, none of the ground troops had heard of it prior to launch, and Edgar had made it clear that he did not want it noised about. After all, they may not want to help, so no sense getting hopes up.

"Chancellor here, how goes it my liege?"

"Excellent," Edgar replies immediately. "What is the ETA for the remainder of your regiment?"

"One hour, sir, then we can begin our inland march. Last troops are boarding their boats at this time, then we form up and move."

"Outstanding," the King replies. "Continue as directed, report any change in status. Edgar is out," Edgar concludes. "_Archangel_ from California Beach, come back."

"_Archangel_ reads five by five, go ahead California Beach," Kuzzey immediately requests.

"Status of the invasion?"

"All operations commencing as planned. No outstanding issues at this time, California," Kuzzey notes. Edgar could tell the poor kid still did not like the thought of being in battle, but there really was no way around it in this case.

"Understood, _Archangel_, California wishes you guys luck. We are over and out," he says before he passes the microphone back to the radio operator.

In the distance, the Gundams had dropped to one knee to reduce their visual signature, looking around with intent for any possible threat that might come the way of the two landing beaches with visual and radar sensors. The skies and grounds were quiet in that respect, the Duel, Aegis and Buster needing fire on nothing in the area as they stood silent sentry over the landing operation.

The invasion was proceeding faster, smoother than anticipated. This worried Edgar on several levels, since military operations were not supposed to go as planned first time every time, yet he could do naught but continue on schedule and hope that what did blindside him would not cost him the whole unit. Not to mention, he owed it to Commander Badgiruel not to fail, since it was her plan and she was definitely being nice about rescuing the North from the depredations of the South.

-x-

"I take it this is the Sealed Gate?" Umi asks, looking up through Selesce's eyes at the gate that was four times larger than even the massive Rune God.

"Well, they didn't make it a personnel entrance, that's for sure," Hikaru notes.

"Ugh, now you're starting to sound like the mechanics," Umi complains.

Rayearth shrugs as Hikaru does when she runs into something she really can't do anything about. Fuu, not wanting to delve into the vagaries of a very pointless conversation, walks her Rune God forward to the door and reaches out to it. Before Windam even touched it, the massive stonework doors began sliding open, the ground shaking underneath as they parted slowly.

_Magic Knights, it is now time for us to change forms_, Rayearth declares.

_Though this is our optimal form for conducting battle, for this campaign it is best if we move as our natural forms_.

_Cover your eyes, Magic Knights. We shall do the rest_, Selesce requests.

They did as ordered, though even with that the bright flash of light—red for Rayearth, blue for Selesce and green for Windam—still got to their eyes and stung a bit. When it subsided, the three took a short fall onto the backs of their Rune Gods. Umi had no problem with standing up after the fall, but the impact on the hard scales of the water dragon was a bit unsettling. Fuu had opposing concerns from Umi: no problem with the landing, but standing on Windam's back in a stable fashion was no simple task. Hikaru's was no problem on either landing or standing, but the grossly unsettling feeling of standing in the middle of a fire. Hikaru's whole mind screamed that she should get away, but there was no 'away' except a hundred feet plunge to the ground, though it only took her seconds to realize this was the kind of Magic fire that provided no heat, just light and effect.

_And now we move_, Rayearth declares as it begins stepping forward. The feeling was weird to Hikaru as the giant Rune God marched forward toward the land on the other side of the cave, as the flames danced and shuddered with each step of Rayearth, the flames had a warm, invigorating feeling to her, nothing damaging or overly hot.

On the far side of the cave's negative-realm entrance, the Espers were already gathering to see what had opened an otherwise heavily magically sealed gate. Hundreds, flying and nonflying, approaching by teleport, by wing, by run, to see the entities that had entered, and some in anticipation of an attack against the Esper Realm again as the Empire was want to do every few months. In this, the gathering crowd was rather stunned that what had entered was not the hated Imperials but happened to be three massive Gods from another world and their attendant Magic Knights.

"Rune Gods of another world, we Espers welcome you unto our lands. We are apprised of your purpose here, and stand ready to aid in liberating both our lands," one of the larger Espers declares.

_Espers of this world, the day of reckoning has come upon both lands here and elsewhere. The past dues of both lands are up for probate, and now is the time to resolve the eternal conflict between the power-hungry Human and Esper. Today, we call you to action. What say you_? Rayearth asks in its authoritative mental tone as Windam and Selesce spread out left and right of the fire beast.

"We are ready, Divine Ones, but some of our ranks bear a question if you are willing?" One of the smaller dragons among their ranks asks.

_Please ask_, Selesce requests immediately.

"Long ago, three Gods created the Espers out of pure magical energy, then sealed themselves away. Would it be possible for you to unseal our long-lost divinities, were we ever able to find them?" A very large ground snake asks.

For a long moment, there was no response. _Were they willing to walk the mortal realms again, we would release them without hesitation_.

_We can request of their sealed forms if they are willing to be unsealed, but we shall not release them except by their own will_, Windam adds.

"It would be extremely appreciated," one of the dragons notes. "How may we endeavor to aid the Gods in this time of reckoning?"

_On this day, we move in concert with humans who oppose the slaughter of the Espers to destroy the Imperial Army and the sadistic Emperor of the said army. We call upon you to form ranks and prepare to take the battle to them_, Windam notes.

There was an amount of hesitation in their ranks, but they did begin preparing for the battle. Units were assembled and divided up between the three Rune Gods, battle strategies were prepared by the sub-unit commanders, and the Rune Gods watched on as the Espers steeled themselves to fight the hated enemy.

For their part, the three Magic Knights could but watch the spectacle as it unfolded, knowing that they would be called into the battle themselves and hoping that the Espers did not mistake them for the enemy.

-x-x-x-

"Begin," Cyan orders to the rifleman next to him. One of the Mountain Jaeger of Narshe grunts, takes one controlled breath, and snaps back the trigger on his Enfield Mark IV.

Four hundred yards away, a sleeping Magitek pilot wakes up with a start, though it was only to take a few soundless breaths and slump over onto the forward instrument panel on his armor. A second Jaeger takes his shot on the one awake Magitek pilot near the south access road for Tzen, the slug striking him literally right between the eyes and blowing through his head with little effort. Such was the power of the Enfield rifle that the slug continued its transit through the back of his helmet and into the wall of a general store immediately behind the armor.

With those two shots, the primary sentries of the southern access to Tzen were dead. Immediately after the second shot, three companies of the Riflemen bolted from their overlook positions and began their charge into Tzen. There were no enemy infantry around to report the incoming charge or to report that enemy infantry had eliminated two Magitek units, leaving the town basically open to attack without resistance. Only a few civilians actually noticed the infantry approach the town borders and wisely stayed out of the infantry's way.

Cyan was one of the first in the charge, and one of the first to actually enter the town. Like the rest of the infantry, he carried the Enfield rifle with the bayonet, though he would much prefer to stick to his swords in close quarters he knew that the rifle and bayonet combination was more effective. So when he entered said city he charged down the main southern entry to the town with his rifle leveled and ready for anything, the foot-and-change long bayonet perched on the muzzle and glimmering in the sunlight. There was some minor reaction from civilians, but nothing as drastic as to shout, scream or call for the Imperials. In fact, there was actually no imperial resistance in the southern half of the town.

The first major imperial resistance was actually encountered in the center area of town. As the three companies of infantry searched into the town's center area, where most of the business and actually most of this the city's residents were at that time, they started encountering imperial troops. Inside the town, the first trooper from the invasion force to actually fire was the trooper that was actually covering Cyan. A single imperial trooper had seen the onrushing infantry and drawn his sword while shouting for assistance, though he only got part of his cry off before the infantrymen had shot him dead center in the chest. Though this action and not the trooper out and stopped his cry made the cry a rather moot point, as the Enfield rifle sounds nothing like any form of arquebus or any other weapon in use by the imperial infantry. In this case, the single flat crack of that shot elicited a much more vehement reaction from the civilians, as the shot was also taken in proximity to several large groups visiting traveling merchants. The city was not panicky yet, but the imperials were alerted and a full-scale battle was very likely in many civilians' opinion.

As Cyan actually stepped onto the main city drag and looked left, he noticed a sizable squad of imperial infantry. To his right he noticed the same, another sizable squad of imperial infantry, though to his right he also noticed two Magitek units. Before he could even comment on the Magitek, one of the Jaeger had immediately sighted the Magitek pilot up, brought his weapon off safety, and fired a single round. The pilot took the hit in the chest and within a few moments slumped over his controls, clearly dead. Cyan and two of the other infantry each fired a single round at the second Magitek unit, the pilot taking two hits and immediately collapsing, unable to continue or even pose a credible threat to the unit.

With the first hail of gunshots, many of the somewhat panicking civilians sought shelter inside the structures adjoining the main drag of the city. Some were brave enough to watch the unfolding battle as the imperials drew their own weapons and started moving against the incoming invasion force, but most sought shelter and stayed there until the shooting stopped. Flurry, flurry, a cavalcade of gunfire erupted along the main drag in two locations, as two separate companies of the invasion force started firing on imperials that weren't being obstructed or backdropped by civilians. In this, the infantry had been trained exceptionally well in combat tactics: never to fire upon imperial troops if civilians are in the line of fire, whether they be in front of or behind the imperials. The two squads of imperials did not last long against proper modern bolt action rifles, though the continued gunfire actually drew the imperials to the center drag of the town far faster than single random shots.

With the incoming imperial infantry came more Magitek armor. For the most part, the Magitek units were more than loud enough to actually catch the infantry's attention and thus warrant being shot as they came along, but not all the time. In city fighting settings, the imperial Magitek armor was at a severe disadvantage, especially against infantry equipped and trained to the use of modern rifles, since the modern infantry had very little issue firing against an exposed pilot in what would be effective armor against infantry carrying blade weapons only. In this, the prior successes of the Magitek units worked against them, since the pilots were not really trained effectively to fight at range against hordes of infantry equipped to fight at that range. Of eight Magitek armors that had actually responded to the gunfire, only one of the said Magitek got a chance to fire any of its weapons, and that one ways are shot resulting only in an injury to one of the infantry.

The imperial infantry, however, was another story entirely. Most of the imperial infantry were clipped with blade weapons only, though some had pistols of a wheel lock nature bought at their own expense. In the close quarters of city fighting, wheel-lock pistols actually posed a significant threat to even modern rifle infantry, and in this Cyan watched as one of his squad mates took a pistol round to the head which very messily killed him. Undaunted, Cyan and the rest of his squad drove forward, rifle shouldered and firing while marching as they trained, moving at a slant towards the side road that the imperial main reinforcements from the north side of town had come down towards the action. Of the 20 or so imperial troops that had responded down this road, only seven of the troops actually survived to close quarters to actually face off against Cyan and his squad. One of the enemy troop singled Cyan out as the unit leader, and charged him down with a wild attempted sword's swing, though decades of training in close quarters combat made Cyan an expert's expert at gauging the actions of foes. The sword came down against the flat of Cyan's bayonet, and before the imperial trooper could back off or reset for another attack, the stock of cyan's rifle came around into the side of his head. The squad's second in Cyan's unit finished that trooper off with a quick thrust of the bayonet to his exposed neck. Freed of combat, Cyan barely had enough time to look up and see as the rest of his squad and his company immolated the remaining troopers that had responded to the initial gunfire. As Cyan looked to the left and right to gauge the actions of the other two companies involved in taking the city, he noted that the commanding officers of those companies had already pushed their troops farther north of main drag of the city that he expected. Not wanting to be left behind, Cyan waved his unit for word, which also brought the rest of the company forward and spread them out down two alleys as well as the road that he had just massacred the imperials on.

Once again confined by the narrow borders of a smaller road, Cyan moved slower, more deliberately, so as to not be surprised by incoming imperial infantry. His whole unit, trained just the same by the cooks from the Archangel, move just as slowly while looking around to the sides, into the buildings, as well as forward and behind the unit as they advanced forward. There was little to no time for talking, only time to think and to react as they moved forward. There was to be no hesitation in this assault, as this was verification and live practice for the assault on Vector.

"Excuse me, milady, does thou know where the imperial garrison be?" Cyan asked of the lady partially hiding behind her shutters in her house.

"No, sir, I do not," she replies hastily before ducking farther out of sight.

Her son was less hesitant to speak to the invading infantry however: "Sir, the imperial garrison is two blocks down the road in the direction you're traveling, on the right side, it has an imperial flag on it."

"For this, thou haveth my thanks," Cyan declares to the teenaged boy before he waves his troop onward.

To Cyan's left, another fusillade of gunshots erupts from the leftmost company of troops, though it was short lived and bore no evidence that the battle was continuing over there or had been lost by his troops. His own company continued forward, moving past the next block and on to the block where he had been informed that the imperial garrison rests. The structure in question was not much of a structure in comparison to the buildings around it, but the flag in question, the imperial banner, was more than ample evidence that the structure he beheld was the structure in question. Despite this being their headquarters, there were no infantry stationed at the door, a curious status given that the imperials actually knew something of security as far as Cyan could tell. To Cyan's right, a quick burst of gunshots, followed closely by the sound of clanging metal and physical battle, though in this case it lasted less than the gunshots from his left. Once more cyan had no doubt that his team was the victor.

"Second platoon, entered the structure and clear." Though normally speaking an older English, what most of the land of Doma considered proper English, when issuing military commands Cyan spoke in a more modern dialect as did his trainers from the _Archangel_, which helped to remove or reduce confusion about intentions. Having issued the orders to a unit other than his, the matter became something of a waiting game as the thirty-man platoon entered the short-rise structure and began clearing it out. There were some gunshots, some sounds of clashing metal, and even the sound of one good sword fight (Doma had not forbid the infantry to carry personal melee weapons, of which Cyan had his own sword), though the battle became silent after about five minutes. There was no resistance left in the building to provide a fight.

There was no resistance left in town at this point in time, either. "Lord Cyan, message from Captain Westphyle, his company has looped through the entire northern area of the town and cleared it. There are no Imperials left in this town as far as we can tell."

" 'Tis heard, Corporal," Cyan replies. "We may have the measure of thine foe," he notes a moment later.

Within five minutes, the city became eerily quiet as the sounds of battle died out. The southern company of the three reported that the south and central area of the town was clear; combined with the clearing of the garrison, Tzen was listed secured. This phase of the landing was over.

The civilians were more than happy to live under Doma's rule as opposed to the Imperial rule, and they showed it. Within fifteen minutes of the last shot being fired, many of the civilians were out on the streets, cheering the passing troops.

-x-x-x-

(13 September 986, 0815 hours)

In the past several hours, Yzak had made no more than a single token protest as to how slow the invasion was moving forward from Washington and California beaches. No major complaining, no whining (from anyone), nothing of the sort. This was mainly due to the fact that the Imperials had not shown up yet, but Yzak knew that he would get a good chance to vent his frustration soon enough.

"Guys, here they come," Nicol notes calmly as the Skygrasper he was driving comes back toward the ranks.

"How many?" Yzak immediately asks before King Edgar or the Chancellor could.

"More than I want to see today," Nicol replies drolly. "I guess about a regiment's worth, maybe some more?"

"Think we should call in the _Archangel_ to help clean house?" King Edgar asks.

"Yes, we'll need the extra firepower," Nicol replies. "They're just getting ready to hit the mouth of the Western Pass right now," Nicol notes. "If we move up fast enough, we can contain them," he opines.

"Got it," King Edgar notes. "Chancellor, you copy Skygrasper's last?"

"Roger that, my liege. I'm moving my front forward as fast as possible. Can the Gundams give us an armored spearhead?"

"Negative," Tolle replies immediately. "We're about to get caught doing anti-air operations," he notes as the Buster pulls the gun launcher and beam cannon off the back hardpoints. Within moments he had them connected in anti-air shotgun configuration.

"Great," Yzak notes. "Time to swat some flies. King Edgar, can you get your personnel to do some anti-air fire when those sky armors get close to the troops? Anything is better than nothing right now," Yzak says as he thumbs the 'Master Arm' control on his Gundam's weapon control panel.

"Roger that, I'll get the word out," the King replies.

The enemy did not take long to divert from their flight course to begin flying right toward the Gundams. They were quite pleased that the Gundams were out, alone and unsupported as far as they could tell, and the 'floating white devil' was nowhere to be found. They figured they had three sitting ducks on the ground to deal with, then an invasion to cast back into the sea with strafing attacks.

They thought wrong.

"Fire!" Athrun shouts as he depresses the trigger first, unleashing his beam rifle on the leadmost of the enemy flying armor units. The beam blew through even the improved armor and still caused a catastrophic acintic explosion as whatever powered the unit unleashed its fury into the sky around the armor. The explosion only buffeted the armors around it and knocked one from the sky, nothing as serious as the prior attack on the ship.

"Guys, guys, these are new models! Be careful!" Nicol half-shouts as he reefs his fighter in on their formation. He waited long enough for Tolle to get his first shot off, a large shotgun blast from the combined weapons that easily knocked a dozen of them out of the sky at several depths within the enemy cloud of units. As the dust settled from that attack, Nicol went in with his guns and beam cannon blazing, chopping at the flanks of the enemy formation so he did not have to try to blow through the center of the enemy cluster. Several enemy armors went down, pilots killed or soon to be, from his first pass with guns and beams; the missiles he was saving for the ground targets. On his way out he pirouetted to port, heading back over allied formations and allowing him to take an extended pass with the 120mm anti-ship Vulcan carried by the Launcher Strike Pack. Two more went down and one more exploded catastrophically before Nicol ceased firing and began leading them toward the forces from California Beach, and hopefully toward a waiting machine gun ground fire ambush.

The streaks of rockets and lasers passing close to his craft were quite a bit unsettling, since the grouping was a bit tighter than the old versions that had attacked him and Kira in the past. Still, avoiding the incoming ordinance became a lot easier as he moved farther away from them. This time around, however, the enemy was not half-ass ignoring the Skygrasper, they went straight in on him and even pursued Nicol around his first cloverleaf turn.

Just as he wanted, actually.

The continuing fire from the Gundams was joined by the Infantry opening fire on the air forces as they tried running the Skygrasper to ground, and even despite the improved armors it was a deathtrap for the flying Imperials. The thirty-caliber rifles were not capable of penetrating the armor on the new Spitfire-class flying armors, but the pilot was still exposed to open air and thus exposed to flying lead as applicable. Many pilots were hit by the rifle fire, easily over two dozen of the new and more valuable Spitfires went into the ground courtesy of rifle fire knocking out the pilot, and many more lost a significant amount of combat capability to non-fatal hits.

The fifty-caliber machine guns were another story, however, as the heavier and faster slugs had more than enough penetrating power to get through the armor and into the critical systems. In this, the Archangel Team had chosen wisely for their weapons, as the Ma Deuce Machine Guns put out a helluva hail of lead into the air that was being occupied by the enemy Air Force. Technically a weapon far older than even the cosmic Era calendar, the M2 heavy machine gun in its present deployment turned out to be greater death for the enemy sky Magitek units than any combination of weapons deployed, with the possible exception of the Buster Gundam. In less than one full minute, over 50 of the Empire's vaunted sky armors and spitfires hit the ground. This, in and of itself, turned out to be a far greater fear weapon to the imperials then even the great white ship.

"Keep the pressure on," Athrun orders to the rest of the Gundam team.

"Keeping the pressure on, sir," Yzak replies a bit sharply. Despite his sarcasm, Yzak did continue to keep the pressure on, that being one-shot one kill with his beam rifle, and better than one-shot one kill with his rail gun. Much like Nicol, Yzak was conserving his missiles for the ground campaign. The pilots of the enemy armor were even dumb enough to get close enough to his Gundam that he could use the 60 mm Vulcans on the low flying armors.

Nicol's first cloverleaf turn actually continued to draw the enemy over the ground forces and their triple-A fire. Within one minute flying time, the air forces were flying over the ground invasion force from Washington Beach. Also apprised of the need to shoot down the enemy Air Force, King Edgar had his infantry mustered and ready for the anti-aircraft action immediately upon Nichol's flight over the regiment. Where the transit over the forces from California beach was bad, the transit over Washington Beach forces was far worse, as the infantry had set out their heavy machine guns on the backs of some of the Rifleman as they were on all fours, a tactic which gave them a better angle to fire into the air, as when mounted on the ground the machine gun would only go to the ground and would not be able to climb almost completely vertical. This odd and slapdash tactic actually allowed the infantry better firing on the incoming air forces, and within a minute of passing over the Washington Beach forces, the imperial losses climbed to almost 200 armors on the ground.

This got the attention of the imperials, but did not cripple their force. After all, the imperials had sortied with almost a thousand air units.

Another blast from Buster Gundam's combined weapons slashed through the enemy air ranks and knocked down at least another dozen varied air armors, but the fact the remained that the enemy still had over 700 armor still in the air to be dealt with. And the Gundam pilots knew it.

"God, it's like killing flies with an ice pick," Yzak notes sourly. His weapons were doing the job, but not fast enough, as both his Gundam and the infantry forces were taking sporadic standard strafing attacks.

"Anyone have a can of raid?" Athrun asks as a sort of wan joke. Nobody was laughing, of course, given that they were being shot and quite frequently. The Buster had already taken several hits, and the other pilots were not far behind.

"I got some raid, what me to use it?" Chandratta requests over the radio.

"Sure, go ahead, be my guest, you frigging console gamer," Yzak replies tersely, given that the expected answer to the question was extremely obvious.

"Pucker your assholes, imperials, here it comes," Chandratta declares before stabbing of fire button.

"Dude, he did not just say that," Tolle replies with a hint of disgust.

"Reality check, comrade, he just did say that."

"Thank you, Yzak, I absolutely needed that confirmed."

Despite the rough imprecation, the first salvo from the _Archangel_ was immensely effective against the imperial air armor as they continued to swarm forward in a futile attempt to follow the Skygrasper. The 16 missiles fired initially were all of the anti-air shrapnel type, and just as the last battle the _Archangel_ fought against air armor they chopped through the enemy formation without mercy. Instantly over 100 of the enemy ranks converted into flying fireballs or flying rocks at it towards the ground at immense speed. The abrupt appearance of the white warship turned a possibly winnable battle to a nightmare scenario in that none of pilots believed they could win.

The firing of the Gottfrieds and the Valiant linear guns was pro forma, but necessary nonetheless. Though significantly overkill, each one of the fired weapons managed to score more than three kills per beam or projectile. Those few pilots that did not understand where the missiles came from were quickly informed of the slight presence of the white warship by way of the Gottfried beams, which meant the whole force knew that the white warship was there and apparently not afraid to unload on the enemy formation this time around. When combined with the continuing gunfire from the infantry and beam fire from the Gundams, many of the imperial pilots lost heart and immediately turned around their craft headed straight for Vector. In 10 seconds, the whole enemy force was moving away from the invasion infantry, what loose remaining of the enemy force that is.

The air battle was won. The invading infantry had lost almost 100 troops, and none of the Gundams remained unscathed, though victory in this phase was considered crucial by the invading force.

"That went well," Athrun notes. "I worry when things go that well," he appends after a few moments.

"I'm glad you are worrying, because here comes round two." if Yzak could have sounded more frustrated, how was lost on Athrun.

In the distance of the Western pass, the telltale dust cloud of infantry and armor on the move was beginning to get heavier and heavier.

* * *

Author's Chapter Afterword:

And this is how it begins.

Personally, I really did not want to end this chapter on this note, but this is actually the best breakpoint that I could come up with without adding another 10,000 words or so to this one chapter. I should also note that I am not personally very fond of cliffhangers, but a little suspense here and there is a good thing. Not to mention, I wanted to save the real heavy and bloody battles for the next chapter, as well as the very violent end to certain parties involved in the making of this conflict. I will leave which parties to your discretion, of course.

I think it bears mentioning that I got called on two things from the last chapter. First off, **Barricade** got me on an oversight in my writing process leading up to the technological advancements necessary for the production and mass production of the Enfield rifle, Ma Deuce, and light antitank weapons. When I had begun initially calculating what advancements of technology were available on the world of final fantasy six, due to a lot of the technology processes available to both Figaro and the Empire I readily assumed that blast furnace technology was available to both sides. In all reality I should have mentioned this prior, since as Barricade pointed out the blast furnace is an essential part of mass producing firearms. Second, **Maddery** called me on how Cyan was speaking in the last chapter not matching how he spoke in the game. I hope at this time I have gone sufficiently far enough towards correcting that that Cyan does not seem out of character. Once again, I would like to thank those that review, especially since the corrections given in review are often times little minor details that I overlooked that can make or break a story.

At this point, I think I should mention that I have switched from using straight keyboard to write my stories to using voice recognition software. I did this in response to now having a little kitten in my apartment, and said little kitten likes climbing up on my computer table and playing with my keyboard while I am typing. Now that I've broken out the headset mic, the kitten loves playing with the microphone cable instead of the keyboard. How this matters is that I am still trying to train my voice recognition software, and though I get around 98 accuracy at this point in time, is not always easy for me to recognize where the software makes an error. So, if any of you catch a strange grammatical turn, at least any more strange than my usual writing, do make note of where the error was so I can correct it. On a sidenote, my writing speed using voice recognition also appears to be slightly faster than my keyboard writing speed, and right now speed is my life.

And I do believe an apology is in order. The reason why I have not posted this chapter recently, or even managed to complete it until today, it is because for all intents and purposes I am working two jobs now. I have not had much in the way of free time to do any writing, video gaming, watching TV, or any thing of that sort. Not to mention I have a little kitten to take care of now. Strange, it is, how life can shovel all manner of delay right up into your face. The flip side, my blood pressure seems to of gone down slightly, so there is a benefit. With luck, the next couple chapters should come a bit faster than this.

Thank you, ladies and gentlemen, for your patience in this matter. I'm trying to get this done as quickly as possible. And as properly as possible. Stay tuned, I have more than a few surprises in store for the Archangel and her crew. And keep those reviews coming, comrades, because your dreams are but bucket of fuel for the ongoing nightmares of the Archangel.

**ADDENDUM 01**: I should note that I started using the voice recognition software during the battle for Tzen. From there on, if you see any strange phrasings, do tell me.

**ADDENDUM 02**: Some interesting facts may be in order for anyone who follows this story:

1. As of this posting, this story has received 15,567 hits, which comes to an average of 676 hits per chapter. That's just insanely inspirational, knowing people read something that much :P  
2. AAA has 168 reviews across 23 chapters, which is an average of 7.3 reviews per chapter, which is killer :-P  
3. Said story is attached to 7 C2 archives, has 31 users declaring it as a story favorite and 24 story alerts. I should also note that there is a large amount of disconnect between favorites and alerts, as some who have one do not have the other.  
4. Archangel's Amazing Adventures beats out every other Fic I've written combined in all of the aforementioned categories, and beats them all hands down.  
5. I have a gopher that is making helluva tunnels in the front and side yards of my property. Anyone have a good idea how to deal with it, short of camping on his tunnel network with my rifle until he gives me a clear shot?

These above facts (excepting number five, of course) is all the more motivation to keep writing. Thank you all for the continued visits and reviews. Next chap, I'll do some datum on the location breakdowns that they but in the story traffic section. Until then, keep those ideas and critiques coming, people!

* * *

Review Replies:

I do believe I have nine reviews on this chapter, many of them repeat offenders and even a couple new ones. For this you have my thanks, ladies and gentlemen, the input is always helpful.

**Knives91**: the slaughter is just beginning, Comrade. Do you think I would let the empire get away with this? And I actually have a bolt action rifle, of the exact same type as what's being used in the story. Maybe I should post some Youtube footage of it being used?

**Barricade**: upon the question of the bumper sticker, I cannot but referred you to the fact that I select such things with the dice. After all, everything I do in this story is more or less indefinite until I actually write it. I have to admit that is half the fun of writing the Archangel's Amazing Adventures. As to killing Mu off, once more I refer you to the dice, though as an author I am inclined to agree with you since said character is rather an interesting character. And once more, thanks for pointing out the slight flub with my technological analysis.

**CHM01**: keep in mind with your suggestions, it doesn't have to be somewhere specifically messed up. You can, of course, suggest the world to me that you just want to see the Archangel, say, rip through it like a chainsaw? As to Flay, you can rest assured thing shall happen on that thread.

**NHO**: let us simply say that I am saving bigger bombs for bigger problems at a later date. Thank you for the first review.

**FraserMage**: always a pleasure. The problems of the imperial army are only like to get worse before this gets better. And maybe I should post my footage of my Enfield in action, since so many of you are commenting on it.

**Etienneofthewestwind**: Music may be the one thing that saves the crews' moral souls, and may be the one thing that saves them period. As to the towns, I would say the problem is more denial and bribery, but that will change in due time :P As to Flay, I have a fair idea how that will turn out... The elements of the crossover are still in the wings, of course, but in the next few chapters you will see them.

**DeathZealot**: I know, the cartoon was a bit depressing when you get down to it, but for its time the CGI battle was intense. I think I read somewhere that the production staff had been artificially limited to four Clan 'mechs and only a handful of IS machines for some cracked-out reason or another, I would have loved to see a lot more in there mixing it up both heavier and lighter than what they averaged. Plus they had some non-sequiturs in there, like how did the FedCom have all these Mauler 'mechs when the Mauler is an exclusively Draconis design by TRO? As to the characters, I'd have to say Hawk, Ciro, and Pytor were my favorites for some strange reason.

**Evil Manic**: You know the routine, comrade, I'm not allowed to drop spoilers. The violence is a guaranteed fact of life, though, so be warned.

**Maddery**: Thank you for poking a few holes in my conduct to point :P. Honestly, though, I have not forgotten what the crux of Final Fantasy is, and you can rest assured that while magic is sparse right now it shall be deployed in large quantity soon enough. Their individual skills will also come into play as the story advances, of course, but keep in mind that the major fighting is not over yet and there is plenty of room to maneuver here. Plus a whole extra conflict to apply it to.

**Gonging Apples**: There will be much summons and carnage from their side in the chapter to come. Stay tuned, comrade.

As always, thank you one and all for the reviews. Keep them coming, I need the fuel to get the Archangel home...if it ever does get home, that is :-P Who knows but the dice and the Fates if they shall ever get there?

* * *

The Gripe Sheet:

All outstanding gripes have been detailed and sorted out in the afterword.

* * *

Footnotes:

(1): This is the chorus for **Primo Victoria** by Sabaton. Look them up on YT, their FMV for Saving Private Ryan is a killer video.


	25. Attero Dominatus

(Archangel's Amazing Adventures, Section 3, Chapter 9: Attero Dominatus)

(Author's Note: Though officially I am only listing this as a double-crossover for elements to come in this chapter and the next few, the Espers are going to be more than just from Final Fantasy 6. Expect to see Summons from 6, 8, 9, 10 / 10-2 in the FF Series as well as from Tales of Phantasia and maybe even more. This is going to get very messy very fast.)

_Are we ready to move_? Rayearth asks as Hikaru looks idly on at the Espers that had arrayed to take the fight to Vector.

"We stand ready, Divine Ones," one of the elder Bahamut replies.

The whole force, numbering in the thousands of Espers and led by the three Rune Gods, had been divided up into three forces. Fuu called them Regiments, based on how big they were, which if she was right brought the total force in play up to eight Regiments, or two larger and one smaller Brigade when assembled into a larger size structure. Fuu had to admit, though, her understanding of things military was still a bit on the weak side. To Hikaru and Umi, size did not matter in this case, since a regiment of Espers would be more than enough to destroy the spirit of the enemy, maybe even force them to surrender.

Fuu's force was the mobility crew, the fast hitters that could fly and subsequently move from one theater to another too fast for the enemy to properly counter them. The main heavy hitter among the flying was the Bahamut, followed closely by the more agile but less combat powerful Aska. Hikaru had the ground-mobile forces, the shocktroopers such as the Raiden, Volt (which really was shocking), and Ifirit. Umi's task was the most straightforward and brutal of the team's tasking, for she had the real heavy-hitting units of the team in Alexander, Tritoch, and Pandemona as just a representative sample.

Likewise, each team had their own objective. Fuu's force would move to and support the invasion force under King Edgar, or barring that would attack Vector from the southwest. Hikaru's force would go in on the backs of any enemies engaging the forces from Doma, or barring that would assault Vector from due south. Umi had no tasking other than to hit Vector hard and fast from the southeast and east, to drive through the defenders and right to the Imperial Fortress to force the issue. In this fashion, the whole force could not be tied down fighting the Imperial Ground Forces, someone would still be challenging Vector directly.

_Maintain no illusions, Magic Knight Fuu_, Windam begins telepathically. _You will have to involve in the melee to come_, he notes.

"I expected it," Fuu replies immediately. She did not know what manner of support she could provide, but if the Rune God says she was going to be in the battle, she didn't have much of a choice in the matter.

_Ours shall be the difficult portion of the battle, Magic Knight Umi. Do not for a moment underestimate thine foes, for we cannot yield lest the hopes of this campaign be crused underfoot the Empire_, Selesce cautions his respective Magic Knight.

Of the three, it was only Fuu that really understood what they were about to delve into. Hikaru was ignoring the part of her conscience that was trying to equate this to some of the battles she had prior fought, namely on Twycross and the almost random encounter with the Wolves in space. Umi really thought of this one as a real battle intellectually, but the rest of her being considered it little more than another adventure she really did not want part in. Their respective Rune Gods could sympathize to a point, but being hundreds of thousands of years old apiece they knew far better than to misgauge such a campaign. Though their connection to the other divinities in Existence was tenuous at best, they knew well how easily even the trained and empowered forces directly serving Gods could be sundered by technology-and-magic forces similar to what they were about to engage. The one thing that really served the Allies' side of this campaign in their opinion was that the enemy lacked any real artillery forces, though their ground armor and air support were worth noting...until you stacked an Air Armor against a decent Esper, that is.

The forces under Rayearth moved out first, headed not directly into the field but into the Imperial base that 'serviced' the Sealed Gate. The mass exodus of forces would surely alert the base, which would phone back to the main Imperial Garrisons that something evil that way went, therefore taking the base down hard and fast was high on their list of priorities. Selesce would move out second, as Windam's forces could make up lost ground and lost time in the skies headed toward their objectives.

There was a sense of unreality to it, Hikaru thought, as she observed the growing battle inside the base from afar and upon the shoulder of Rayearth. Part of her did feel something as she saw through Rayearth's eyes the battle as it happened, or more appropriately the one-sided slaughter that was transpiring in the base. The Imperials may have been prepared for a clandestine raid to the Cave of the Sealed Gate, but by no means were they prepared for the Espers coming out of the Cave with a serious case of blood in the eyes. A sense of dread, a sense of regret tinged her conscience as the battle evolved, consuming the whole base in the end.

The rest of her lamented that they were simply enemies; disdained enemies that would be repressing, ravaging and raping civilians in the North were the Returners and the Archangel Team not stomping on them right now. A detachment of the Ifirit had taken up the banner of this opening strike, to be supported by the Volt who would engage the Magitek armors. The base itself was horridly small, actually, barely enough to count for a hundred infantry and ten Magitek. The twenty Ifirit were upon them, their claws and fire magic crushing, roasting enemies without fail. Four Volt Espers had followed close, the electric energy balls hovering mere inches over the ground on some form of magnetic field, lashing out at the Magitek and any foolhardy infantry that approached with powerful electrical assaults. The overload was more than enough to cause the armors to explode catastrophically, but this was less than an issue to a glowing ball of electric energy that might be nearby.

In less than a full minute, the battle was over; the forward base was no longer Imperial. There was no contest, not even a decent injury in the assault team's ranks. Hikaru expected this, yet the battle still left her feeling empty in the end. The invasion continued as planned; there would be no relent, for the first real lesson that Hikaru had learned from the _Archangel_ was that giving up meant you never went home. And Hikaru never believed in giving up.

-x-x-x-

Lord Cyan Garamonde's mustache twitched with the news. The enemy lay ahead of them now, confirmed by sightings by the Stormcrow of sparse air cover forces over enemy Magitek and Infantry formations. Mechwarrior Pytor estimated a total of two regiments enemy strength, mostly weighted to Infantry. Likely easy prey for the all-riflemen force from Doma and the armor support in the Omnimechs, Cyan figured, though casualties were a given. The Imperials were not weaklings or cowards by any measure of the words, and yet neither was Doma's forces. A good contest of it was to come.

The Invasion Force had an advantage here in the North that they did not coming in from the West: there was no chokepoint. Edgar's forces would undoubtedly be subject to a restricting battle in the pass in question, since only a complete fool among the Imperial Garrison would ignore the strategic value of such a location. Herein the plan compensated for that, even if one vector towards Vector was bogged down, there were still two other thrusts to take the fight to the Imperial Capital.

The stroke of genius in the planning from the second-in-command of the _Archangel_, Natarle Badgiruel, was manifest with the elegance of her planning. Everything was timed perfectly to point, with breathing space in the planning on the ground and redundancy in the attack method. The other Lords of Doma had been rather impressed to learn that, despite being female, she was one of the best tactical commanders of her unit, of her original homeland, and had a pedigree of naval admirals in her family like few others outside noble bloodlines. There was no question whatsoever as to her command competency, and the plan had been signed off by no less than two Kings.

"What is thine foe's orientation?" Cyan requests of the Warhawk's pilot, a born-and-bred warrior he had found out over the prior weeks.

"Orientation due south of our position five klicks, strongpoint appears to be centered to the left, but it appears their whole force is headed southward away from us right now."

"Perchance we have frightened them?" Cyan opines, given that his three regiments of crack troops would be enough to scare a force double their size if the enemy knew his real strength.

"Unlikely," Pytor replies immediately. "Imperial strength and morale is supposed to be very high, despite the perception of facing the _Archangel_ as a losing battle. If they are moving away from us, it is probably for some other reason or tactical necessity." The cold precision of Pytor's voice translated well over these portable radios that they carried for unit coordination.

"We shall drive forth," Cyan replies. "Thine foes' strength is frittered as they flee. We shall capitalize upon the moment, that we hammer through their ranks and continue onward upon the heart of thine foes. Pray the Battlemechs would relish taking the front?" Despite the nature of the request, it was more or less an order from Lord Cyan couched as a question.

"Roger that," Commander La Flaga replies. "Omnimechs forward, we'll play the part of the dutiful armored spearhead. Pytor, your 'mech has the most armor, you're in the lead. Timber Wolf, Mad Dog, Stormcrow will follow close. Weapons live, people, this is where it begins."

"Aff, Commander La Flaga," Kristen Redmond replies from her Omnimech, the Vulture.

"Stormcrow reads loud and clear," Kira replies in a neutral intonation. He had done marginally well in the Warhawk in battles past, but he had a need for speed and the Warhawk was just too slow for his fighting style. The Stormcrow, however, made all the difference in speed and maneuverability, while retaining a goodly amount of firepower. Definitely not a Strike Gundam with the Aile Pack, but as a substitute it would have to do.

"Ready to move out," Pytor replies from the unit's largest 'mech.

Cyan had to remind himself that the Warhawk was literally forty-times-plus heavier than the Magitek armors it was to face down, and had the firepower to turn any of them into an instant flaming pile of scrap in one shot with the massive Particle Projection Cannons. Lord Cyan could naught but guess how such machines of war came to be, for they bore no resemblance to the Magitek they were now preparing to slay and were made from technologies never seen on this world until the day of the _Archangel_'s arrival. As the four Omnimechs stomped around the flanks of his formation they led off the advance march of the infantry, headed toward the disorganized Imperials that were themselves headed southward toward other action. The whole ground quaked to the feeling of their footsteps as they moved onward across the sun-baked grass of the valley, though this was accented by the mirror feeling of the Infantry doing the same.

"Command, Timber Wolf, we're going to move ahead and begin shooting up their rear," Mu says after a few minutes of approach march. "If we can get them to stop where they are now, our side will have the high ground and enfilade to almost half their rear regiment," Mu notes, which indeed would be a powerful advantage if used properly.

"Please begin at your leisure," Cyan requests.

The four Omnimechs stomped forward at a quickening pace, marching line abreast into the gap and toward the enemy rear. "Requesting open fire range, command," Kristen asks.

"Open fire range at two kilometers. Prioritize targets by net firepower, air first, then ground. We will deal with the general population after we've taken down their armor support."

"Understood, command," former Star Captain Kristen Redmond replies. She reached over to her weapons console and flipped the master arm switch, turning her machine from a walking formation of metal and myomer parts to a weapon of insane destruction potential in less than a full second. "3-1-hundred meters to targets," Kristen declares.

"Keep it steady, people, if they're walking away they are not going to focus on shooting back yet. We have some time to spare," Mu cautions. Through training with the Clanners, he had found that they had a very high sense of aggression, and usually the cunning to back it up, but he had also schooled them in why blindly fighting offensive all the time was a bad idea.

"Commander La Flaga, would it be possible that they are trying to draw us into a prepared position? An ambush similar to how you took down the remnant of Nikolai Malthus' forces?"

"Possible," Mu notes. "Pick up the pace, full run, we'll blitz through to their rear and begin the attack. If they are trying to suck us into a stonework death, they will have to sacrifice their own forces to accomplish it."

"I somehow don't think they would hesitate to do that," Kira grumbles but does as ordered nonetheless.

The quick, sharp bark of laughter from Kristen Redmond chilled Cyan's spine momentarily. "Such deceitful tactics will not work on us as well as you used them on Nikolai."

"They made us," Mu says after they just barely passed 2 kilometers range to the rear of the formation. "Enemy is turning around, preparing to engage. Let's take down their armor, people, you know the drill."

"As ordered, sir," Kristen replies as she sights up the enemy sky armor in her hunting area. With practice honed over years of battlemech combat before she even set foot in the Inner Sphere, much less battle experience against the _Archangel_'s forces several times over, her first two shots of Large Pulse Laser did not miss their mark on two separate Sky Armor.

Just like that, the battle was on and two Sky Armor hit the ground with hellish holes in their armor. From where Cyan stood, seeing what each Omnimech was shooting at was difficult at best, but the urgency of the matter was not entirely difficult to understand, for in short order the legs of the Omnimechs would be invested by Infantry unless someone kept them off. "Move it up! We've a long way to go to get there!"

"Praise be! They're drawing the Imperials back towards us!" One of the Sergeants nearby Cyan shouts. Indeed, once the Omnimechs had their attention, they began walking slowly backwards, slow enough to draw the Imperials with them in an attempt to lead them right into the waiting sights of the Riflemen.

"Excellent," Cyan replies. "Keep moving forth!" He says, knowing that despite his overwhelming advantage in numbers and firepower, the battle would still come down to melee combat, hand-to-hand with the Imperials. This he did not object to, his life spent learning the sword would come in handy as he reached down to the hilt of his sword to verify it was still there. Assured that the Kotetsu he carried was still present, Cyan continued forward and led his troops the same.

The Omnimechs continued firing at the various knots of Magitek among the ground forces ranks, their lasers and particle cannons easily shredding apart the significantly smaller forces and causing collateral casualty among the infantry. The range was rapidly closing between the forces, only two kilometers separated the infantry as the Omnimechs stopped moving backwards to allow the Infantry to close up on them. When stopped, their already murderous aim improved significantly as they did not have to compensate for the movement of their machines, only for the movement of their targets.

Though the Omnimechs had stopped moving, the ground had not stopped trembling, and in force it only got worse. Two hundred meters forward of the Infantry advance, the ground ruptured and calved a large machine like no other Imperial abomination ever seen, though Cyan could look upon it and see the taint of Magitek like no other weapon in Existence. "SHIT!" Someone shouts to Cyan's left, though that was as far as panic reaction went. Before Cyan could even order it, a pair of the wondrous LAWS rockets were fired at it, the first missing overhead by several meters, the second striking a curved surface of the armor and glancing off, only to redirect skyward and who-knows-where for an eventual landing. A third rocket faired better, striking the center of the left arm on the machine and blowing it clear apart, the stub of upper arm flaming and smoking severely.

"Another! Hit it harder!" Cyan orders. It was an order the Infantry were all too willing to comply with as the demonic armor began driving forward on treads towards them, clearly intent on running the Infantry over. Cyan dropped aside his rifle and drew his sword as a laser from the machine passed him by a mere meter, killing two separate troopers in one shot. A fourth and fifth rocket were fired, one missing, one striking a protrusion on top of the machine that appeared have no battle value. The strike of lightning nearby momentarily distracted Cyan as it cooked another of his troopers, but when he looked back he saw what he had to do.

A sixth rocket jammed in the tread of the machine and detonated, blowing the tread apart and rendering it immobile as the tread piled up and the machine ground to a halt a mere twenty meters in front of them. Cyan capitalized on the moment as he set his sword and charged down the armor from twenty meters farther behind the front, with the shout "I shalt _dispatch_ you to hell!" (1). As he approached close, the venerable but highly skilled Cyan jumped and came down, in the process clearing over a Tek Laser aimed at him from the armor he was assaulting, and brought his sword down to impale the armor at the red gem on its front, and thereafter the pilot below in the armor's enclosed cockpit. His sword penetrated clear to the hilt, and when drawn out was layered with the blood of both man and machine. From the ranks of the Infantry came a tremendous shout as Cyan wiped his blade clean and sheathed his sword in the traditional fashion.

A second burrow came to be three hundred meters forward and the same to the right, another TunnelArmr that was patrolling the rear of the enemy. This time, however, the armor made nary an offensive maneuver before an Infantryman struck the center of the armor with an anti-tank rocket fairly close to where Cyan had impaled the first, and in this the weapons of the Infantry outmatched the armor of the Empire far beyond their wildest dreams, when the rocket punched a discreet but lethal four-inch hole in the armor and blew a massive amount of spall into the inside of the cockpit. The pilot's hatch safety release blew from a fragment severing the lock, showing the bloody red mess that was once a Magitek pilot of the Empire after the fragmentation from the rocket shredded his body to pieces and paste.

"What evil we can bring in pursuit of thine good," Cyan says as he gets a good look at the remnants from atop the first TunnelArmr he took down.

"Shall we continue, my lord?" A Lieutenant asks, holding Cyan's rifle.

"Indeed," Cyan says as he gestures to the Lieutenant. With a quick toss, Cyan regained possession of his rifle and thereafter jumped down onto the ground to continue the rush forward.

-x-x-x-

Matters were a lot less cordial on the western front, and philosophy was precisely nowhere to be found.

"Damnit!" Edgar shouts rather uncharacteristically. "We have to push forward to that gap! Get a move on! Call the _Archangel_ for support!"

"_Archangel_ from Washington Beach, uh, we could use a little help here," the radio officer requests.

"Go ahead, Washington," the radio officer on the _Archangel_ replies.

"Requesting fire mission, area denial against tango forces east of the narrows, area saturation bombardment preferred, in support of ground advance to the narrows, over," the radio officer near King Edgar requests.

"_Archangel_ rogers your request, wait one," the radio officer at the far end replies. "Washington beach, stand by for missile barrage," the Radio Officer replies.

Edgar had a little bit of a time picking out where the _Archangel_ was in the skies, but not a huge problem in the end. The majestic Warship of note was floating behind his lines and angling immediately toward the front.

Even as the crew of the _Archangel_ moved to enhance the capabilities of the local ground forces, they did not slouch in enhancing their own capabilities. In particular, Commander Natarle Badgiruel knew that the invasion forces would have to face down massed enemy formations. In response, she had engineers from the _Archangel_'s weapons team draw out and implement designs for area denial and anti-personnel missiles to be used in both the Helldart and anti-ship missile launchers. After all, a five ton anti-shipping missile refit to drop hundreds of baseball sized explosive charges from 500 m above ground level could easily kill a third of the troops and enemy armor in this space 300 m wide and 1500 m long with extra results outside of that area. And the results only became more thorough the more missiles dumped into a given area.

Edgar knew he had other things to do than watch the missiles dive into the ground. All the same, he could not help but watch has some missiles slammed into the ground, blowing large rents out of the enemy formation and sending bodies flying hundreds of meters into the air, though the thing that stunned him most was the missiles detonating in air and scattering their bomblets down onto the enemy formation, as more then a half dozen missiles had done so. Though it lacked the visual sensation of watching a body tumble through the air, King Edgar could tell instantly that the cluster munitions had caused far more casualties in one strike than the solid missiles ever would.

"Glory be, King Edgar! That one strike just annihilated half a regiment in one shot!" The King's radio officer shouts.

The King did not relish seeing such casualties even to such a hated foe as the Empire, though he knew it was not enough. Even as the radio officer shouted such, more enemies were literally pushing over the piles of dead bodies to continue the advance. And his forces, who were nowhere near the gap that they wanted to be at, were still wildly exposed on open territory. Things had the propensity to become incredibly bloody incredibly quickly for both sides, though an idea came to mind. "Can we pen them up in the gap?"

"Sir?" One of his messengers asks for clarification.

"Can we pen them in the gap and hold them there, eliminate them as they come toward?"

"We'll have to chase them if we make the gap too bloody, sir," one of his Captains replies.

"We can't rush the gap right now, our front-end will get mulched and spit out," another of the Captains replies sourly.

"We hold the line, let them try and force the gap," Edgar notes. "We shoot them as they come. Start digging in and prepare to deploy our machine guns," he orders. "Call the _Archangel_ and advise of the change in tactics. We will need the Gundams to provide fire support." Such new concepts were still a little hard for Edgar to wrap his brain around, but he could not deny the usefulness of the Gundams and their amazingly powerful weapons. Without doubt, were it not for the Gundams and their insane pilots, his force would already be dead from airstrikes above.

"Yes, sir!" the more cautious of the two Captains replies. "You men, fan out and start getting foxholes and fighting positions set up! They ain't gonna give us all day, so move it!"

"Yes sir!" The infantry nearby begin moving outward to spread the word.

The training from the _Archangel_ crew had been very thorough, including both defense and offense training. In this, a preset series of tactics were unfolded and the Infantry began the process of digging in, a skill not uncommon among their ranks prior to their training, though the concept of using foxholes to defend themselves against armor and other Infantry was a new one to most of them. Fighting Holes for use of a Machine Gun were something else, and an ingenious use of a machine gun position plus the accompanying Infantry since they provided defense as well as a good field of fire for the machine gun.

In ten minutes, most of the Infantry had dug into decent fighting positions. Two minutes later the fighting holes were set up and ready, the machine guns placed, loaded, crewed and armed for action. The Gundams had halted their advance and hunkered down to reduce their exposure to fire themselves, preparing to unload their remaining arsenal on the enemies as they came on through the gap.

The enemy had hesitated after the _Archangel_'s first strike, clearly ready to break ranks and flee from having to face such a powerful foe with no hope of defeating it. When no second strike came, the Imperial officers began marshaling the troops forward again, armor leading the way as they had learned was the most effective way to do an attack. They walked into a wall of gunfire just after the narrows unlike any other they had faced or even delivered unto existence before. The front was over two kilometers long but constricted by the gap they were pushing through, and they had no way to conduct a vertical or horizontal envelopment or flanking attack, they could only charge through and into the waiting sights of the invaders.

"This is Buster, I have a clear shot at this time," Pilot Tolle Koenig declares.

"Take the shot, Tolle," Athrun orders.

**WRAAM**, dust particulate and even a few small rocks skidded by Edgar's dugout from the blast coming from the combined weapons of the Buster. After a few moments the blunderbuss-like shot particulate came down in the area of the gap and immediately Edgar could see the body parts fly in several directions. Tolle waited the customary ten seconds to allow his guns to cool and ready again, then **WRAAM**, another shot went downrange but impacted a bit closer to the front where the shooting was already beginning to heat up.

"I hope this works," one of the Captains of the assault teams notes.

"If it does not, we are all dead regardless. Now shut up and shoot, Captain." the King gripes as he shoulders his rifle, flips up the elevator sight to center on a ranged target, dials it in for 500 meters, and aims.

**CRACK**. "Yes, sir," the Captain replies as he braces then shoulders his own rifle.

-x-x-x-

_This is where it begins for us_, Rayearth declares to Hikaru telepathically.

"Where do I begin?" Hikaru asks after a few moments of surveying the enemy lines.

There was all indication that the force her team had just bumped into was reinforcements heading west toward the invasion beach from Figaro. That being the case, she could not stand idly by as they moved to and killed the people that wanted to live in peace so desperately they would fice the issue upon the Empire. The Espers were part of that group as well, which meant taking down this force and the remainder of the Imperials in the open was simply another logical step to stopping the capture and slaughter of the Espers.

_You will join the ranks on the ground. A Swordsman of the Raiden (2) shall bring you unto the battle as I move forward with the Ifirit. We will rejoin after the melee is done_. The fact that Rayearth was leaving the life of his Magic Knight in the ward of another was less than comforting to him, and his mental tone declared it quite clearly.

"Still, it must be done," Hikaru replies. "We all must stop them, or none of us will live to tell the tale," she thinks aloud as she looks over Rayearth's right side at the masses of Espers, literally thousands of them, as they moved forward at a quickening pace.

_Your escort is below and to the left. Vault toward and he shall take it from there. Be swift of mind and sure of sword, Magic Knight, and we shall continue the march on the other side of this battle_.

"Good luck, Rayearth," Hikaru declares as she draws her blade before making a running leap from Rayearth's right shoulder to vault off his left shoulder to the awaiting forces below. Partway off the side, one of the mounted knights (Raiden) jumps up to catch her mid-air and settle her in for a continued charge. "Thank you, Swordsman," Hikaru declares as they resume their charge forward in a normal fashion.

"It is you we owe the thanks, Magic Knight," the Swordsman shouts over his shoulder. "Without the assistance and motivation of the Gods, it would be us waiting for the next invasion, never ready to counter their ambitions because we could never differentiate neutral from foe."

Phrased that way, the matter took on a different light than it had earlier in the day. Hikaru had assumed they would unquestioningly follow the orders of a superior being (A god), but now it appeared they were actually defending themselves with the assistance of the Gods. That changed the matter around enough that the battle took on a bit more of the mystique that Hikaru thought had been absent since she left Cephiro. Not that she lacked people to defend in the Inner Sphere, but something about fighting the cold mechanized units of the Clans made the operations there a totally different feeling.

The Espers continued to close with the left flank of the enemy, and Hikaru knew this was about to become a bloodbath of epic proportions. They were not prepared for an enemy attack of any type, and Hikaru's orders were quite clear on the matter: she came home alive, to her second home the _Archangel_. There would be no relent here as there was none earlier in the day.

The whole experience itself was surreal. The front lines, of which Hikaru was quite a bit behind, were the first to hammer into the side of the panicking enemy. From where she sat on the back of a steed charging into battle behind a literal wall of Ifirit, all Hikaru could see was bodies flying upwards or some variant thereof, though as the seconds passed and the front oblated into the side of the enemy her direction of travel changed from forward to left of forward, which put her heading to the enemy front.

"Brace yourself, Magic Knight. We're about to contact the enemy," the Raiden she was riding with shouts over the sound of rushing wind and battle. Hikaru did indeed brace herself, her sword came up and to the ready as she instinctively reached her left hand to a loop on his ancient armor that she could steady herself without the hazard of constricting him.

Contact was rapid and insanely violent. Hikaru had never trained nor even thought long about what a cavalry charge really was, and as the Raiden charged down in between the marching rows of the Imperial Infantry it was all she could do to hold her sword out on a proper angle to strike the Magitek Knights as she charged through their ranks almost unhindered. The report of an arquebus caught her attention as well as the sound of the bullet striking the armor on the side of the war steed, though they continued onward and into the main gap between the two halves of the Imperial Regiment, now galloping westbound with other Raiden abreast of her and with the majestic Volt beings gliding behind, discharging plasma bolts and lightning strikes at the enemy Magitek whenever they got close to them.

Ahead of her, the Raiden she was accompanying was using his massive Zanmato blade to slash through the Imperial Templar and the Magitek Knights, ducking back and forth to dodge the greater concentrations of enemy infantry and their hurried attempts to stall the cavalry with halberd and pike. Hikaru's efforts improved as they continued the charge, gaining her nerve back and even swinging into the charge against some of the Templar as they passed. It was amazing to her how effective her sword was in these conditions, as a single swing would cleave through shield, halberd, armor, man, and armor again without reserve, leaving the Templar or the Infantry she was targeting in literal pieces in her wake.

She saw it moments before it struck, and moments after she could have done anything about it. An Imperial Grunt ran from right to left and leveled his pike in the process, aiming not for riders but for the legs of the horse she was on. Though she got the luxury of seeing his head removed for his intransigence by another of the Raiden, the deed was done. The sickening sound of bone and haft breaking gave way to the flight forward and eventually to the ground; hers was not the only horse so stopped, though for the most part the remaining Raiden had ducked down the sides of the Imperial ranks to avoid trampling the downed riders, the remainder had jumped clear of the dismounted persons. Hikaru hit the ground, tumbled once, tumbled again, rolled for several meters, then finished by skidding for almost twenty meters, her inertia was that high at the point of dismount.

"Magic Knight!" the Raiden shouts as something immediately lifts her from the ground and to standing. It was all she could do to retain possession of her sword. "We must move! We are exposed here!"

Hikaru could never really claim to understand what came over her at that time, or how she did it, or how she managed to overcome her numerous injuries in so doing, but she wrenched herself free from the Raiden's grasp fast enough to drive her shoulder into the path of an oncoming pike. The armor she wore easily prevented the mithiril blade from penetrating, but the impact traveled all the way through her slender frame to the compound fractures in her left leg. Likewise, she could never remember the scream she loosed as her leg screamed pain and defiance throughout her nervous system, but she drove forward over the pain, first slashing upwards to remove three feet of the pike haft and the blade, then back down on the hapless pikeman with enough raw fury to completely cleave him in half from left shoulder to right waist, then reset and take a backhand swing on the sword-wielding trooper behind him, in this case chopping through both of his legs mid-thigh and bringing him to the ground in a shower of blood and bone fragments.

The advance stifled, she could look around and see that the area she was in rapidly degenerating into a melee. She watched as light flashed from the sky downward; the work of the Luna, summons of the moon and holy light that could fry anything not itself holy and pure. The enemy countered with a Magitek unit, a new and slightly larger one, as its claws came up and down on the hapless Lunar, chopping her in half on pure mechanical force. She lost track of her surroundings for several moments as she had to counter an enemy Templar team who were intent on cleaving her to bits with halberd and battle ax, though it was Hikaru that came out on top by removing one head and a left arm on the other. Immediately thereafter she had the luxury of watching a dozen infantry cooked in their armor as a Volt literally dove right over them, discharging into the ground through them and instantly killing them, only to watch the volt destroyed as a missile fired from a HeavyArmr slammed into the steel ball at the center of the Volt and exploded, shredding it to bits.

More than the enemy was fighting back, she recognized that the bulk of the enemy were in fact running away as fast as possible. Most were not getting far, as the ministrations of the Espers were not a power to be denied by simple men in armor. Those that were fighting were having limited success when they could get close enough to conduct the battle with melee weapons, but not always as the Carbuncle proved with their Ruby Shield skill that stopped magic and Magitek cold as well as resisted most physical forces. The Luna used a similar skill in a Lightwave Barrier, though its focus was more on the physical and not the magic. And some of the Espers were just plain scary in close, like the Raiden and their amazing swordcraft or the Ifirit that could easily pick up a human and crush him in hand, armor and all.

Hikaru pushed forward herself, moving between a Ramuh on one side and a Raiden on the other to take up the fight at the front. She could see Rayearth towering over the battlefield to her right, using flame attacks to cook the enemies alive and take down their armor forces. In close against the enemy, she could not muster the time necessary to call upon her own fire skills, lest she end up having to take a bad hit from a sword or pike that her armor would not stop. Her skills with the sword did her talking, as the magic sword that linked her to Rayearth chopped through enemy and armor with an ease she did not expect; after a few such happenstance, she was beginning to wonder if her power was increasing, or just her physical strength, or both.

All existence flashed white for a bare moment; when the color and visual sensation began coming back, she found herself airborne again but this time headed definitely for enemy territory as the forest of pikes and halberd declared of her destination. Something had thrown here meters forward of where she wanted, she suspected an explosion of some type, but on landing she did so on top of an Imperial Templar and had not the time to consider what went wrong. As quick as she could muster the strength she was on her feet, though on the other side of the three-meter gap in every direction around her was a wall of shocked and angered Imperials.

"It's just a farking girl!"

"Disarm her and tie her up!" One of the Imperials shouts as he drops an arquebus aside and draws a sword.

_Use your power, Magic Knight, and you would bring this battle closer to the end_, Rayearth orders telepathically from the far side of the battlefield.

As the wall of swords and firearms closes in on her, the ornate armor of the Magic Knight of Rayearth flashes red accompanied by a pulse of hot wind emanating from her in a circular arc, both of which brought their closing on her to a resounding halt. Instantly she knew the course of what must be done, and hesitated not a moment in doing so. "_**Inferno Shell**_!" Hikaru shouts as she inverts her sword and drives it into the ground in front of her. For a moment Hikaru felt immensely hot both inside and out, but it was the kind of warm heat that reminded one of a wood fire in your backyard; the sensation lasted a moment, then the expanding shell of flame and pressure shoved away those around her, incinerating them and slagging down their metal components into molten metals. The shell continued to expand for a distance, easily a hundred meters in every direction, though the magic fire never touched one of the Espers, only the Imperials.

Again the battle stifled, and Hikaru could look around at the hundreds of meters of scorched earth in every direction, with puddles of molten metal and remnants of enemy troops scattered here and there for good measure. And she was reminded of how horrible war really was.

-x-x-x-

In the skies south of Vector, much the same story played out with the exception of the actors.

_Battle comes from the direction of our foes_, Windam notes telepathically.

"Is it... the remnants of the IAF? Have they been in battle against the _Archangel_?" Fuu asks as she gets a clear sight of the enemy.

_It would appear so_, Windam concludes telepathically again. Some of the enemy's sky armor smoking slightly even at distance.

"How do we... I... I don't know how to fly a large aerial battle," Fuu admits.

_Then we shall need to correct this_, Windam replies to Fuu with a small hint of humor to his mental voice. _We are in an optimal position right now, with the sun to our back. What we must do now is divide the forces, split off a second unit, and strike farther south as well as head on. We have every advantage we could want, this battle is simply removing a thorn in the rest of the forces' side_. If Windam could sound any colder to Fuu, how was lost on her. _You have a mastery of games and skills of the mind, Magic Knight, you need only unleash it when necessary. Draw upon your prior experience, you have the answer_.

When phrased like that, Fuu was still unsure of what Windam meant. She did, however, take it on faith that a Rune God would understand that she understood these things. "Would it be prudent to use our heaviest forces in the head-on attack, and use our medium forces to strike them from the side?" Fuu guesses. It was a common tactic seen throughout her games and reading material, the combination main strike and attack from the side, commonly called a flanking maneuver.

_This is the correct application_, Windam replies. Five seconds pause; _I have sent the Aska, Maxwell, Palidor, and Valefor around to the south. After we have met in battle, they will strike the enemy from the side, trapping them_.

_War is so cruel_, Fuu thinks to herself. Long gone were the days where she would enjoy the solace, the heroic storyline of a longer RPG game, mainly on the thought that her life had become some very twisted role-playing game in and of itself. A game whose consequences resulted in lives lost in a cold, hard reality like no other she even thought possible. And to think in years past she reveled in trying to solve the role-playing games in a way that her friends sometimes called 'overkill', to completely humiliate the bad guy and wipe out his or her minions.

_Even the flight of your fancy can be thine reality, in more ways than one, Magic Knight_, Windam declares. _Thine works of fiction are assuredly reality somewhere else in Existence, yet such fancy can be its own strength when considered properly. This shall be discussed at length, but not now. Brace yourself, Magic Knight, for the battle is about to begin_.

Unlike her common works of fiction, the Bahamut to which the front of the Esper Air Forces were heaviest guarded did not breathe fire like the average dragon. Theirs was an energy beam that Fuu could only begin to guess what it was comprised of, but the power it contained was manifest: six Bahamut cut six tunnels through the enemy remnant, each tunnel a dozen meters wide, and the beams continued on to the mountain ranges. Far behind the enemy air force (and actually above the enemy ground forces) the beams struck the mountains that surrounded the major bend in the path to Vector, the frightening power of those beams tearing gouges into the living stone of the mountain without reserve. It was testament to their power that the holes had little spillage in the form of falling rocks due to the fact that the holes were mostly and in one case completely through the mountains in question.

After being blasted, the Imperials countered in kind with their own armaments. The Bahamut, smaller and more maneuverable than the Rune God Windam, maneuvered around the incoming fire for which they had time to do so (the missiles, mostly). Windam continued forward unconcerned with the trifle of weapons far too small to injure him, in one case flying through a swarm of missiles that struck and detonated on him. "Is there something I should do?" Fuu asks as they continue to close with the Imperials.

_Observe the battle and apply your judgment, but do not manage it to the smallest detail. We will win, but you can make the victory more complete and less damaging by adjusting our methods as needed_.

"Understood," Fuu replies shakily. "Erm," she grumbles as she examines what was happening. To her mind, things were advancing apace, except... "The Diablo and Sylphs do not have room to attack, should they loop around to the right?" Fuu asks.

_It is relayed_, Windam declares after a few moments. _Brace yourself_, he orders immediately thereafter. _**Gale Bomb**_, Fuu hears inside the confines of her mind moments before she sees a rippling in the skies nearby a cluster of the newer-version Sky Armor. It was a strtange thing, she figured, seeing air as it compressed and moved in a series of rippling waves that each was more powerful than the blade of a sword, and though far less massive each was far more powerful. The radially expanding blades of wind moved for several hundred meters, most encountering dead sky before dissipating, though some found other Sky Armors and chopped into them without reserve. The blast finally gave out before it would have approached her, though the moving winds gave Windam a buffet like few others. Fuu had to hold on for her life, since gravity was not a natural component she wanted to argue with right this minute.

To her left, Fuu could watch the Aska and Palidor as they brought in the attack from the side, the Maxwell leaping off the Palidor (3) to begin their attack run of Judgment, the ability to move about the skies enshelled in energy that took a lot of force to break. The Valefor swept through the farthest left of all, their Sonic Wings (4) smashing the rotors of the Sky Armor and Spitfire, causing their hapless pilots to lose control (or consciousness) and fly into the ground or the mountains over which the battle had gravitated. The most fearsome were the Aska, their lead bird being one of the immensely powerful Ray Guards, whose sweep of wings over a Magitek caused the pilot to disappear in an almost-blinding light flare.

To the right, the Magic Knight of Windam observed the movements of the Diablo, Sylphs and even some of the Siren as they moved in on the northern flank of the enemy, effectively trapping their remnant in a three-way box with nowhere to run. The small wind shifts of the Sylphs made piloting and maneuvering for the Imperials difficult, which made things easier for the Siren who moved in close and bewitched the enemy with their harps or drew blood with their swords (5). Fuu considered that their lack of (significant) attire had to be more of a cultural thing than anything else, or a battle strategy to make them more alluring to the enemy.

The Diablo were something else, though. Where on one hand you had the beauties in the Seraphim and the Siren, and you had the beings of light and life like Aska and Phoenix, you had the other hand as well: the Diablo. Even over the sound of the winds she could sense their evil cackling as they threw large spheres of dense jet-black material around and used their massively long arms to pull a pilot out of his armor and drop him over the side towards the ground. The sadism of such actions was quite a bit sickening to Fuu, but her discipline overcame her reservations and she continued without wretching. She even managed to hold her lunch in at the sight of a Diablos having his head blown clean off by a missile from one of the Sky Armor, only to see the Diablo continue flapping his wings, then moments later shake his shoulders and loose a new head, then 'expand' his ears, nose and jagged ornamentation by way of implanting its thumb in mouth and apparently blowing. The evil cackle she could sense after that chilled her spine nonetheless as it returned to menacing, harassing and killing the enemy..

She forced herself to change focus, and was otherwise pleased with what she saw. The forward operations were the most straightforward, obviously, as they had presented nothing but a wall of serious power to the enemy and saved the maneuver for the sides. The Bahamut where the real powerhouses of the operation, their immense size and magical skill presented deadly defiance to the enemy, though even they proved fallible as several Spitfire ganged up on one of the Bahamut and with repeated missile strikes on its back between the wings took it down. Windam was able to partially cushion its fall with some quick spells, but the impact as it hit the ground was still immense enough to throw up a dust cloud. The Phoenix filled the middle-weight among the forward ranks, though this really was misleading as the sweep of the wings of one Phoenix was larger than the _Archangel_ was long. They were truly majestic birds in and of themselves, Fuu believed, and she wished she could take one or both home with her.

_Be wary what you wish, Magic Knight, or it may become reality_, Windam cautions with more than a bit of humor to tone.

"You would allow it?" Fuu asks, then grimaces as the swing of a Bahamut's claw tore down two Spitfires before they could line up on the downed Bahamut. There was something about killing these misguided soldiers in such quantity that dragged on her soul, but she had a mission to complete and failure meant she never made it home.

_The battle is almost complete. Please issue the final orders, Magic Knight_, Windam requests.

Fuu could naught but gasp. They had been fighting barely five minutes and things were already almost done. Still, she saw only one thing that really needed to be done: "Aska, Phoenix, Siren close in on the remaining enemy center from three directions, Bahamut up top attacking down. We drive them into the ground," she orders.

Thirty seconds later, her planning went into effect and the forces that were maintaining their distance began closing in on the center area of the melee. In less than a minute, Windam declared: _It is done_.

Fuu could not help but regret the empty feeling in her soul. "Have...the Seraphim see to the wounded," Fuu requests tiredly, wishing she could get past these horrid battles and headed toward home.

-x-x-x-

Even as Lord Cyan Garamonde began to have the sinking feeling that things were going too well, he continued his assault as was required of the plan.

Not that he had much time to feel anything except the numbness of his right arm after having fired over a hundred rounds of .303 British at enemy infantry in addition to close quarters combat and its own exigencies. His sword had been bathed several times over with the blood of Imperials. And the battle was less than half done.

More of his Infantry had surged forward to continue bringing the fight to the Imperials, allowing the 'Mechs and the first wave to take a breather, of which Cyan was one of those resting and reviewing the battle as it progressed. "We've routed out about 1600 of these can-head scumdogs," Lord Bezz notes as he reviews a map with Lord Garamonde. "Your men in the 'Mechs estimate about another three thousand, which we can probably finish off at the cost of maybe 800 to a thousand of ours."

"We would do far better had we the time and space to dig in," Lord Gahstmane notes sourly.

"Nary do we have time for entrenching, unfortunately. If we fail the pressure upon the whelps now, the Imperials escape unhindered. This must not come to pass," Lord Garamonde replies immediately.

"Sir!" One of the radio operators shouts. "The Omnimech Commander reports that they have unusual activity to the south, possibly something other than Magitek."

"Other than Magitek? Since whence has the Empire dabbled in anything but Magitek and Infantry?" Lord Bezz asks.

"To the south! They come!" Lord Gahstmane shouts, pointing with his own sword, an identical match to Lord Cyan's sword (though definitely not a match in its use).

"By the graces of all good Gods, what be those monsters? Some meld of Omnimech and Magitek?" Lord Cyan asks rhetorically, since it was fairly obvious that nobody around him would have a decent answer.

The machine in question was even more ungainly, bulky than the Warhawk, for all it walked in a similar fashion to the said Omnimech. It definitely lacked the motion grace of the Omnimechs, but what it lacked in grace it made up for in sheer menace. The squat, fat torso looked almost of a prehistoric monster in and of itself, though it brought forth the most mimicry of the Warhawk and Timber Wolf with the angles of the body frame. To its left arm was a large white dome of some kind, to the right a large cannon of some kind; there was no doubt that it was designed purpose-built for slaying other large armored targets in Cyan's mind. Yet, looking at it, he could naught but wonder how they would stop it, unless the Omnimechs could bring them down with ease?

"What can we do to fight such a monster?" Lord Bezz asks in almost a gasp.

"_We_ do not," Lord Gahstmane replies immediately. "We are Infantry, that is armor. Unless it gets close to us, we have no hope of eliminating it. The Omnimechs would be the fellows to handle it."

"Come, comrades," Cyan notes. "Our leadership will be needed at the front in short order," he says as he picks up his rifle and a new bandoleer of ammunition. Once he had slung those two across his shoulders to free his hands, the Retainer To Doma stopped at a supply crate brought forth by the follow-on forces and slammed the lid to bust the seal on it. With little effort the aging swordsman stripped apart the remnant of the lid and reached inside, coming out with three M79 LAWS rockets. These first three he distributed two to Gahstmane and one to Bezz, as Gahstmane had proved himself the better shot over the preceding months of training. The other three in the box he removed and began carrying himself. Cyan maintained no illusions about what was about to happen, and he maintained no illusions about his arsenal: the Infantry would have to confront these metal monsters, and his sword was ill-suited to the task. Much as he disdained the requirement of having to settle the Empire with firearms instead of a duel of honor, Cyan was no fool: he expected he would have to do this, nor did he expect to survive it.

It was indication of how well the enemy was held in esteem that the two machines with the real long range firepower, the Timber Wolf and Mad Dog, braced, centered on the lead of the metal monsters, and both unleashed a hellish barrage of missile fire on them just under three kilometers away. At that range most of the missiles missed, though the handful of hits they could see caused visible rents in the armor of the unit in question, two of which were smoking. Some laser fire was aimed in its direction, as well as the particle cannons from the Warhawk, but hits were nonexistant.

A single shot was fired in response, the shockwave of the projectile was immense as it passed close to where Cyan was leading the other lords of the invasion forward to the front lines. There had to be shock in the ranks of the Omnimech pilots, for where they were being calm about the engagement against these metal monster before, they were maneuvering now, maneuvering hard and returning fire at range with their best weapons for the task, being the missiles prior fired as well as their heaviest, longest-ranged lasers.

In response to the continual fire from the Omnimechs, the first fired his main gun again, followed by a second among them firing at an even greater range. The second missed, the shockwave from the slug indicating it went well high over the unit it was aiming at, if it was aiming at the Stormcrow. The first did not miss, the cannon slug tore into the Mad Dog and completely ripped the left arm off the machine; Cyan watched in relative dread as the arm fell off the machine and down onto the infantry behind the Mad Dog. Cyan had little doubt that someone was dead courtesy of that, not to mention the pilot was probably spitting fury about losing that much of her machine in one shot.

The whip-crack sound of two particle cannons firing answered back for the wounded Mad Dog, and as the enemy machines were closing in on the Omnimechs that were more or less trapped in a small space, the closing ranges made getting hits easier. One of the cannons struck home, tearing a hellish rent in the armor of the side of the enemy monster machine, but even with the damage it appeared to continue coming, and Cyan could tell things were going to get worse for his allies before they got better: a fourth and fifth machine had come into sight.

"Move it up lads! We gotta support the 'Mechs!" Lord Bezz shouts as he waves the troops onward. Ahead of them, the Stormcrow fired three ruby-red lasers into the distance, adding even more damage to the enemy monstrosity but again failing to kill it off.

The enemy struck again, this time with far greater result than anyone (friend or foe) expected was even possible. One shot, one kill; the Stormcrow took a single chest hit that entered the front part of the torso and exited the rear in a massive rent, followed moments later as the pilot ejected from his clearly eviscerated machine, then the Stormcrow listed to one side and collapsed downward. The ground trembled as the Stormcrow landed and moved not a whit more.

"By the Gods, those are fearful weapons," Lord Gahstmane moans, looking at the back of the Stormcrow, then to the ejection pod as it began falling to the ground under a parachute. Already Doma's infantry had surged forward to collect the pilot when he landed, though things appeared that there would be a contest over it, as Imperial Infantry had surged forward with the same plan in mind.

"We move!" Cyan shouts as he passes his LAWS rockets to Lord Bezz and draws his sword, intending to cut the pilot out of the Imperial entanglement that he was about to land in. The pod settled down a mere thirty meters ahead of him, just where the two groups of Infantry were clashing.

Another wave of missiles went downrange from the Timber Wolf and the Mad Dog, and though a lot more struck this time it was still not enough to bring the first enemy down, much less his comrades. Cyan definitely did not see this ending well for the combined forces of the eastern invasion corridor. The Retainer to Doma shoved such thoughts out of his mind as he continued forward at the head of two platoons minimum of Infantry in what for all intents and purposes was a bayonet charge right at the Imperials, with sporadic gunfire thrown in for good measure.

Three seconds more charge at the Imperials, then catastrophe. A cannon round struck the Timber Wolf and knocked it backwards and down, but the greater problem was in the pair of such slugs that struck the Mad Dog. The first that hit sheared a leg off, then moments later a slug struck almost square to the cockpit, gouging out a massive chunk of the head and what would be the neck of the machine. The machine fell face first into the ground and moved not again. Cyan needed not ask, he could see the disgust and anger on the faces of his troops and those around him. The tide was now well in the favor of the Imperials, and they knew it by the sounds of the cheering from their ranks. Despite the Timber Wolf standing, things were definitely not pleasant and showed no sign of straightening out.

Cyan finished his charge into the Imperial ranks as the pilot of the Stormcrow kicked through the ejection pod hatch of his machine. He stood in a clear-zone between the two sides, though it did not take him long to realize where he was and afterwards he drew a double-bladed sword-staff from a magic glove on his left hand, similar to the Magic Knights that Cyan had seen in action with the _Archangel_ crew. Immediately the enemy hesitated, some with outright fear on their faces that they were facing someone who appeared to know how to fight on the ground as well as in a massive machine.

Things only got worse for the Imperials as Cyan and his troops rushed past the pilot and began mercilessly chopping and bayoneting them down. Cyan himself led the charge in, past pike and bayonet with his sword and still carrying the rifle slung to his back, the only hesitation in his attack was finding the right combination of targets for his ministrations. His sword came around once, removing the head of a green-armored Imperial Officer, down and through the helmet of a blue soldier, around in a weak-side slash through a trooper, and a decapitating stroke against another in blue. His technique lasted mere seconds, far less than any of them could have decently guarded against (6)

Cyan never saw the killing stroke, but he heard the thunderous cry from his own men as the first of the monster machines went down from the ministrations of the Omnimechs. Powerful though they were, and very resistant to damage, they nonetheless were far from invulnerable as the two remaining machines proved. Their celebration was short-lived, though, as another barrage of fire tore off the left leg of the Timber Wolf, causing it to spill to the ground and never stand again. Again with the whip-crack sound of particle cannons, but this time the 'mechwarrior in the Warhawk did not shirk on aiming, focusing both to one location, the exposed leg of one of the machines. Two strokes of the immensely powerful Particle Cannons took down the second of the enemy machines as it detached the right lower leg at the knee.

The weapon of the enemy machines sounded like the Shiva mounted to the Duel, Cyan realized as one of them fired the gun within a kilometer of where he stood. The shockwave was intense for the brief moment it passed by him in route to the Warhawk, then the Warhawk staggered from the impact, followed by several missiles fired at the point of impact that was flayed clear to the innards of the machine. Three impacted on the surface, but the fourth entered and detonated inside the armor plate, and moments later the fourth of the Omnimechs punched out to resounding cheers from the Imperials, though the cheer was short-lived, replaced by a cry unheard on the planet for a millennia: "ESPERS COME! RUN AWAY!!!" Someone shouts in proximity to Cyan, which immediately stirred his heart.

"Hearken, Comrades! Stave the Imperials, the Espers shall help us crush them underfoot!" Cyan shouts immediately thereafter, stirring his men to harder exertions as the Imperial Mass attempted to crush into his lines and over them, escaping the death that was now consuming their rear lines.

Cyan watched in grave horror as first a three-headed massive dog tackled one of the enemy war machines, ripping clear its main gun and throwing it aside. A second was struck several times by lightning repeatedly, bringing it to the ground in a crumpled heap as the electricity scrambled its motive systems. The one remaining enemy machine had continued forward, firing on the ground with what could not be but the Browning M2 Machine Guns, as several had gone missing from the production lines it was theoretically possible they had picked some up. Cyan watched as heads, chests spilled onto the ground from the transit of the slugs through his ranks, but the answer of LAWS rockets was loud and profuse from his own troops. The enemy machine had closed to two hundred meters, and it was a very large target that attracted over fifty of the rockets from his men. From the various wounds delivered the machine began leaking vital fluids, though he wisely kept firing, launching a pair of rockets into the troops behind Cyan while continuing to rake the ground with machine gun fire, until he ran out of fluid and his machine collapsed from unusable machinery. A massive cheer came up from the survivors, even as some of them mounted the machine with their still-smoking LAWS tubes waving in the air.

A strange cackling sound drew Cyan's attention down to the ground, which drew everyone's attention there, and immediately the Imperials backed off their counterattack in unfeigned horror as small humanoid cacti milled around the Doma Troopers' feet. One of them steps forward, makes a strange squeaking sound, and begins waving its arms at the Imperials. The others followed suit, and Cyan was treated to as rare a sight as he could ever claim, the sight of Imperials running away, screaming like little schoolgirls, being chased by less-than-foot-tall cactus that were spraying needles all over the place. The absurdity of the situation was not lost on his men, either, many of whom broke out in sheer laughter at the sight.

The horsemen of the Espers were nothing short of amazing on Cyan's view, as they rode down the enemy ranks and chopped them to shreds with wicked swords that were obviously magicked. They did not move alone, as the long-legend Ifirit slammed their way through the Imperial Ranks, even to the point of picking troopers up and crushing them in hand, which was rather unsettling even to a battle-hardened Knight like Cyan. The most disturbing of these beings, however, was the massive Tritoch as they flew around the skies, their cries eliciting spellcraft upon the hapless Imperials below. Where they did not spoil to let their magic to the kill, they swept down from the skies and rent the Imperials apart, their claws easily shredding through the Imperial metal armors and destroyed their weapons. Yet even they were fallible, as a well-placed pike brought down one of the Tritoch, and a dozen soldiers collapsed in on it with sword and axe, shredding it to bloody pieces.

The final nail in the Imperial Coffin was also the most overly frightening of the beings: a massive, walking, flaming lion that moved around the battlefield, doing nothing more than apparently whipping the flames of the battlefield into various effects that it used on the Imperials, and lacking that used its own flame spellcraft to sort them out. Accompanied by that sight was a surge of Espers, many of them the dismounted rider types, as they shoved forward with a red-armored...Magic Knight? Even she cleaved her way through the Imperial ranks, her sword easily unmatched by Imperial arms, though her armor showed the unmistakable sign of abuse from enemy efforts she did not appear actually injured at all. Her efforts were rather clear as the unit she was in pushed a line for the downed Stormcrow pilot, the other Espers using their thrust to open new flanks and fronts against the Imperials, driving a wedge into their force almost perfectly halfway in between the two sides.

The pilot had not given up his effort, he refocused on driving through their ranks toward the Magic Knight, though was joined by Commander La Flaga and his halberd, and Cyan realized that the magic of their group ran quite deep if even one of their commanders was tied to a Magic Knight. Resistance was thin as Cyan joined them to finish punching the gap and thereby cleave the enemy ranks in two. The sounds of rifle and machine gun continued, the final death throes of the Imperials answering with scattered arquebus and cries of 'For The Emperor' as defiance against their fate.

It was both the Stormcrow pilot and the Magic Knight that brought down the final Templar between her forces and the front-line of Doma, the pilot's double-blade sinking into the Templar's left hip and straight in as the Magic Knight's sword came down on his right shoulder and traversed almost as far as the pilot's weapon. As both drew weapons out of the dead body, they looked around and saw that what the Espers had not begun slaughtering, Doma's infantry was doing the remainder; they would not be needed for the battle any further.

"I saw what happened," the Magic Knight notes, her voice betraying that she really might be a schoolgirl as her appearance suggested. The sword disappeared into the red-gem glove on her left hand, much as it did for the Stormcrow pilot and Commander La Flaga.

"Can't be helped. We never knew they had weapons like that," Commander La Flaga notes. "Still, we did kill two of them, the Infantry got a third, the Espers the remainder.

"It's almost over right now," The Magic Knight notes. "Umi should be in position to begin the assault against Vector any minute now."

"We did what we had to do," the Stormcrow pilot notes to the Magic Knight. Already the frontline had receded far enough that they could speak in something approaching a civil tone.

"Nary does a real soldier relish the battle, Magic Knight," Lord Cyan Garamonde notes. "Some days ye does as ye wishes, others, ye does what one must."

-x-x-x-

"Please begin," Umi requests in a calm tone.

The ratcheting sound of the armaments on the Alexander was a chilling sound in and of itself, but necessary nonetheless. After all, the Imperial Garrison was out in such force that an artillery barrage would be needed before the remainder of the Espers could attack.

Moments later, the six Alexander with her group began firing, the white beams arcing up, then down into the distant near edge of Vector. The impacts each caused a blast of pure white energy at the end of their transit, much as would fire from the _Archangel_ were it here. A second barrage was called, and again dozens of the beams went downrange into concentrations of Imperial forces. No mercy whatsoever. On that, Umi retained no illusions of innocence, it was either them or the Espers, and Umi preferred them to take the hit.

"Why are...two of them causing more damage than the other four combined?" Umi asks, seeing that the attack from one of them was as powerful as the four weakest of them (though far from 'weak' by any definition).

_Two of them are Holy Bastions, some of the best of the Alexander. They are not to be trifled with_, Selesce notes. (7)

"Oh," she squeaks in reply. "Shall we begin?"

_The ground attack begins now_, Selesce declares, though Umi could tell that it was a broadcast order. Immediately the front ranks of smaller Espers surged forward for the outskirts of Vector itself, given that they had already entered the suburbs of Vector and taken out the sparse garrison there.

The Terrato led the way under the ground, followed close by the Gnomes, amorphous clay golems that could take on any shape they wanted and use it against the enemy; Umi had seen they had a preference for becoming some form of clay bomb, accelerating themselves to where they shot up out of the ground and then landing on the poor sod of a target they wanted to damage or destroy. The combination of earth Espers was in and of itself a massive force to be reckoned with, since gravity dictated everything not buoyant in air or water had to be on ground (or in orbit around the planet, which meant they were not in the fight). Seeing the great Serpent Striker of the Terrato (8) go above, then below the surface of the ground as the Gnome shot up several hundred feet to come back down on top of the waiting Imperials outside the main structure of Vector was an impressive sight in any fashion.

Leviathan provided a wonderful counterpoint to the Terrato, the large serpent of water easily capable of causing massive flooding and overpressure to those who were ensnared by the Leviathan. Pandemona joined in the battle on the left flank, well away from the Terrato since the two groups did not get along natively. The sight of the large Pandemona drawing in the enemy Magitek (and some older rickety structures) then spitting them back out to watch the enemy do rag-doll flips in the wind and their armor splinter all over the place was morbid to Umi, but another price she figured she had to play in this war. The massive Pandemona, easily as tall as an Omnimech, were guarded in close by some of the Carbuncle, the small green fairies that had some amazing defensive skills. Where the others attacked, the Carbuncle prevented most of the Imperial counterattack from succeeding.

The main wave of the assault on Vector was handled by three beings: Undine, Shiva, and Zoneseek. It was with these three groups that Selesce advanced, Umi herself was down among the Undine in formation with them, advancing through the inner suburbs and toward the main Imperial Garrison. The operational concept was brutally simple, something that Umi had learned was almost essential to military operations. While the main Imperial Army tried to stop the incoming invasion forces from the north, the Espers would hammer the Garrison at Vector, take the capital, and hopefully subdue or kill the Emperor and force the issue in their favor. In more direct terms, it could be called a double-feint, but in reality any of the attack vectors was its own threat to Vector, since leaving one unchecked was asking for that force to come in and assault your hometown.

The Zoneseek were an unusual entity in and of themselves. Umi had a feeling that they were some form of undead, like the Phantoms, but she did not complain outright about having to side with them. Their magic skills were topnotch, being defensive as well as having the ability to drain the power from anything they aimed their spells at, they could put down threats without killing them. Where they did not have the time to do that, the Shiva and Undine took over to handle the remainder. With this tag-team philosophy in play, the Imperial Commandos and their canine support tried but failed to bust the frontlines as they finished advancing through the suburbs and came to the main superstructure of Vector.

And then came to a halt. "What...are those things? Magitek?"

_They are Magitek Guardians_, Selesce informs everyone telepathically. _Left alone they will do nothing, strike them and they will return the favor with their automatic grenade launchers and primary beam cannon. They are the ultimate defensive Magitek weapon, they do not even need a pilot_.

"Guns without brains," Umi mutters disparagingly. "How do we take them out?"

_I have a plan for this one already_, Selesce replies with what Umi could have sworn was a hint of humor. That slightly worried her, since the Rune Gods were normally very serious beings.

Umi had not been sure of the Atomos, or what they really did for her team, but as one came in to hover over the low-rise military buildings outside the Vector superstructure, she was beginning to wonder... The Atomos in question opened its mouth, wide, wider, wider, until she feared they could drive the _Archangel_ into its open maw. As it did this, it began inhaling at an insane rate, the speed and power with which it was sucking in things increased and kept increasing as they looked on, until it began ripping parts of the metal framework of the Imperial Capital out and drawing them in. At about the peak of its sucking power Umi watched as the Magitek units (including the hundred or so behind the three Guardians) came off the ground and tumbled into the sucking Atomos. First one, then another of the Guardians came off the ground, then the third, and Umi lost count of the individual smaller Magitek and Infantry that had been consumed by the Atomos.

And then, the totally unexpected. The Atomos had inflated to a massive size as it drew in the enemy units (as well as several metal structures in the area). Umi could distinctly hear some rumbling coming from it, though she thought it was just the final harrangue of the manned Magitek pulled in, until she heard a sound like the largest, most soggy-ass fart she had ever heard. The rumbling release was more than enough that she could feel the pressure waves from it in the same fashion that someone would feel the pressure from a jet engine nearby. This continued for well over a minute as the Atomos deflated quite rapidly. After that was over, a rather distinct and painful sound of crunching metal was heard from the Atomos as it chewed up the remnant, interspersed with some screaming from the poor sods it had just ate with the armor, though the latter did not last for too long. More to the point, Umi preferred it did not last long, listening to someone die by being chewed up in the innards of a biological vacuum cleaner was not high on her list of things she wanted to experience in her life.

It had taken some time, but the expelled air was inevitably going to drift her way. The first to notice were the Undine, though Umi was not far behind: "Oh, holy shit, that STINKS!" Umi gasps in complete shock as it almost causes her to retch. She mentally realized that she had lapsed on her own preaching on that one, but definitely was not going to begrudge herself the reaction to the foul odor of the area.

"Good Gods, I have never whiffed anything that foul," one of the Undine says as she outright chokes from the noxiousness. "What in the name of nine hells do they feed these Imperials?"

"I don't...want to know..." another of the Undine moans, herself having forfeited the remainder of her lunch in the gutter that ran along the road. And she was not the only one.

More crunching sounds, then a bit of a hocking sound from the Atomos. Moments later a jagged ball of metal detrius with brown oil and red blood thrown in for good measure was headed back towards the Imperial lines as the Espers watched on, and after it landed it deformed into something looking like a massive iron gummi jelly.

_The Atomos says he has a piece of steel stuck between his teeth_, Selesce notes whimsically to just about everyone in the area of Vector.

"I absolutely needed to know that," Umi declares sarcastically, which in turn caused her a hellish coughing fit courtesy of the stench still in the air around her.

The Imperials saw and heard this, took one good look at the smiling Atomos and its massive toothy evil shit-eater grin, and to a man dropped their weapons and surrendered. Brave though they were, they knew when it was their arses in the fire and they figured they might just get out alive if they quit while ahead. To confirm their hopes:

_Espers, the Imperials have surrendered. Render disarmed, secure and detain. Do not kill them unless they resist_, Selesce orders. _We will need to break down and secure the individual facilities. A detachment each to the Magitek Research Facility, to the Imperial Armory, the Teleporter Facility, and the remainder into the Imperial Fortress itself_.

As it was ordered, so they did immediately. Umi joined the battle-hardened ranks as they moved for the superstructure of the Imperial Palace, her own sword at the ready but standing as unused the whole day. Others nearby had the duty of cutting down Imperials or dispatching threatening civilians, but so far she had had to do nothing of the sort. She knew that would change inside the palace.

It did. "Halt!" An Imperial Templar shouts after Umi takes the first turn inside the superstructure. Since he was alone, she used her smaller stature and faster reaction time to get around the arc of his halberd, which she managed easily. Once on the wrong side of his weapon, and knowing his heavy-armored body wouldn't be able to get in on her with speed, she darted in, her rapier coming up to remove the Templar's forearm and then a thrust inward to his body to silence him. Just like that, the one guard in the entire visible fifty meters of hallway was dead.

More sound of action echoed from the side corridors, but even that was sparse and seemingly halfhearted to Umi. As her unit advanced it passed by multiple other units, some with freshly bloodied blades, others with clean blades, as they continued the search for the Emperor.

"Milady Magic Knight, we have secured the throne room and Emperor's Quarters. He is nowhere to be found," another of the Undine declares as Umi began to head up some stairs.

"Very well. Search Vector thoroughly, but be careful. There are probably more of the Imperials in here, do not take undue risks."

"As ordered, milady," the Undine replies as she moves to spread the word.

-x-x-x-

"Oh, I've seen better days, I've been star—" **CRACK** "—of many plays, I've seen better—" **CRACK** "—days," Edgar sings horridly off key over the sound of machine gun fire from the pits immediately ahead of himself.

"My liege," the Chancellor says as he brings his own rifle up, then fires a shot. "Don't make me frag you to preserve the remainder of our sanity," he says with an absolutely evil grin, taking the fang and threat out of it.

"Oh?" **CRACK**. "Would you prefer I sing an excerpt of a song about a war from the _Archangel_'s homeland?" **CRACK**. None of them could hear but all of them saw as the King fed his rifle another strip-clip of ammunition.

"Sir no sir, you're damaging our morale faster than you are theirs," the Captain in the command hole with them says.

"King Edgar, the Buster is launching right now," the Radio Operator declares. Moments later the ground shook as Tolle Koenig landed the Buster

**CRACK**. "Oh man, what is that thing?" The King asks, his rifle pointing downrange at something.

"A Magitek Guardian...moving?" The Chancellor asks.

"Oh good God, that thing is going to shred us," King Edgar notes. "Operator, tell the Buster to target that thing, please," he requests. In the distance he watched as it began firing single shots of grenades from its rotating arms, and in so doing Edgar watched as parts of his frontline troops began flying courtesy of the explosions. It was less than amusing to the King.

"Good Gods, look at that thing," the enemy machine had continued its slow trudge forward, though now the arms were clearly spinning and dealing out massive amounts of grenade launcher rounds per minute. And... "Oh shit, sir, he's got a big brother."

"Did the Empire cross-breed a Battlemech with their Magitek whores?" King Edgar asks nobody in particular as the thing turned in on the forward positions, firing of all things a series of four M2 Heavy Machine Guns mounted in its upper torso. "How did we lose that many guns to them?"

"No telling, sir, maybe someone has a taste for treason in Doma," the Chancellor replies acidly. "What do we do now, o my Liege?"

"_Archangel_ and the Gundams will have to take that thing down, we can't, just keep shooting the Infantry."

"Good idea, sir, 'cause here they come," the Captain notes.

The three got back to firing at the infantry as the Gundams vectored in to attack the enemy machines. The enemy Infantry had begun a massive push as the machines closed up on the forward ranks, making this a double-thrust that only got more dangerous with the realization that those enemy machines had a lot more power than anyone counted on. The first shot from the large walker completely knocked over the Duel from translated impact, but failed to kill it as Yzak began the arduous process of standing up.

"It's a cold day in hell again, sir," the Chancellor declares.

"Thank you for the weather report, Chancellor, now please shut up and shoot," King Edgar says as he recenters his sights and squeezes the trigger. His custom-built autocrossbow was cocked and at the ready in case he had to use it on an up-close enemy or group, the latter being what it excelled at.

-x-

"Fuck, fuck, fuck!" Yzak shouts as the Duel struggles to stand after the hit it took. "Damn that new weapon!"

"I got it," Tolle says as he centers his sniper weapon on the enemy. He squeezed the trigger as was proper of a sniper, smoothly and without jerking, and the beam charged, accelerated and fired. Moments later the beam struck the enemy torso and blew clean through, causing whatever power source it had (likely a Magitek reactor) to cook off spectacularly. The explosion consumed most of the enemy frontline in an acintic fireball, and scorched a lot more than just the ones it outright consumed. "One shot, one kill," Tolle declares fairly.

"Good shooting." Athrun replies drolly. "Now do it again." Another of the machines had crested a ridge that was shielding most of the Imperials from direct view of even the Mobile Suits.

"Guys, the front line is about to collapse," Yzak notes. "We need to move up and take an active defense, or they are screwed and so are we."

"Roger that," Athrun says as he sets his shield and begins marching forward, careful not to step on any of his own troops. Tolle fired again, this time missing the main body of the enemy large machine but tearing its radome off. Instantly the cockpit of the machine dropped open, revealing a two-pilot cockpit that looked about as advanced as normal for Magitek. Before Tolle could reset for another shot, the Gottfrieds of the _Archangel_ spoke in defiance of the enemy machine. Only one of the 225-cm beams struck, the other three gouged into the infantry around it, but one was all that was needed to convert the lower half of the torso into a smoldering wreck, and that turned the whole machine inot a metal monument to the enemy's hopes of victory.

"Guys, the front line has had it, we need to take out those Magitek units right the hell now!" Yzak says as he aims down to the smaller units and starts shooting them one by one. Each could sustain not more than one hit of beam, but his rifle was already overheating nad he had to fire slow lest it burn out. Athrun was helping, as was Tolle's missile racks, but it still was not enough.

"This is about to get hairy fast," Athrun says as he racks his beam rifle and prepares a beam saber. With two short hops he was down among the enemy, and his slashing work was more than ample to bring down even the really heavy enemies, the ones with the rotary grenade launchers on their arms.

"Oh shit, we got enemies in the sky! A lot of them!" Tolle shouts as he reverses his weapons to convert from a sniper weapon to a shotgun.

"Those aren't enemies," Nicol declares. He had been grounded due to increasing damage to the Skygrasper's airframe, and was now working as another fire controller for the weapons on the _Archangel_. "The lead of their formation is Windam," he declares coldly.

"Windam? Hot damn! The air-cav has arrived!" Kuzzey shouts over the radio.

"Here they come," Athrun declares as he disables his beam saber and pulls the beam rifle again to continue firing at range. He had long ago exhausted his Vulcans to stem the Infantry, but did not return to the Archangel for a refit and refuel because he figured his main duty was to scratch armor, of which there had not been a shortage of.

Yzak grows an evil idea as he watched the Infantry force themselves into the wall of rifle fire. "Hey, Tolle, you have your MP3 player with you?"

"Huh?" was Tolle's immediate reaction to such an oddball question. "Yeah, I got it, why?"

"Plug it into your radio console, there should be a cable in one of the storage bins under it, and play the loudest, most evil metal you have, both on radio channel six and your speakers." Yzak orders. "We can bust their will easily, especially if those Espers get here soon. Athrun, set your loudspeaker to play out channel six, okay?"

"I hear that," Athrun replies.

Tolle fired a shotgun blast into the growing mass of enemies, then the Buster stopped moving for a few moments as he looked for that cable and rigged up his player. "Ready to all-out attack, guys?" Tolle asks.

"Do it," Yzak orders.

Athrun could not help but cackle when the opening strains of _Got The Life_ by Korn began playing over all three Gundams' external speakers. It happened to be one of his favorite songs, though he did not completely approve of the lyrics he could see how it would be used as a psychological weapon in these circumstances.

The fear factor only increased as the Espers began their efforts. Another pair of the massive enemy walkers were utterly destroyed by directed fire from the Bahamut, the massive Esper dragons that without a doubt had enough raw power to turn any one of the Gundams into a pile of slag in one shot. The direct attacks from them did not stop there, however, as the other Bahamut used their beam weapon on the front-line Magitek and turned a nice chunk of real-estate (as well as its occupants) into smoking craters.

The main wave of the Espers struck to the cheering of the invasion force, with the Maxwell and Diablos leading the way on the right and the Aska and Palidor on the left. The Bahamut and Windam had the center, along with the Valefor and Sirens, with the remainder of the force bringing up the rear as an operational reserve. Trapped between Espers to the rear and the Invasion Force to the front, they knew they were about to be slaughtered, and there was little they could do about it.

In the case of the Maxwell, the Warriors of Judgment as most called them, they dropped to ground from their floating globes and were surrounded by balls of moving energy in atomic-style orbits, which as they moved these orbits varied out several meters, striking anything they wanted and causing horrid wounds even through the armor. Other Maxwell retained their heavy shell instead of going to ground, which the atomic shell they used was easily capable of causing material vaporization as they passed through a target. In this way several of them were launched a hellish distance as they vaporized part of a Magitek's reactor and took a flight in the ensuing explosion.

The Diablos found themselves even more at home here than in the air, as the Imperial Infantry had less chance of flight and almost no hope fo damaging any of them. The Diablos had many ways to kill the enemy off, spells of fire and gravity, their own unique black hole attack, they even would run the Infantry to ground and tear heads or limbs off with bared claws. In terms of pure fear, the sight of the Diablos was high on the list, what they mercilessly did to the Imperials was just as bad. The sound of their wretched cackling carried over the battlefield as they inflicted their misdeeds on the Imperials, which was the final nail in the coffin for some. Despite this, the Diablos were far from immune to abuse, as the Magitek with the missiles found themselves firing on the Diablo with quite a bit of effectiveness, as they did not get up from craters in their chests. Heads and arms were another story however, and the Infantry got a good look at a Diablo as it popped out a new head and continued fighting, cackling the whole time.

The Aska turned out to be both beautiful and frightening to the Imperials. Beautiful in that they had never seen a bird formed of pure white and surrounded by a glowing white or yellow light halo that was far larger than the Sky Armor they used. As they dove down to attack the Imperials, the halo of light they were surrounded by disintegrated the Imperial troopers one after the next after the next, not even slowing down the birds as they took a pass at the ground, to wing up to altitude with a Magitek armor in claw. The armor was dropped from altitude back on their own forces, cratering and usually exploding on impact, which made them something of a bomb in and of themselves. The Palidor, physically larger than the Aska, did the same with the Magitek but relied on wind-based spells to do the damage to the Infantry.

The center forces moved as a surge in and of themselves, the Espers driving into and through the enemy without hesitation, actually striking not just the rear but inland as well in a classic vertical envelopment. Valefor and Siren were smaller than the remainder of the Espers, but still powerful in their own right, and more than enough to cause outright panic in the Imperial ranks. They were joined in the vertical envelopment by the Phoenix, the large flaming birds that had a wingspan to match Windam but definitely did not themselves count as Gods. In this, just landing nearby was enough to cause casualties to the Imperials, though the allure of the Sirens made out a tactic similar to a bug-zapper: get drawn in and cooked off.

On the ground, three of the Bahamut had landed and hunched down to all four legs, walking along the ground at a lumbering pace to drive the enemy into the ranks of the force from Figaro, effectively trapping them without a way out. This they enforced with physical attacks, as the claw of the Bahamut was more than able to pick up one of the armless Magitek units and slam it down into the ground hard enough to destroy legs and weapons (much less crush the pilot). A swipe of the claw could take out whole squads of ingfantry by throwing them several hundred feet, and the mere act of stepping on one of the hapless ground-pounders was even fatal, and as it happens quite a bit messy. And then there was the fear factor: Bahamut was legend, one of the greatest and most terrible of the Espers from the legends of the War of the Magi a millennia ago, and these Bahamut were no less effective than their counterparts of years past.

The Esper's attack changed the happenstance at the frontline, something that caused the _Archangel_ to shift their tactics. Using the last of their cluster missiles, a final missile wave was launched from all 32 missile tubes, with ten of them being the vaunted cluster munitions, the remainder high-explosive missiles aimed at command assets or Magitek units. This wipeout attack, combined with the infantry and machine guns, combined with the Gundams and their insane music preaching about God seeing the life to the sounds of very heavy metal riffs, all added up to a completely broken enemy force. Death rested in both directions, forward and back, and they were trapped between walls of mountains to either side. There was no escape and they knew it.

It was about the time that the song ended that Yzak realized that the bulk of the enemy was herding into the center of the kill zone, as far away from either force as possible, which meant they knew they were whipped and trying to survive as long as they could. "Commander, Yzak, permission to force a surrender?"

"If you can get the Espers to stop their attack, do so," Natarle orders.

"Nicol, see if you can request Windam bring the Espers to a halt, please," Yzak asks in a very civil tone.

Nicol pulls out his magical glove and touches the gem to his forhead. "Windam, the Imperials are defeated. We can force them to surrender if you can call off the attack," Nicol says.

It took three seconds. _Espers, stay your hands. The enemy is defeated. Allow them to surrender, they have no more possible fight left to give_.

The Figaro forces also checked their fire, though it was readily evident to the surviving Imperials in the area that they had plenty of fight left to dish out, and many of the machine gun teams simply used the pause in fire to link on more ammunition belts to their machine guns. The Espers stopped all their offensive, retreated as much as a hundred meters in some places, and stood their ground, staring at the Imperial forces as if daring them to try something stupid. Slowly the attempted exodus away from both sides came to a halt, the Imperials wondering collectively why they had stopped when they had the perfect opportunity to kill them all.

"Defeated Imperial infantry and Magitek Knights, I am Yzak Joule of the Archangel Team," Yzak says as his Gundam steps forward of the Figaro lines. "Your force has been trapped between two that want you dead, yet we are at the least more honorable than your bloody commanders. If you drop all your armaments now, dismount your Magitek; you will not be harmed further. Continue to resist, and you are all dead men. It is your choice."

Given the choice, there was not a huge amount of debate over the matter. Those two commanders that tried spurring their men into a suicide charge were themselves slain very quickly by their constituent troops. The remainder dropped their weapons and dismounted the Magitek as ordered.

"Duel reporting to command, Imperials appear to be surrendering—huh?" Yzak asks as the ground begins shaking violently. "Earthquake! Everybody down!" he shouts over radio and loudspeaker.

"_Archangel_, what the hell's going on? I feel something—"

"All forces, _Archangel_ CIC, an island just took off and is now in the air due east of our position."

_The power of the Gods has been used to raise that island_, Windam declares telepathically.

_The Emperor and his psychotic lackey intend to use the translated power of the sealed Gods to destroy any who would resist their rule_. This was the distant but still clearly audible mental voice of Rayearth.

_You must bring their plans to a halt, for if the power of those three divinities is unleashed as they intend, there shall be massive destruction and death upon this land from the backlash of their sealing_, Selesce practically orders.

"_Archangel_ reporting, we are going to deploy special operations assets on that island. All forces stand by, secure prisoners and await orders." Without another moment's hesitation the _Archangel_ changed course with a graceful bank as the ship itself accelerated rapidly, the upgraded engines coming to full power in less than thirty seconds.

-x-x-x-

"All right, I'll spare the usual bullshit because time is short and the enemy is long on bad intentions. Lord Kefka and Emperor Gestahl are trying to awaken the Gods of the Espers. Our mission is to stop them at all costs. We deploy our best, we make damn sure we do this right because there will be no second chance if they win. We clear?"

"Aff, Chief Warrant Officer," Star Commander Natalya replies. The rest of the Commandos simply nodded, though the other four Elementals did not make any noise or movement.

"All right, Newman, you are on overwatch. You find a good place to stay and attempt to get an angle on them. If you get a shot, take it. Don't wait for my go-ahead, just kill the fuckers and be done with it. Clear?"

"Yes sir," Newman replies.

"Elementals, I want you guys out front and on the flank pertaining to the heaviest enemy resistance. The rest of the commando team will be behind you and will cover rear and the weak flank. Again, if you get a shot, take it, but make damn sure you don't shoot the Gods. Gods tend to get angry when shot at, and I don't want to find out what these are capable of. Follow?"

"Aff, sir," Natalya replies immediately.

"Commandos, eliminate all resistance. You know the drill," he says.

"SIR!" The Commando team shouts.

"Final gear check, people," he orders.

"All deploy teams, be advised we are approaching the island at this time and have spotted only a zip-line target. Repeat, insertion will be by zip-line at this time."

The Crazy Cook was prepared for this, and immediately they picked up their zip-line coils and tied them off to special mount points custom-made for the purpose of a fast-line deploy. The _Archangel_'s mission had changed from the days of being chased around Earth by ZAFT, and the Commandos knew better than to sit idle about such changes.

The Crazy Cook picked up a growler phone and dialed the CIC. "CWO Ryback for Commander Badgiruel," he begins.

"Go ahead, Warrant," she replies.

"My teams are ready on the port-side forward personnel door, what are the landing site conditions?"

"Looks like two Magitek, we will try to take them out with laser fire before you are dropped. Barring that, you may have to fire on them before you can jump clean," Natarle orders. "Stand by, approaching deploy now," the sound of the Medium Pulse Lasers firing was a familiar one, but being closer to the actual laser batteries it sounded different, and a bit more welcome. "Landing zone has been cleared of all resistance, green light in ten seconds."

"Ten seconds! Everyone ready?"

"Aff!" The Elementals shout in chorus. It would be the five of them first out the door, since they could drop free and just jump-jet to land safely.

The green light popped on over the door, accompanied by a klaxon buzzer that brought their attention to the opened door. "Go!" The first Elemental jumped out. "Go!" Natalya went next. "Go!" The Elemental that was good at cards jumped next. "Go!" The fourth Elemental jumped clean. "Go!" The one in the purple armor went out the door. "Hook up!" he says after he kicks the zip-line out the door. The first guy locks in and went out the door without hesitation.

The rest of the team took about a minute to get on the ground, but nobody thus far had had a problem, including the less-than-sharpened Newman. "_Archangel_, Commandos, we are on the ground. No casualties. You are free to jump off," he declares.

"Good luck."

"Man, you definitely trained Mina well, kiddo," the Baker declares as the Archangel breaks away from the Island with a graceful starboard-side roll.

"I try," Newman replies, looking around the area. "That hill there, I'll set up and have command of virtually the whole island. You guys follow the outside track, in case I screw up and don't take them out you may be it."

"Gotcha," the CWO says. "Don't screw up, please."

Newman did not reply, instead moving to the indicated hill and began the climb to the summit. Behind him, he could hear the chatter of assault rifles as Imperial Troops and some form of winged wolf monster got in their way. The sniper shuddered as he stepped on the skull of a fossilized dragon, using it as a step to continue his climb, and went onward as the sound of a missile launcher was heard behind him, the detonating crack of it heard a moment later. Despite his very powerful fifty-caliber sniper rifle, Newman still did not want to tangle with an Elemental at any range, they were that scary.

"Sniper, what is your status?"

"Sniper reporting, I'm settling in right now," Newman says as he lays out his shooter's mat and binoculars, then sets and braces his sniper rifle. The first thing he did before actually looking through the scope, however, was pick up the binoculars and begin scanning the area. "Sniper up, I have eyes on the three sealed Gods...or make that one goddess and two gods. No enemy activity in the area yet."

"Roger that. Scan for targets, inform once found."

Newman began looking down the one discernible logical path to the Gods, and soon enough he found them. A lot of them. "Attention, I have eyes on the enemy. They are within two minutes march to the statues, but I do not have a clear shot once they reach the precipice with the statues. Move it up, people," he orders.

"Roger that, Newman, we're pinned down by some magic-using wench at your three-o'clock, can you give us some support?"

"Can do," Newman replies as he brings the rifle down off the crest of the hill and braces on the tail of the fossilized dragon. Once he had a clear sight picture of them, he could tell that this was the kind of lady that one did not kick out of bed unless she was better on the floor, but the whip turned out to be an instant turn-off to Newman. Still, she was harassing his team, so he had no option here...**WRAAM**, a weapon much more powerful than the Enfield rifles, the Barret 50-caliber rifle kicked into his smaller frame with a vengeance, belying his strength and discipline when behind it. The fifty-caliber slug missed over the intervening 850 meters, going high but definitely close enough to sprawl her out on the ground from translated shockwave. It took him a moment to get back on target, though it was only long enough to see as she clamored up to all fours in preparation to stand, one of the troopers had a sense of humor and shot her in the arse with a 12-gauge shotgun. Mistaking her screech of pain as it ripped across the winds of the island was next to impossible, but all Newman could do was look away as one of the other chef's crew finished her off with a close-range burst of Rorynex. "Sniper returning to overwatch," he notes, curtly reminding himself that he knew this would happen when he had to use his rifleman's skills instead of driving the ship.

"Roger that. We have eyes on the tangos, you should have a clear shot in the next fifteen seconds," the Chief Warrant replies.

"Sniper reporting sights on, awaiting target stabilizing before I shoot," he says as first Gestahl, then Kefka walks up the short staircase to the target location. He continued to observe as they slowed down when approaching the statues, then convened in the center of the precipice. "Sniper going live." **WRAAM**, the monster rifle spoke again, this time at targets that were less than half the distance than his prior shot. And still he missed. One of the troopers took the hit in the helmet, ripping it clear off and sending the helm in one direction while what was left of his head splattered all over his buddies.

Newman used the strike point as a gauge of winds between himself and the target, then **WRAAM.** This time, Newman did not miss his aimpoint. Kefka's head practically exploded when struck by the massive fifty-caliber round, spraying his brains and blood all over the persons nearby, one of them being the Emperor.

It was a strange thing, seeing the shock on Emperor Gestahl's face through the blood and head chunks of his subordinate, but that shock quickly turned to retching. Apparently this Emperor was less of a hands-on kind than some of the leaders from elsewhere in Existence, Newman figured. **WRAAM**, another clean shot as the Emperor turned away while puking, though it was his last action as the round struck him in the lower back and dug down as it transited up his back, eventually coming out the top of his skull in a spectacular rendition of a horror show head explosion.

Moments later the Commandos arrived at the precipice, and it was all but done except for the screaming. Newman watched, regardless, but did not fire again since the combination of automatic weapons and elite training with Elementals thrown in for good measure made the battle as one-sided as any. Only one minor injury was given to the Commandos, not including the one brought down by the wench, and that just a scratch for which the offending officer was given a thorough ventilation by no less than four assault rifles.

"_Archangel_, Commando lead, we have one wounded, one casualty. All tangos neutralized. This one is done."

-x-x-x-

The matter of the Floating Isle was not done, however. It would just be handled by the other Gods and their reporesentatives.

_This is the final service to the Espers_, Windam notes to clear any confusion among the three Magic Knights.

_And it is a service to fellow divinities, who have paid their penance for their actions elsewhere. They have paid in full, but the being to which they answered for this crime no longer exists, so they could not be set free_. Selesce sounded almost wistful about such actions.

_Today they shall be released_, Rayearth declares.

The Floating Isle was something of an oddity to the Magic Knights, but far from an impossibility. After all, they had saved Cephiro, fought across multiple inhabited planets of the Inner Sphere, utterly smashed an Empire using the help of Espers and the technological acumen of a Warship from a totally separate history from theirs. Fuu figured that, given what she had already gone through, very little surprised her any more.

"I think I'm over the continual shock of these things," Fuu declares.

"It is a totally different feeling, sometimes," Umi says. "Knowing we've done some completely insane things that nobody at home will believe were we to tell them."

"And knowing we've saved more worlds than we can count, and we still are not home, which means we will probably be doing this again...and again...until we do get home," Hikaru declares.

"Or die trying," Umi notes.

"No, we won't die, Umi," Hikaru replies, adding no justification to it.

"Hikaru, for once in your life, act like you're growing up. Yes, it is nice to believe that we'll be invincible for the rest of our lives after having done some of the things we have in the past year, but it is time to face reality. Our luck won't hold forever. We are riding the razor's edge, all it takes is one mistake and someone gets hurt. I don't want to see it, but I don't think we'll dodge it forever. Just be ready."

"Are you taking lessons in pessimism from the pilots or something?" Hikaru asks almost sharply.

Both Fuu and Hikaru could hear Umi's snort clearly. "Funny you mention the pilots, Hikaru. You do remember there is a memorial box outside the hot springs for one of them? Dearka Elsman?" Even Fuu thought she was being a bit too sharp on the matter, but remained silent. "He was a trained soldier, Hikaru, and a good one at that. He was a ZAFT Redcoat, one of their elite pilots. And...we all know what happened to him."

_Lady Umi brings up a valid point, Magic Knights_, Rayearth declares. _The vagaries of battle cannot always be steered, even by the hands of the Gods or beings far greater than the Gods_.

_Be wary that you grow overconfident, even in our power; there are being out there that dwarf even our ranks, as hard as it be to imagine such_, Windam declares coldly.

_And should you cross those beings with intent that does injustice, they would not hesitate to stop you dead in your tracks_. By far, it was Selesce that sounded coldest of all. _To point, the three Gods that we shall today release did cross their ranks and failed to justify their transgressions. Let this stand as an example of things not to do with the power you hold_.

_And let they stand as an example of what arrogance can cost someone, even a God_, Windam cautions.

"Message received," Hikaru replies, using a little bit of lingo she had picked from the mechanics.

"I never...really thought that things could be this bad for someone that millions would believe in," Fuu notes.

_There is perception, and there is the reality_, Windam notes. _We have arrived_, he adds as the Rune Gods slow their forward motion and move to land on various open expanses of the Island, since the precipice could only land one of the Rune Gods.

Hikaru and Umi had a significant hike from their landing places to get to the precipice, but there was no hazard since the commandos had clean-swept the Island earlier in the week. They had been kind enough to rid the island of the bodies of the fallen foes, by expedient of shoving them off the sides of the cliff edges to plummet to a watery final rest in the ocean below. Still, each of them could recognize the blood stains in the rock for what they were—the final resting place of those damned to an early end by the Archangel Team. Inevitably, they met up on the precipice where the three statues of the Gods stood.

_As we three cannot be manifest on this resting place at once, we shall lend unto you our power, that you three shall awaken the divinities that rest here_, Rayearth notes.

"Please tell us what to do, Rayearth, and we will do it," Hikaru says without hesitation.

_A moment, Magic Knight_, Windam declares. _Lost Divinities, Braxas the Poltergeist, Doom the Grim Reaper, Jaide the Goddess, I am the Rune God Windam of Cephiro. As is required the covenant of your sealing eons ago, you have rested for a hundred thousand years entombed by spellcraft, and you have rested far longer than that. The day of your release is long since past, never executed by the entity that had sealed you due to her untimely demise. To complete the covenant, we Rune Gods of Cephiro can unseal you if you so wish it. The choise rests upon you_.

A response was several minutes in the coming. _The Rune Gods of Cephiro? It is good to see that at lease some divine ones survived the bloody blade of the Crystal Huntress_, a wizened, older man declares telepathically, this one quite louder than the Rune Gods ever had been.

_Has it truly been over a hundred thousand years that we have been sealed? Truly I did not believe us enshelled as long as you say it has been_, this one also a guy, but younger and more energetic.

_It has been more than three hundred thousand years that you have been sealed, Lost Divinities. Your penance is paid thrice over, of that you may rest assured. None would question your release, even the neophyte successors to the Crystal Huntress_, Selesce declares.

_Three hundred thousand years. It has been long since we have walked mortal lands. What say you, Doom, Poltergeist? I believe it is time we moved again, began the process of reconciliation with our lost subjects...and our victims of long ago_, and this one could naught but be the Goddess, for her mental voice was authoritative female but young at the same time.

_We have much time to make up for, lost to us and to our subjects. We shall begin anew, if the Rune Gods would allow us the chance_.

_The days of my scythe reaping the damned are long overdue. These scores of millennia have given me new perspective. I wonder if the Will Of Existence is hiring for more enforcers than just one_?

_Of this I cannot speak, nor shall I guess wildly at it. All we can do is remove the seal upon your forms, the remainder is up to you. Magic Knights, please approach one of the statues_, Rayearth requests.

Each of the Knights approaches one of the sealed Gods. Fuu moved to the statue of Poltergeist, his unusual form caught her interest the minute she saw it; Umi to the statue of the Goddess, as something of her presence seemed noble, beautiful; Hikaru to the sealed Doom, his massive scythe rather scary even in stone but his mien not unkind.

_As each stops, their magic gloves start glowing their respective colors. Magic Knights, place your gloved hands over the heart of the respective Divinity. We shall handle the rest_, Windam declares.

Without hesitation, all three do as ordered. As their hands contact, the luminescence in the gem increases dramatically, then each of the statues begins glowing white. After four seconds, a bright flash is seen from all around each of the Knights and the Statues. It would fade, but not for thirty seconds more.

-x-

Doom threw his head back to release the tension in his stiff neck, then slowly lowered it to level and opened his eyes and drew his first breath of air in over thirty eons. "By all Existence, it is good to see and hear without the aid of magic," he declares.

"Indeed, yet it would appear that these three have not that luxury any longer," Poltergeist notes. Doom immediately looks to him, cradling a young lady in his arms, then realizes that he was holding one under his right arm, this one in red as opposed to the green of Poltergeist's savior.

"Was this exertion too much for even the Knights of the Rune Gods?" Doom asks as he slowly lowers her to the ground and checks her pulse.

"It would appear that all three could not handle the strain," Goddess declares as she shoulder-assists a limp third Magic Knight to where Poltergeist and Doom had congregated. "We cannot start our return to Existence by stepping over the deceased subordinates of our saviors. Can you correct this, Doom?" She asks as she lays the third down next to the other two.

"There is no _can_, Goddess. I _shall_ correct this, regardless of who it offends," Doom says. "Please stand clear," and he waves the toehrs off, which they do. "As I am the God of Death, Grim Reaper, I can restore that which is taken just as easily as I can service the need for entities to die. _**I call upon the will of all Existence to live, that it may restore the natural life of these beings slain in the course of their duties**_," Doom chants, and as he does so each of the Magic Knights begins glowing blue, an unusual color for a spell which had always appeared yellow in uses long since past. "_**Life force of Existence, please grant upon these beings that which they are entitled, Full Life**_!" (9) he completes the chant, and the blue aura fades from each.

Nothing stirs among them for a few moments. "Did it work? I always thought it was a bit faster than—ah," Poltergeist interrupts his own protest as the blue Magic Knight's eyes come open with a bit of strain.

"Welcome upon your return to Existence, Magic Knights of Cephiro," Doom says as he assists the red one up from the ground. "For your part in unsealing us, you have our gratitude. As do your Rune Gods that you serve," he says.

"You three...are the Divinities? You look a bit different than you were in seal," Umi declares.

"Our stone forms likely weathered badly from the thousands of years of exposure," Poltergeist declares. "Regardless, it is we who owe you a debt for your unflinching willingness to unseal our physical forms. In what method may we repay this?"

It was Fuu with the answer: "You do not have to compensate us for this, Divinities. We did not do so with any expectation of repayment, we did it because we believe it right and the Espers wished you brought out of your seal."

"I'm with her on this one," Umi says as she jerks her thumb toward Fuu. Hikaru simply nods her head to complete her affirmation of what Fuu declared.

The sharp bark of laughter was unexpected, especially from the Goddess. "It would appear your title of Knight is not ceremonial, you truly do believe in honor and righteousness. More is the better for the lands you ward, Magic Knights. Very well, we will defer for now anything of that nature, but before you depart for new lands and quests we will see you off with something to compensate your honors. For today, let us return to our lands; where shall we deposit you?"

"The former Imperial Capital at Vector is where we are presently stationed, if that is what you are asking," Hikaru says without really considering it.

"Ah, the capital to the Empire of Magitek. Of the soldier that slain the Jester of the Empire, Lord Kefka, he has our thanks. We could sense the intent among them to drain us and use that power for ill. Please stand ready, I shall send you to your station, Magic Knights," Poltergeist declares. "We will be in touch with your ranks and your command structure in due time, once we have reconciled our affairs elsewhere."

And in a flash, the three Magic Knights were gone from the precipice that the Gods stood on.

"Such truly honorable people to be caught in such dire straits. Yet, we know not where their homes are, we cannot but cause more trouble for them should we interfere in their travels," Doom declares.

"Existence is just as cruel today as it was thirty Eons ago. All we can do is troy to do better than we did in the past, and maybe we might get around to helping people as they have," Poltergeist declares.

"That is, if anyone will tolerate three washed-up Divnities such as we," Goddess laments.

"We have naught but to try," Doom declares. "Let us reconcile the Espers, then we go looking for these Neophytes to the Will of Existence, but be wary we do not call them that, lest we are killed for a transgression of tongue, or worse are sealed again."

* * *

Author's Chapter Afterword:

Hot damn, this has been a long time in the coming. Almost three months since I posted my last chapter, and this one was one of the most painful to write ever. Long, involved, thick on battle and tactics and bloodshed, but well worth every minute of the writing. Seeing this stage done is its own reward to me at least, and if you enjoy it half as much as I enjoyed writing it, I have done my job for a day.

I think the annals of this chapter speak for themselves. Lots of battle, and the allies had to work their arses off for it. The loss of the Omnimechs (mostly) will definitely cut into the Archangel Team, but not all losses are permanent, especially with Murdoch and gang on the job. The bit with the Gods is a continuance of other theorem of mine, and you can rest assured the Gods are not through, yet. Especially the Rune Gods. Kristen Redmond is the only casualty in this one, and if that is the sum of what the Archangel paid today, it is a lucky break indeed.

The only thing outstanding is, can any of you name the monster mechanized unit that the Empire engineered to try and stop the Gundams, Omnis and the Archangel itself?

As to the rest, the antics in this dimension are far from through, as now that they have taken the Empire down someone has to do something about administration while the Archangel has to prepare the systems for their eventual departure from this world. Rest assured that things are far from done here.

* * *

Review Replies:

Upon this chapter I had multiple reviews, and I think I replied to most, but I will still reply here as well, for seeing the thoughts evolve has given rise to new thoughts, plots that I work with still.

**FraserMage**: Thank you for the trivia surrounding the Mauler, I read through the original TRO for the Mauler and all things pointed to it being a Draconis-manufactured design. Since Miles Hawkins was a vet from the war of '39, that explains how he got his hands on one.

**Knives91**: The cat is still a pain in the arse, but he is cute and he smacks the dogs around so I keep him handy. And I hope this meets expectations as to the continuance of the invasion.

**CHM01**: Metal Gear, is it? An interesting thought. Give me a few to think on it.

**Akasui**: COD2 is a good game, try the movie Saving Private Ryan for a more viscereal showing of the battle at Normandy.

**EtienneOfTheWestWind**: You know, I completely forgot about that gag, thanks for the refresher :P Your ref about the cat stepping on the power switch and shutting the PC off is no joke, my kitten just started doing that to me. Caused more than a few setbacks in writing this one. I think I solved it by partially hiding the power strip under the computer case support frame. As to where they go, all such information is classified UFN, but be advised that those mentioned I have thought long and hard about, as I do any suggestions. Even the most off-the-wall location has its merits.

**Bien Canonizado**: Here is a partial list of calibers: Enfield Rifle uses .303 British, the Ma Deuce (M2 Heavy Machine Gun) uses the massive 50-caliber or .50 BMG, the standard assault rifle uses a modified 7.62 x 64 round, with considerably more power than the NATO .308 round, the sub-machine guns use unique ammo depending on the gun, and there are the usual assortment of explosives for grenades, anti-tank rockets and missiles.

**Kelvin (Anon Review)**: Much thanks for the review, comrade. I am versed in Stargate, but not the SG-1 / Atlantis series, only the original movie, and that has been years since I watched it.

**Barricade:** *Pokes back* The arms race on this world has only begun, comrade, and the Archangel will definitely profit from it. Rest assured of that.

Much thank you all for the reviews and the patience you have shown in waiting for this long-overdue chapter. I hope my next couple chapters will be faster than this one came out.

* * *

The Gripe Sheet:

Actually, the only complaints stemmed from my use of voice-recognition to type, which I cleared up as they were pointed out to me. This time around, I did most of my writing on the go, so the use of VR was minimal and it is better trained at this time than it was then.

* * *

Footnotes:

(1): Dispatch is the name of Cyan's first special attack in the game Final Fantasy VI, and pretty much mirrors what I illustrated here.

(2): Under my Theorem of Summoning, the various Esper (Summon) groups each have their own rank structures and societies. Swordsmen of the Raiden are the elite warrior-summons of the Raiden, fast of mount and lethally competent in battle, easily capable of taking out enemy infantry and even some mechanized units. The leader and most powerful of the Raiden Faction is called the Battousai, though she does not appear in this story.

(3): This is the natural attack method of Summon Palidor, as it drops your team from the sky onto the enemy for major amounts of hurt.

(4): Sonic Wings is the heavy attack of the Valefor from Final Fantasy 10. It is both damaging and delaying to the target.

(5): This actually hearkens back to the mythology of Sirens, who were said to bewitch passing sailors with the sound of voice and instrument, to lead them to their deaths on craggy shorelines as the sailors attempted to get to such a beautiful songstress. After that, what was left of the ship's goods and crew was lunch for the Siren. Morbid, yes, but that is how people wrote the myths back then.

(6): This is Cyan's fourth sword technique, Quadra Slam. It is my mainstay when using Cyan, as it provides the best damage to charge time of any of his skills.

(7): Holy Bastion is the elite of the Alexander, their lead is called the Regal Fortress and is more than powerful enough to wipe all of Vector off the map. In this case, however, the Regal Fortress does not show in the story.

(8): Yup, you probably guessed it, this is the high ranking Terrato. Expect him to be able to cause a helluva lot of damage to anything he attacks.

(9): This is one of many possible theoretical chants to the spell Full Life (Life2 in Final Fantasy VI). Under my extended magic system, only Divinities or equivalent beings can use such spells without killing themselves in the process.


	26. Changing The Era

(Archangel's Amazing Adventures, Section 3, Chapter 10: Changing The Era)

Strikingly usual for him, Yzak's foul mouth had earned him a hand-print on his face and a dirty look from Umi. "Nothing unusual there," Ahtrun had declared about it before going about his own tasks pertaining to their new assignment.

Two weeks had passed since the coalition had brought the Empire down. There was little chaos in the streets of Vector, but little in the way of warmth, either. Athrun expected as much; they were close to the pinnacle of power and having that power usurped by 'foreigners' was likely not going to thrill them. Athrun did what he could to allay the issues and complaints when he could, but most of the outright power vacuum was being filled by Figaro and Doma, the remainder by the Espers.

The Espers had not themselves returned to their lands. They were supervising the disassembly of the Magitek Research Facility, which Natarle swore would be done thoroughly and all records of Magitek destroyed. There would never again be such machines used in battle, since the _Archangel_ could provide far better ways to energize equipment than draining a living being of its raw energy to conduct the battle. In point of fact, one of the first things planned for deployment was diesel-electric motors, which would make more than enough of an energy replacement for the rather compact but horridly inefficient Magitek-Turbine units.

Athrun had no part of that clusterfuck and preferred it that way. He had been assigned to the Teleporter System, which had turned out to be its own facility and grounds on the north side of Vector when they went looking for it during the initial break-in assault. A powerful strategic tool it was, especially for moving forces around, but definitely not enough to break the North to the Empire's will. Too bad the Emperor learned a bit too late that such gambits came with too high a price if you lost, as Newman had proved with his exceptional rifle skills.

And it was his job to turn it from an impossible force-relocation device to an impossible dimensional-jumping device. By the numbers, he was about to break more laws of physics in this one project than he had ever dreamed possible, and that included the nightmare the _Archangel_ had already faced. His inevitable conclusion was that all of Existence was mad, and this was only 'marginally insane' in the face of things.

"So, Yzak, have you figured out where we start?" Athrun asks.

"Actually, yes, I have," Yzak replies as he continues typing at a console he had imported into the facility. "We are going to start by understanding how it works right now. After that, we break it down and reassemble it with modifications to warp us home."

"And how do we do that?" Athrun asks.

"We take turns teleporting to places with it, and I have all manner of test instruments arrayed here to see what it does. Once we have that kind of empirical data, we can begin sifting through it to figure out how it relocates a person. Makes sense?"

"Yeah, sort of," Athrun replies. "Since you know what you're doing the most, I take it I am the test subject?"

"As am I," Hikaru notes as she approaches the main console.

"I'll help with collecting and analyzing data," Kira notes as he drags a chair over to the main console. "We'll probably need a lot of it to do this right," Kira notes as he sidles up to the consoles.

"We have to figure out how to use this thing first, Strike," Yzak notes, using his older derogatory moniker for Kira.

"That's easy enough," Kira replies as he reaches up to a lever and yanks back on it until it stops at the 'Chamber' setting, and then threads a locking pin into the lever frame to prevent it from being moved. "Origin set, now destination...here," Kira says as he begins adjusting dials on an extremely advanced machine that could have passed for a console somewhere in the _Archangel_. The console showed a wire-frame map of the palace right now, of which he dialed into the main banquet room since nobody would be in there. "Hey, isn't this thing part of...one of the Skygraspers?"

"You're right, it is," Yzak replies, recognizing the monitor in question. How it survived the explosion that shredded the plane and gave Nicol the first taste of an ejection he had ever had was beyond them, but they considered it a lucky break in terms of actually using the teleporter.

"Okay, can someone put something on the teleporter grid, center it, so I can place it as exacting as possible?" Kira says as he tries to zero it into just one specific location as possible.

"Can do," Hikaru replies as she heads out of the control room to the teleportation grid. She picked up a small crate on the way and set it down there, then cleared off the teleporter and gave the control booth a thumbs-up

"Charging...firing now," Kira notes as he activates the teleporter. In a moment the object was gone from their sight, with a little black-blue herald as to where it was. "That's it, Yzak, what did you see?"

"Freaking insane," Yzak mutters as he begins reading through the output tables on all the equipment he had set up. "If I'm reading this correctly, the teleporter used only a small charge from the Magitek systems and a huge amount of energy from somewhere else, with an expected output...here," Yzak points to the output graph in question.

"Whoa, holy shit," Athrun gasps as he reads through the graph in question. "The energy output from this thing is higher than the energy output on the Lohengrin cannons. But where the hell is the energy coming from? Magitek isn't that powerful, not by a long shot!"

"Not to mention the Magitek pipe into this facility is frigging dinky, no way it could supply that kind of charge that quick," Kira replies.

"Something else is at play here," Yzak notes. "Lemme run some numbers, now would be a good time for you to go find out if that crate landed where you put it," Yzak says as he bellies up to a table with several scratch pads and a graphing calculator. Athrun knew that when Yzak did that, things were getting long and complicated; the last time he had seen Yzak haul out that much scratch paper was in figuring out the best coefficient application of the Phase Shift in his Gundam and the other ZAFT Machines, which had resulted in over thirty percent more battery life per sortie.

"C'mon guys," Athrun says as he opens the door and gestures outside. Kira and Hikaru file out immediately, headed for the banquet hall that was significantly higher up in the superstructure. Thankfully Vector had installed copious amount of elevators, and all the three needed do was ride one up to where they needed to be. The elevator in question did indeed go as far as the guest level, and Kira stepped off first onto the guest level and into the middle of a crowd.

"Ah, Magic Knight Hikaru, an honor," Lord Cyan Garamonde nods to the Magic Knight as the three step off the elevator. Immediately Athrun recognized the King of Figaro, Commander Badgiruel, and the Goddess of the Espers. "Pilots Athrun, Kira, as well. All goes well?"

"Just experimenting with the teleporter system," Athrun replies. "We're up here to reclaim a box we warped somewhere up here, we think it may be in the banquet hall."

"Go ahead," Natarle orders as the crowd waits for the three of them to pass by.

"Think it got here, or the restroom next door?" Kira asks.

"If it made the can and not the hall, Hikaru's going to have to go in after it. That's a lady's restroom," Athrun declares as they pass by it.

"You have a point," Kira notes as he opens the door to the banquet hall for the others.

"It's here," Athrun says as he picks it up. "It appears intact."

"Let's head back down to the control room, then," Kira notes. As they moved back to the door they held it open for the four command personnel to enter the banquet hall, and immediately were outside and into the hall thereafter. "By the by, what is in this crate?"

"I don't know, but it looks like that fuzzy arm is trying to get friendly with you," Athrun declares. Kira visibly freaks out and sets the crate down on a table to inspect, but as Hikaru could have told him there was no such fuzzy arm in the crate. "Gotcha," Athrun declares with an evil grin.

"I will return the favor," Kira replies stoically. Hikaru could naught but laugh at the shock on Athrun's face, knowing that things were going to get interesting fast.

Down the elevator and to the right, then a left, another right, and another left, and they stepped into the Teleportation control area. The status panel showed the machine was still powered, which caused Kira to grimace. "Has Yzak been teleporting things and not telling anyone?" Athrun asks, looking over the readings that showed it had been used recently.

"Let's ask," Kira says as he takes the few steps to the control center and opened the door.

They found Yzak with his head down on the notepad he had been working on, laughing almost maniacally. "Not good, we've been at this for less than an hour and he's already roasted his brain," Athrun declares drolly.

"We're toast," Kira notes gravely. "We'll never make it home at this rate."

"What's so funny, Yzak?" Hikaru asks, not thus far having given up on the Duel pilot.

"This," Yzak says as he picks himself up off the table and holds a notepad out to Kira. "Check my math, please. Tell me I went wrong somewhere."

"Right," Kira notes as he takes the notepad and begins running his own quick set of calculations. It only took a minute. "No, you got it all right, Yzak. Are you sure this is the EO for the machine overall expenditure?"

"Yes, I ran a second test and got the same result," Yzak replies. Of course, he did not tell what he tested on or where it ended up, but...

"Then that means the whole rig is using effectively two hundred fifty times more energy than we are feeding it to accomplish its objective," Kira notes. "Where is all that energy coming from?"

"My best and only guess is that it is manipulating the pool of dark energy in the universe to do this, since the ratio of energy in to energy out matches the assumption that 75% of all cosmic material is dark energy and the remainder is gas, material, energy or dark matter."

"And only zero point three of that remainder would be where the energy for this thing comes from. Talk about an efficient device. And if you mean 75 and not 74, Yzak, that makes this dimension and its physical material older than normal, 74 percent was calculated at home, remember?"

"Jesus," Athrun swears. "We don't have to worry about breaking the laws of physics, this machine does it for us already."

"Wait, wait, what are you guys talking about?" All three of them look at Hikaru, almost dumbfounded, until:

"Oh, yeah, duh, theoretical physics are not normal school courses unless you go to Morgenroete Tech College. It's a long story, Hikaru, but the easiest way to say it is that most of what you can see in the universe is less than five percent of what the universe is really comprised of." Hikaru still did not completely understand, but she was not going to argue the point with these three.

"Man, this is a long way away from just running numbers through formulas, we're playing with the real deal here," Athrun says.

"Well, we'd better make sure we do it right, or we could seriously screw up a lot more than just our chances to get home," Yzak says.

"So we get cracking," Athrun declares as he starts wiping unit lists off the chalkboard. "We now know what this machine is capable of empirically, so now we need to figure out how to derive the necessary energy to punch a hole between dimensions," and he records that as step one, "How to get the machine to punch an accurate hole through dimensions," listed as step two, "fabricate new parts and software to run the machine," as step three, "and run test jumps," as step four. "Consider this an oversimplification of the process, just general headings. We're going to have a helluva lot of work to do on each part."

"No shit, Sensei," Yzak replies drolly. "Not to mention, who would possibly have any idea as to how much energy is needed to cross dimensional barriers? We've done it three times by _accident_, Athrun, it's not like we've actually tried this before," Yzak adds sharply.

"Then we find the likely minimum amount to scale a given distance of dimensions, and overkill it by a factor of four just for good measure," Athrun says. "We'll also use a limiter circuit in the machine that prevents overpowering the device from depositing us somewhere were we don't want to go, but we must keep in mind that precision is the key here: if half of what I've imagined is true about jumping through dimensions, we miss our train-stop and we're fucked, plain and simple."

"By the Gods, I'm going to need a lot of coffee for this argument," Yzak grumbles, his head in hand already.

For her part, Hikaru had almost no clue what they were talking about, but seeing the three of them argue the finer points of theoretical physics was a refreshing turn from them arguing the finer points of mobile warfare.

-x-x-x-

(Commander's Log)

(Commander Natarle Badgiruel, Earth Alliance Mobile Assault Ship _Archangel_ (Modified))

(CE Date unconfirmed, local date 4 October 986)

_Three weeks have passed since the invasion of the Southern Continent. For the most part, things have gone smoothly since the invasion and subsequent combat actions northeast, west and south of Vector, and this includes the damage caused to Vector itself. The Imperial remnants are hard at work repairing the damage to Albrook, Tzen, Maranda, and even to Vector, and in due time it is expected that they will either join Doma, Figaro or settle into the land as civilians, their ways of combat having been defeated in battle and even their highest technology feel prey to the onslaught of the Espers and the Archangel's forces. For them there shall be no return to the glory days of the Empire._

_Dissidents are few and far between among those on the Southern Continent, mainly because the Empire itself was less than thoroughly liked. Most the reaction to our presence was that of liberators, the underdogs that crushed the bully underfoot and made him repent. In reality, the losses were far from glorious on all sides, especially that of the Espers and the Imperials. Figaro lost over 1400 troopers in combat action, Doma over 900, though Imperial Losses easily number in the tens of thousands and may never be completely confirmed due to the haphazard system of personnel census and identification. Present estimates are now at 17,000 Imperials killed in the engagement, most by rifle fire from the forces of Doma and Figaro, as well as over 780 Imperial Magitek and ten of the large Metal Gear units that were built to counter the Archangel and Gundams. The whole static defense network to Vector itself was torn to shreds by the Espers, whom of the invasion forces were the only force really able to attack Vector directly. It is by their help only that we were able to complete our objectives in such a stunning fashion._

_Despite the fact that most of the local command personnel despise such 'honorless' tactics, the Commando Team was able to bring Emperor Gestahl and Lord Kefka to a halt with sniper fire. Clearly shown, it is the stellar rifle work of Arnold Newman that stopped the Emperor before he was able to unleash a cataclysm by interfering with the sealed Gods on the floating island. It is my recommendation that Arnold Newman be given appropriate honors for taking actions that have undoubtedly saved millions of lives from likely instant death at the hands of the madmen running the Empire. Also of note was the swift and lethal action on the part of the Commando Team to eliminate any remaining Imperial officers on the floating island, thereby preventing anyone from the Empire using the sealed divinities for malicious purpose._

_The Sealed Divinities—the Emperor's objective—have turned out to be an interesting case of duality. Much as the Rune Gods of Cephiro, they are beings of such influence over time and space that they do not age in a fashion that normal persons could understand. Despite this, they respect the Archangel Team and are not trying to take any more of a command role than that of the lead to the Espers. Their presence troubles more than just a few people, as the scars of the War of the Magi run deep among the human people of the planet, but thus far the Espers have shown every evidence of going the other way in their conduct, trying to help those that are willing._

_It has been in open discussion among the command staff that Flay Allster should be released and removed from the crew of the ship, due to her obviously homicidal (and potentially suicidal) state of mind at this time. It is the opinion of the doctor that the longer she is held the more she dies on the inside, and in short order shall she become so closed that all her being exists only to kill Kira for 'failing her' and 'failing to kill Coordinators', these facts themselves barring that Kira is a Coordinator himself. The sheer inhumanity of her task does not occur to her, lending credence to the belief that she may be so totally insane that there is little to no hope for her. Options are being explored at this time, but few are promising for her sake or for that of affected parties._

_For the interim, the Archangel is requested to serve in Vector as both deterrent and as administration personnel under the King of Figaro. Captain Ramius has already taken steps to secure necessary facilities and resources for preparation to move toward home, as present betting is going for Yzak being able to modify the Imperial Teleporters to work more than just spatially, and so far nobody can produce evidence that his attempts are pipe-dreams. My leaning is that he will succeed and with only about two years of effort, maybe three. Kira and Athrun are also assisting on the endeavor, which will definitely put more eyes on the task and more hands in its eventual completion, a fact that definitely brings hope to the possibility of returning home._

_A year ago, I questioned the logic of allowing the ZAFT pilots out of the brig. Months ago, I questioned if it was even reasonably possible that we would survive the Inner Sphere without their aid. Today I know for a fact that without their assistance, the Archangel would become a monument to a war never seen on this planet, the crew doomed to never see home again._

_End of log entry_.

-x-x-x-

(8 October 986)

General Leo was doing nothing more than his usual reflecting on on the continuing changes in the lands, as word came to him in bits and pieces of the changing environs outside. It was unsurprising that without competent leadership the Imperial Armies were so thoroughly crushed as they were, though in the end he could not really come up with a decent counter to the Espers that assaulted Vector. Leo of course did not consider Kefka to be competent in any fashion, much less competent for leading an army into battle. Word of how he was slain brought unto the General a grimace, as deliberately targeting an enemy commander (much less an Emperor) was considered foul practice, but if the 'where' of how they had been killed was indeed true, then so much the better that it had been swift and merciless. Toying with the powers of the Gods was not something Leo had signed up for when he started out as an Imperial Knight.

The sound of the entry code being entered into his cell's locking mechanism immediately brought his attention to the person at the door, as well as brought Flay's attention to her as well.

"Hey, Miriallia, when are you guys going to let me out? War's over, right?" Flay asks.

"I am told that will be later today, Flay. Don't expect to be reinstated, though."

"What?"

"You heard me," Miriallia replies testily as she finishes unlocking the main door. A single armed escort was with her, and General Leo could not help but notice both the magical glove on her left hand and the holster on her right hip that looked unusually like a pistol of some kind, but far more refined than those Leo had used at one time. "General, you have an invite to speak to the command staff and King Edgar."

"I am at their service," Leo says as he stands and dons his heavy 'armored' coat. Looking at the armor the armed escort was wearing, Leo figured the simple mesh of mithiril scales interleaved inside the heavy coat was less than effective from where they hailed, and he already had cause to fear their ranged combat skills.

Leo followed at a respectable distance from the lady in question as she led the three-person procession around at least a dozen twists and turns, headed for somewhere else in the ship. It was only after passing a second mechanic doing his duties that they stopped at a room. Miriallia pressed a button on the panel next to the door, and declared: "Captain, I have General Leo as requested."

The door popped open with a mechanical hissing sound, similar to but a bit quieter than compressed air systems around Vector. Miriallia preceded him inside, then stood aside to allow him inside.

"Please, General, have a seat," Captain Ramius notes as she gestures to an open chair in front of the desk.

There were two things in the Stateroom that he always wanted to ask about: one, the amazing array of books, two, the array of flags. The flags were more of interest to him, as knowing where they had gone in times prior, whom they had called foe as they now called the Empire foe (and had one of the Imperial Banners to the right of the Captain) would be interesting.

"So, General Leo, the war is over. That being said, your next move is an open choice," Commander Natarle notes. "With the Empire now a possession of Doma and Figaro, you are effectively unemployed since the Imperial Army has been disbanded with option to reinstate as a provisional garrison force of the possession. Not very many of the soldiers are remaining, most of them former Templar and Commandos, as the rest were conscripts they are headed home to resume their civilian lives. As far as we are concerned, when the Army was disbanded your position was eliminated, but I don't believe that would be the end of it for you. The King has an unusual request for you, actually."

"Oh?" General Leo asks as he looks to the King. It was a strange thing to hear that your position had been eliminated but you were not going to be executed by the enemy. Leo was expecting to be court-martialed for (insert charge here) and be executed for it, but this was a somewhat welcome change of pace from those horrid thoughts.

"The provisional garrison here needs honorable commanders to keep the troops from degenerating into the failings of the Empire as we rebuild Vector into something other than a conquest-leaning city-state. General Celes has already volunteered to lead one of the regiments, and we have almost a full second Regiment at the ready from the volunteers, but no general."

"You are asking if I would be willing to walk away from the ethos of the Empire I have served my entire life to lead a garrison force that protects the stripped-down husk of what was my Empire, correct?"

"Something to that effect," Commander Badgiruel replies evenly.

"A very dangerous request," General Leo cautions. "You do understand why, no?"

"It does not take much in the way of imagination to understand why," Captain Ramius notes. "Do you believe there is any hope for the Empire, even with a competent leader at the helm?"

Surprisingly, it did not take him long to answer: "No. Doma and Figaro both have more combat power now than the Imperial Army, much less the Espers if I am interpreting correctly what I have heard of the battles. In a matter of days, you managed to tear down decades of training and amassing an army. That kind of advantage cannot be overcome, nor would I try. Had I known what the Emperor's real purpose was, I would have walked away long ago."

"You did not know?"

General Leo looked to the deck below his feet, shaking his head slowly. "No, I was always told that his intentions were to bring order to the world, erase this factional infighting among what should be one people. He never mentioned amassing magical power and Espers as anything more than just a method to that goal. And not once did he ever mention taking control of the Sealed Gods for any reason." He sighs. "Was I...where did I go wrong?"

"You did not," Commander Badgiruel replies immediately, having thought the same more than once of late. "Soldiers do as they are told, often times never realizing who or what they take orders from may be scum of the earth. You are not the first CO to have been rolled by your command authority, General." If the Commander could sound any more grave, how was lost on the General.

That brought his head up to look at Commander Badgiruel and Captain Ramius. "You...two...as well?"

"Yes," Captain Ramius replies immediately. "The government that built this Warship, or its original variant I should say, was about as malicious as Imperial ambitions with a twist of racial animosity thrown in for good measure. And I intend on returning home to bring a halt to them, but that is for another day."

The General's snort was easily audible to all. "Is this some sort of sick trend in Existence?"

"May be," King Edgar replies for the three command officers. "May not be. Hard to say; I am not expert on nations other than on this planet, so..."

There was a silence between them for a few minutes, mainly as Leo looked to the deck, contemplating his new fate. After a few, he looked up to the Captain. "If you are willing to show enough honor to extend this request to a former enemy, I am willing to accept, on one provision between the former Imperial state and the Regency of Figaro," Leo prompts, looking to the King. "I know I am hardly in a position to make demands, but simply consider it a gentleman's request if anything," he appends.

"That in due time the right to self-govern is restored to the Imperial Lands, with the requirement that honorable leadership be maintained so as to prevent the mistakes of Emperor Gestahl," King Edgar replies. "As the history of our own world shows, much less that of the _Archangel_ and her crew, it is sheer folly for us to believe that Figaro and Doma could hold the entire southern continent in effective subservience forever. Vector will regain its own government in due time, General. And you will have a say in how it is handled."

"I shall accept your gracious offer, King Edgar, Captain Ramius."

"Very well. You are released on your own recognizance, and shall assume your post at 1500 hours today. We are holding an interim staff meeting at the Banquet Hall in Vector at 1600 hours, you will be expected to be at that meeting, General," Captain Ramius veritably orders. "Afterwards, Commander Badgiruel will see you to your regimental post and officers. Some of them will be familiar faces, others will be personnel from General Celes' former command, and some from Lord Kefka's original command."

"Understood. If I may take my leave to prepare for the meeting?" General Leo requests.

"Commander Badgiruel, please see the General to suitable transportation to his quarters in the palace. Ensign Haw, please escort Flay Allster to this room under conspicuous guard."

"Aye, Captain," Commander Badgiruel replies immediately.

"Yes, Captain," Ensign Haw replies immediately before she ducks out of the door. 'Conspicuous guard' really only meant one of two things, the Elementals or the Commandos. Since the Commandos were back to cooking but this time for the Palace and the major guests of the new Imperial Command Structure, that left only the Elementals.

All five of which turned out to be in their barracks, a converted cargo storage hold that they had personally modified to properly house their Elemental armor and allow them to reconfigure weapons, refuel and reload easily, in fact easier than on their prior transport ship. A mechanic had been assigned to them from the support pool, which took a bit of the load off the Elemental troopers, but a lot of the overhead the Elementals still took care of themselves.

"Officer on deck!" one of the Elementals shouts as he notices Miriallia enter. All five immediately stop what they were doing and come to attention, including Point Commander Natalya, who for all intents and purposes should have outranked Miriallia by her own judgment. The formality of being treated as an officer was extremely unusual to her, but she said nothing about it.

"We have a potentially dangerous prisoner to escort to a hearing. Do you have small arms at this time?"

"Pistols only, Ensign," Point Commander Natalya replies.

"That shall do, though I would prefer better," Miriallia notes. "Holster your arms and prepare to follow me," she orders. Immediately the five moved to their individual beds and picked up their weapons, safed and holstered them.

"At the ready, Ensign," Natalya declares as the five congregate at the door near Miriallia.

"On me," Mir orders as she turns and heads out the door. The distance to the brig was actually quite short for the group, since Natarle had sighted the Elemental Barracks with an eye to where they could be of most help. As Miriallia entered, she saw Flay duck back from the bars to her bed and sit down.

"Come to get my hopes up again?" Flay asks snidely before Miriallia begins putting the code in to open her cell. "Huh? What is this?" she asks as the Elementals come into sight.

"The Captain is going to hold a hearing on your conduct and status, Flay," Miriallia says after she puts the last digits in to pop the cell lock. "Come on, she's waiting."

"This is bullshit," Flay says. "I am so taking this to higher when we get back."

"Hold," Miriallia orders. Flay does stop immediately, but the look she gave Miriallia was damn near lethal. "I don't think you get it, Flay. By all rights, you should have been executed for attempting to murder Kira. I think it was incredibly nice of the Captain to spare your life, and I suggest you keep that in mind, Flay Allster. You really are alive only by the graces of your commanding officer. Now move it."

"What the hell, Mir?" Flay asks. "The brass from that promotion seeped into your brain already?"

Miriallia bit back her desired response, which was to tell Flay that she didn't have to manipulate her boyfriend into sleeping with her, and simply gave her the kind of absent look that told Flay quite clearly that Miriallia thought she was scum. "I'll ignore you said that. Now shut up and move," she orders, pointing to the door. Flay did not argue the point any farther, given that all six of the persons in the room other than her were armed with pistols and Miriallia had her magic glove, meaning she could literally shoot through walls if needed, much less her.

Two of the Elementals proceeded her out the door, three behind her as well as Miriallia bringing up the rear of the procession. There was no hope of escape for her and she knew it, so she simply followed, sulking the whole time. The procession stopped at the stateroom, where Miriallia moved forward to press the intercom button for the room. "Captain Ramius, I have Flay Allster and guard as requested."

"Enter," the Captain replies before Miriallia trips the door open button. It slides open as normal, and two of the Elementals enter to take up sentry stations inside. Flay follows and enters, knowing full well that she was not going to like what was to come and knowing full well that she could do practically nothing about it. "Take a seat, Miss Allster," the Captain orders as Commander Badgiruel enters behind them and moves to her seat beside the desk.

"May I protest this?" Flay asks immediately after sitting down.

"Noted and disregarded," Natarle says immediately thereafter.

Natarle presses the record button on a tape recorder before the Captain begins. "This hearing is to determine the actions taken in response to the attempted stabbing of Pilot Kira Yamato by Crewwoman Flay Allster, incident file number Alpha-Charlie-0-0-8-4-3. Presiding personnel is Captain Murrue Ramius. Prosecuting officer is Commander Natarle Badgiruel. Defendant is Flay Allster, represented by Commander Mu La Flaga. Witness to the proceedings is King Edgar Roni Figaro of the Kingdom of Figaro. This hearing is now in session," Murrue says as she strikes a gavel plate with the butt of her unloaded sidearm. The magazine was sitting next to the gavel plate, making loading the weapon a very fast action.

"The prosecution would like to note clearly for the record that given the severity of the charges against Flay Allster, it was determined at the time of the incident that Flay be held in the brig for six months minimum, though as her sentence lapsed it was determined that Flay posed an operational hazard to continuing and evolving operations as well as the continuing hazard she presented to not only Kira Yamato but also other members of the pilot cadre, the ground forces cadre and the Elementals for much the same reason as she initially attempted to kill Kira Yamato."

"Noted," Murrue replies, which she already knew since it was her orders that had kept Flay under lock. "Prosecution, please lay out your array of charges," Murrue orders.

"Pursuant to Earth Alliance Uniform Code of Military Justice, Flay Allster is charged with two counts attempt to murder a superior officer, one count conspiracy to commit murder, one count conspiracy to torture a superior officer, two counts attempting to compromise the operational effectiveness of an Earth Alliance warship, one count conspiracy to compromise the operational effectiveness of an Earth Alliance Warship, one count conspiracy to commit genocide. That is all," Natarle notes.

"Defendant Flay Allster, how do you plea?" Captain Ramius orders.

"All right, Flay, you have two choices. I can try to fight it or I can try to mitigate the end result," Commander La Flaga says.

"I did nothing wrong," Flay replies staunchly, glaring at the Captain. "I have nothing to hide, I tried killing a Coordinator. As Earth Alliance officers, it is your duty to kill coordinators," she replies.

"This hearing will ignore the direct insubordination from the defendant pertaining to our staffing of the mobile forces," Captain Ramius replies. "Additionally, the court strongly warns the defendant that such actions can be considered defaulting your right to defense, and in a capital case such as this a default is almost a guarantee of execution for your crimes. Is that clear?"

Faced with such a clear threat, Flay immediately tensed up, remembering what Miriallia had said in the brig to her about her dodging being executed on the spot. "Yes, Captain," she replies immediately though in a significantly hostile tone.

"What is your plea?"

"I have nothing to hide, nothing for which I have done anything wrong, your honor. Do what you want," she replies.

"Very well, the defendant's plea shall be considered a declaration of no contest to the charges. The prosecution shall submit their evidence and any testimony or affidavits that pertain to this hearing," Murrue orders.

"The Prosecutions submits all reports from the incident as evidence group one. The prosecution also submits the medical reports on Flay Allster and photographic evidence of her brig cell as group two evidence." Immediately Natarle hands over a manila folder to the Captain, who opens it and begins reading through. It only took ten minutes.

"Very well, Prosecution, do you have any more evidence or witnesses to call?"

"No, Captain Ramius," Natarle orders.

"Very well, given the evidence is overwhelmingly unequivocal, this hearing has no choice but to declare Flay Allster guilty on all charges as per Earth Alliance Universal Code of Military Justice regulations. Under the same regulations, the defendant's minimum punishment for most of the charges is execution by firing squad. Defense Council is advised to offer any possible mitigating circumstances and or alternative punishments equal to the minimum recommended sentence."

"Your honor, the defense requests time to parley with the defendant on possible outcomes."

"Granted. Take your time, Defense. This hearing is suspended UFN. (1)" A strike on the gavel brings it to a halt, and Natarle stops the recorder.

"C'mon, kid," Commander La Flaga says to a stunned Flay, who automatically follows him out into the hallway.

"Why...I am...I was following the intent of the Earth Alliance policies!" Flay demands as she steps out.

"You also directly disobeyed the Captain's orders, which takes precedence over Earth Alliance intent. Because while that intent may win the war, the Captain's orders in combat situations are paramount, you follow them or people die, people more just you. To hell with intentions," Mu replies immediately. "Now, listen to me. I don't think either Murrue or Natarle wants to see you executed, but that is really the only punishment in the regs. I think I can talk them into letting you live, though, but it will require a huge sacrifice on your part."

"What? Live in the brig until we get home?" Flay asks facetiously. Mu judged that the whole affair had not quite sunk into her head yet, but it would in short order.

"No," Mu replies immediately. "The Captain has made it clear that she does not want you on this ship, period. That gives me maneuvering room. It means you will be dishonorably discharged and kicked off the ship, likely with some extra restrictions, but at least you will walk away alive. Or you can go for the firing squad, your choice."

"Oh, my God, you can't—"

"Never tell the Captain of an already-renegade Warship what she can or can not do, Flay. That is half your mistake already, just because you are daughter to an influential party does not mean you can talk back to your CO."

That revelation made her clench her teeth visibly. "I can die, or I can never go home. Those are my options, right?" she asks after about thirty seconds.

"More or less, yeah," Mu replies.

Mu could tell the moment it finally sunk into her consciousness. She knew the reaper was here for her and it was time to pay or play. Still and all, human hesitation caused a bit of a wait for the answer. In the end, Mu predicted the outcome to a tee, as he knew Flay well enough to know she would much rather prefer living in exile than death, even if it meant she could not take her revenge out on Kira. "I'll go with being discharged, sir," she replies after a few moments of contemplating her new fate.

"All right," Mu says, knowing it was not but saying so nonetheless. She would forever be prevented from returning home at least by way of the _Archangel_, which probably would be devastating to her in the long run. The alternative, having her routinely try to kill Kira and the other Coordinators on board, was less than desirable as well. He opens the door. "C'mon," he orders, gesturing inside.

"Have you reached a suitable equivalent?" Captain Ramius asks as Flay and Mu are seated.

"Yes, Captain. The defense requests a reprieve of execution in return for dishonorable discharge and exile from the ship."

It did not take long for Natarle and Murrue to confer on the matter.

"Granted, with one addendum: Flay Allster is not to take employment in the Provisional Government. Otherwise she is released from the _Archangel_. Elementals, please escort Miss Allster to her quarters to claim her personal effects and escort her off the ship thereafter."

-x-x-x-

(20 October 986)

The Imperial Outpost at the Sealed Cave had actually taken upon a different fate than the planned dismantling it was slated to suffer. With the revival of the Gods and the coming of the Espers from their exile, the base had become an important transfer point for persons headed to or from the Esper Lands.

The Imperial Base had also become the main staging grounds for continuing negotiations between the Espers and the Humans. Over the month of fast-paced negotiations, Commander Badgiruel, General Leo (in his new capacity as Regimental Commander), Lord Cyan of Doma and the Regent of Figaro had hammered out a full set of governing treaty and principle meant to prevent the senseless war of annihilation that happened almost a thousand years prior, the War of the Magi, and to prevent another repeat of the Empire's malicious conduct. As the Espers considered this a paramount goal of any continued relations with anyone else (including the Gods), their best and brightest negotiator as well as two of the Gods were assigned to their half of the task.

A month the two sides worked on the treaties, but most of that time was actually spent on less-than-paramount issues such as trade and real-estate venture; the major issues of diplomacy, governing entity and peace were all dealt with in a matter of hours during the first negotiation session. The remainder came down to forging alliances of state between the involved parties and the Espers' input on the restructuring of the Imperial Government. Even that did not take much in the way of haggling, since the aims of the parties in question were not dissimilar from each other in objective or scope.

All that remained today was the signing of the completed treaties, to which the representatives of each of the major parties had received authorization to complete the signing.

"It is a strange thing," Doom notes as the Regent of Figaro begins the process of signing off on the document and applying the seal of Figaro to it. "When sealed, you have little perception of time. We three thoroughly expected to be awoken only at the end of days, the foretold battle Ragnarök, only to become victim to the bloody battles therein. Your assistance in the events here, and your presence at these talks, I do not think have been properly accredited," he declares to Commander Badgiruel.

"Thank you, Doom," Natarle replies immediately. "It is blind chance we came here, I don't know how things would have ended without our presence here, but from all guesses we have about the matter the destruction would have been extreme," Natarle muses.

"That much is a given," Doom replies immediately as the two watch the signing process. "As we were sealed, the process is always cursed. Disturb the sealed beings without releasing the seal properly, the planet upon which the sealed beings reside is sundered. For many beings this is less of a concern than awakening Gods, since once awoke we could be bound and transported to another location, planet or dimension, and to all nine hells with this planet as far as the releasing party is concerned."

"Okay, that makes no sense to me," Natarle notes. "Is not the sealing enough? Why curse the process?"

"Yes and no," Doom says. "Yes, the sealing is enough to contain the sealed entities. No, it can be externally broken, rather easily if you know what you are doing. Thus, the curse: you pay a price for interfering in the affairs of beings higher than even the Gods."

"Oh, let me guess," Natarle begins drolly, "The higher you go on the ladder of power, the more vain you get. Not that you or your comrades are, but..." Natarle appends to make sure she didn't piss off a God.

"Oh, we are not, not today at least. Back when we were sealed, we were about mid-range on the arrogance scale, maybe a little more, but that is immemorial to why we were sealed. We made a major mistake that cannot be easily corrected and has caused immeasurable suffering, both then and continuing through now. In centuries prior to our fall, we three moved as freelancer divinities, helping other groups of Gods do some less than pleasant tasks. Much of what we did or assisted was never really understood to be our hands, but the Aztec and Greek Gods of one planet had a real tough one that they called us in for assistance on, and like complete fools we joined them. By our hands, and with the assistance of the said, we locked several classes of beings, many similar to the Espers here, in a set of dimensions from which they could never leave without being called by Summoners into dimensions other than their forced homes. In the process of this forced relocation they rebelled, and we were partially responsible for the slaughter that accompanied locking the survivors away. Our sealing was our penance for those terrible crimes."

"Who...what could seal a God?" Natarle asks, not entirely sure what could be more powerful than a God.

"There are beings in Existence as far beyond Gods as Gods are beyond the common mass, Commander," Doom notes as the Lunar Maiden, the representative of the Espers, begins her process of signing and applying the chosen seal of the Espers to the documents. "They serve higher authorities that we Gods can only begin to understand, and that no mortal Religion will ever come close to properly understanding. One such being challenged us and defeated all three of us for our misconduct pertaining to our half-genocide and exile of the remainder of the Espers. We were almost completely helpless challenging her, our best spellcraft and strongest attacks nearly useless against her as what she did not outright absorb she shunted aside and struck back effortlessly. She used us as an example to the other Gods of Existence, that if they perpetuated the same crimes they would pay the price as well. We paid the price, and not a day goes by where I curse myself for my arrogance back then."

Natarle could only nod at such story and wisdom. After a few more moments of watching the signing, she asks the inevitable question: "These beings, do they have a name?"

"Executors," he replies immediately. "They cross dimension, borders, galaxies with frightening ease, and are not afraid to challenge any being they believe is causing undue harm to Existence." He could sense what Natarle was thinking. "Even despite the nature of your journey and the Rune Gods that accompany you, it is unlikely you will ever cross paths with an Executor. And even whatever Gods are in the area could not help you should such an event come to pass. Steer clear of them and their ward, Commander, and yet may you live to return home."

"Oh," Natarle replies immediately.

"I do believe it is now your turn to sign and seal the documents," Doom notes as the signing table is vacated.

Natarle quietly moves to the table to sign off on the treaties. Her method was simple: she signed each document, then affixed a special enchanted wax seal to the treaties at her signature, affirming that it was a legitimate signature. Her signature came out to be Commander Natarle Badgiruel, Force Commander of the Archangel Team. To the end of the signature went the wax blank seal, and after pressing it to the page the seal changed color based on the spirit of the being that put it there and depressed into the form of a graphic also representative, in Natarle's case it came out to be a sapphire blue rendition of the Archangel Team symbol, the top-down view of the _Archangel_ inscribed inside a circle but in miniature.

The first treaty was the main one that everyone wanted in place, the guarantee of rights and sovereignty of the Humans and Espers, that was to prevent the repeat of the wars past. The second treaty was the main permanent alliance between Figaro, Doma, and the Espers. The third was the bulk of Natarle's concern, the restructuring and establishment of the new Southern State as a separate entity and not as a territory of Figaro and Doma. Treaty four covered an alliance between the Southern State of Vector and the Espers into magical research and cultural exchange, as neither side wanted to see the Magitek mistakes repeated but neither side wanted to waste those lessons learned, either. Treaty five established permanent trade codicils and merchant exchanges between Figaro, Doma, Vector, the Espers, and provided provisions for other states to be added as those states opted into the trade. Tzen and Albrook were expected to join the trade pact within the month, if for no other reason to assist in the process of rebuilding. The sixth treaty was one that Natarle considered critical to the trade provisions, since it provided for the construction of rail systems in both the north and the south, eliminating the need and the immense hassle of using chocobo caravans for major industrial or long-range transport. Nothing short of full automobiles and road networks would ever replace the Chocobo as the main method of small-duty labor and personal transport, but railways would help so many things in so many ways.

Her signing done, Natarle stood up to allow the Representative of the Luna takes her seat at the treaty table and begins the process of signing the first document. Natarle stepped away from the table to mingle back into the crowd, and this time found herself nearby Jaide the Goddess, who was speaking rather amicably with Lady Elaine Garanmonde and Ensign (First Class) Chandratta, who was spending more time listening than anything else.

It was this sight that reassured Natarle the most: seeing a human lady, a crewmember of the _Archangel_, and a Goddess debating the possible course of commerce to come between the assorted groups of the new alliances. All things are possible with enough hope, Natarle thinks aloud as Elaine gestures her over toward the conversation, apparently eager for a Commander's perspective on the matter. If nothing else, Chandratta and the Goddess Jaide were both receptive to her presence as she approached and paid her respects to the group.

_This may work_, Natarle thinks about the whole matter as she approaches the three that wanted a word with her.

-x-x-x-

(23 January 987)

The appearance of a second Tonberry in the galley one morning spurred an unusual tasking for the Magic Knight of Rayearth: finding them all.

To Hikaru, it was as much a personal quest as it was a request from the chef crew and the rest of the crew at large. With Murdoch bringing in and training more personnel for the ship, the extension to the galley staff would definitely be needed, and Natarle knew this. Thus her allowed personal quest to chase down the Tonberries. Despite their lack of speed, the two Tonberries were impressive cooks as well as somewhat intimidating to anyone who entered the galley that was not part of the crew.

Of course, finding them was a totally different story entirely.

Rayearth was cruising at 2000 meters AGL, Hikaru looking down to the scenery with the occasional glance upwards to make sure she was not going to run into one of the world's two Airships. "It won't be long before the skies of this planet get crowded with airships," Hikaru muses to herself, knowing of the projects to begin mass-production of Airships. Right now they were crossing mountains southeast of the Veldt

_Mobility is key to expansion and advancement_, Rayearth replies. _The immobilized society cannot itself become greater than it already is readily, without some form of external influence to push forward the hands of progress._

"That must be one of the reasons why America is so powerful on my home world," Hikaru notes. Studies had decried the fact that families in America had more than two vehicles per family, leading to massive amounts of pollution from that country, but Hikaru now realized that there was more to such stories. If mobility was really power and influence, America had it in spades

_The other reason is far more simple, and something you do unconsciously. America is willing to be great by its own hand, even if such effort is disjointed, random, seemingly pointless. You have followed the same path yourself, Magic Knight, forcing yourself to do things that most would turn away from, forcing yourself to keep trying to find your home, all the while trying ever harder to do what you must. For that, there are few in Existence rival to you or the other Magic Knights_.

Hikaru simply nods in response, not really wishing to dwell on such a subject. "You are sure you can find the Tonberries?" Hikaru asks after a moment, not entirely convinced despite Rayearth's claims to the latter.

_They are an interesting lot, and quite unique among the many denizens of this world. Finding them shall be simple, getting to them shall be another story. And we approach the first of them now_, Rayearth declares as on the bubble around Hikaru a square box dwells in on part of the forest several hundred miles ahead of their flight path. _This box represents my best estimate where the Tonberry is. The forest is far too heavy for me to land inside, you will have to enter and hike overland to reach him_.

"Can do," Hikaru replies. A short hike was nothing to her in the end.

_And that is why you are respected, even revered by the _Archangel_'s crew, the Espers, and your peers. Few can match your can-do attitude, Magic Knight, which makes you a powerful force when you apply the will to use it_.

"Whoa," that was something that Hikaru had not really considered prior. Yes, the crew was definitely respectful, despite the fact that she was only just now pushing sixteen years old. Respectful, yes, not reverential, as far as she could tell, but when she got down to it, she didn't know the difference. She really didn't even know if there was a difference at all. "Still, we have a job to do, so we do it, right?"

_I rest my case_, Rayearth replies. _The shortest approach is going to be from the south side of the forest, but you are still in need of several miles overland travel to reach the area the Tonberry is in_.

"Understood," Hikaru replies as Rayearth lands. Moments later she was on the ground and inspecting her surroundings: a typical forest, and one that looked a bit scary from the outside. To make things sound worse, as she was taking her first step toward the forest she could naught but hear the sound of an explosion deep within the midst of the trees, accompanied by the startled screams of birds for some distance around. This did not stop her from continuing to walk toward the trees, but it did serve to remind her that the term 'wildlife' on this planet meant something wholly different and far more brutal than it did in downtown Tokyo.

Hikaru marched without complaint, without a thought against her seemingly insane plan, just doing it. She did have some choice words for the leg holster and the nine-millimeter pistol the mechanics had scrounged up for her, however, since the holster was definitely not staying in place almost at all she was having to practically hold it in place as she walked, and it chafed in unusual places which was not improving her mood any. After a few hundred meters she decided she would talk to Natarle about how a lady was to properly wear a leg holster since none of the mechanics or Commandos were female. After another hundred meters she stripped it off and simply carried it at the ready to draw.

It was luck on her part that she had stopped to remove the holster, as she stopped she could see the movement of something in the bushes to the side of her path of advance, something with the fair appearance of a cat and some form of self-mobile tumbleweed. _Wildlife, indeed_, Hikaru thinks sourly as she drops aside the pistol and draws her sword; the cat would definitely try to get in close on her, likely the tumbleweed as well. Her sword drawn, Hikaru prepares herself for what she figured she would have to do to get out of this one alive: use her new spellcraft skills.

Sensing what it thought to be a moment of weakness, the cat attacked first. Hikaru was not caught unawares, but was caught off balance as she was trying to prepare a spell for use on them, and her only recourse was to try and drive the cat away from her with the flat of her blade. It worked temporarily, though the cat was back on the offensive after a few moments of stun, and this time it dodged the sword and went right to Hikaru's arm with claw and fang. She was able to slam it aside but not effectively and not without being scratched up herself. On pure reaction her sword came around and into the side of the cat in question, the thrust of blade missing its body but severing both rear legs; After it started shrieking and squirming Hikaru gave it a backhand swing to remove its head, but instead ended up accomplishing chopping it roughly in half.

As the Magic Knight reoriented herself on the other part of the threat, the tumbleweed with an attitude as she thought of it, it turned out to be something completely different: a rabbit with a flurry of violet leaves around it, and the leaves seemed to swirl around it as it moved as if a mini-cyclone was centered on it. _A wind-element enemy, my fire should be effective against it_, Hikaru thinks as she readies: "_**The infernos of Ghenna shall bring upon this world the searing blaze of Firaga**_!" Hikaru chants, staring right to the rabid rabbit as she did so, with her hands circumscribing the intended area of effect of the spell. As she finished the last word the area that she indicated was engulfed in a massive wave of fire. What remained after the flames were gone accounted to a pair of glowing embers from a stick and the skeleton of the rabbit, the remainder had all been flash-fire cooked practically to char and dust.

A quick check of her environment confirmed that there were no other threats in the area. With that done, she picked up her pistol and continued the march, wary to skirt the circle of char she had just caused so as to avoid burning her feet by walking through. It did not take her much in the way of effort to patch the scratch that she received from the cat, and as she moved she kept her eyes high as well as checking the ground for more threats. It would not serve her well to be ambushed by more powerful monsters, in her opinion.

At least a mile, maybe as much as a mile and a half passed without incident, much to Hikaru's relief on the matter. In that time she heard another of the explosions, but this one was quite louder and closer. The explosion happened in her path of advance, leaving as much of a crater in the ground as the the missiles from the Launcher Strike did, at least back when the unit had a working Strike Gundam to talk about. From what she could tell, the explosion happened in contact with the ground, given the chunks of dirt and plant that had been flung an exceptional distance in her direction. Near the center of the crater was found a bird-style skull of some type, which adroitly answered what 'just' got blown to hell but not the 'how'.

As she continued, another mile of ground passed behind her without incident, except a shrub that turned out to be a thorn-bush that turned out to be a bit more painful than even she expected, but it was still not enough to stop her from continuing. It would be something far larger and more violent than a thorn-bush that brought her to a halt.

"Oh, shit," she mutters in dread, ducking behind a large tree to hopefully conceal her presence from the floating nightmares dead ahead of her. "Those...are Bombs," she completes the thought, realizing now what this forest was rumored for, the nasty and self-destructive Bomb creature, the product of fire spellcraft gone horridly wrong. The explosion of one of those creatures was said to be more than enough to level a modest town-house and damage any surrounding buildings.

After a few seconds she slowly peeked out from behind the tree she was hiding behind, and much to her aghast found herself staring down the front-end of one of those Bombs at half the range she had seen it prior. As soon as she locked eyes with it, the enemy explosive let out a feral roar and began charging her down, apparently intent on having her for lunch. The pistol did not go down to the ground as her sword came out, just in time for her to counter-swing at the charging enemy and drive it away from her for a bare moment, though she did realize that with only one hand on the sword she was at a disadvantage.

The second Bomb was nowhere in sight, which gave her a moment's respite from being attacked by a pair of enemies. As the first bomb was reorienting itself to try and close in on her she took the offensive first, using a combination controlled rising slash and a less controlled downward slash to dissuade it from closing in. The strike from below the Bomb reacted to, driving away from her to prevent being slashed from the chin up, though it was not expecting the faster follow-up swing from above, the sword of Rayearth slamming down on the top of its head and slashing through the body of the bomb without hesitation; the sword did not cleave completely through the enemy, but it did cut its face in half. What was left of the enemy collapsed to the ground and began exhaling some form of gas that Hikaru could not smell, but she knew was there and was making her lightheaded.

The roaring sound of the second Bomb from roughly behind her triggered a pure reaction on her part that saved her life. Rather than immediately trying to turn to face, she cleared left and away from it as it charged toward her, roaring and mouth agape to try swallowing her upper half. The bomb got her only with its left claw as it passed, though the strike was unable to penetrate the back of her armor it was still painful to her. Hikaru reversed her movement immediately after the strike, swinging her sword in a roundhouse arc in an attempt to get the Bomb as it flew by, but she only managed to scratch it, which made it scream in rage and enlarge itself by a factor of two. As it turned to face Hikaru and challenge her with mouth agape, Hikaru made another split-second decision, this one of the style seen in movies: she thrust her sword into its mouth roof and slammed the pommel into the lower rank of teeth, grazing her right hand on a jagged tooth in the process but accomplishing what she intended. With its mouth stuck agape all the Bomb could do was rage in fury and try to gash Hikaru with its exposed teeth and claws, but a few seconds of dodging proved that such tactics were ineffective against her. Remembering the pistol she had not dropped, Hikaru reached for it, pulled it clear of the holster, and drove the muzzle of the Earth Alliance 9mm Automatic into the left eye of the surprised and enraged bomb. It stopped, clearly unaware what was going on.

"Rage against **this** machine!" Hikaru half-shouts as she snaps back the trigger; in the heat of the moment she never remembered the sound of the shot, but she remembered she could clearly see the slide come back and the spent shell ejected from the weapon as if she was watching it in slow-motion.

The Bomb recoiled backwards after the shot took its eye out, clearly shocked and physically severely damaged from the shot. After a moment it reacted again, this time trying to clamp its mouth shut with all its might, and in this its own reaction was its undoing. The bomb forced its jaw closed, in the process forcing the sword in its mouth up through the top of its body and through what little brain it had, only for the sword to be driven through its skull and outward into the afternoon air. With that accomplished, all it could do was collapse to the ground and vent what gas it retained to the outside world.

Hikaru collapsed backwards and down the trunk of a tree, bracing against its base for support. She let go a massive sigh as she realized that the battle was finally over and neither of the bombs had exploded. She figured that fact alone was worth a rest and breather, so she sat there and looked over the scene of the battle. After a few moments she began giggling to herself about the absurdity of the situation and how close she had come to death in the space of fifteen seconds, though she managed to defeat both of these floating gasbags without anything more than a sore back and a few scratches on her left arm and armor.

Partway through her bandaging effort on her left arm (again), which was rapidly consuming the lower skirt part of her school uniform, she looked up when a shadow crossed her field of view, and immediately froze in dread. Another monster was here, this one already larger than a Bomb and colored a mottled gray. When it sighted her, it let loose a wicked laugh that spurred Hikaru to immediately take aim at it with the pistol. Shot after shot rang out into the forest air, and in testament to her training and continual practice not one shot missed the enemy, but by the same token every shot that hit made it grow by several centimeters as the slug itself caromed off its hardened body, headed who-knew-where. One round even managed to bounce off its underbelly, hit the ground halfway between the enemy and her, and buzz-sawed across the ground and into the back of her right calf, immediately eliciting a pained screech from her. (2)

She brought her pistol back up and on target, but immediately she knew she was done for as she realized that it had locked back on an empty magazine and there was no spare issued to her at the time she left. The enemy had already approached closer than her sword had been when she slumped against the tree, and since bombs were naturally immune to fire she had no recourse left to her. She was out of options and about to become dinner to a piece of overblown C-4.

_I just wish...I could finish helping the team get home_, Hikaru laments inside the confines of her mind, resigned to and readily expecting her fate. The lesson of the _Archangel_ that had come to her before today was simple: _Can't win 'em all_. Today seemed to be the final fight for her, as fights prior had ended Dearka Elsman and Kristen Redmond, so...

The motion of a light some distance behind the Bomb in question drew her attention from her fate to whatever was moving in the distance, just before the light intensified into a series of beams that arced out of it and streaked to the enemy. For a moment Hikaru was not sure what was going on, then the larger-than-a-Bomb became engulfed in pearly light that disintegrated it into dust blowing in the wind. With the enemy no more, Hikaru could focus in on what was holding the light source, and then promptly gasped sharply.

The Tonberry had found her, and just at the right moment as far as she was concerned. It looked just the same as its comrades in the galley, the tan robes, the green head and body that Hikaru thought was some kind of lizard's body, the lamp, the kitchen knife, just the same. As it closed up, Hikaru could see that it had a different pattern of markings on its exposed head than did the others, which was probably the identifying trait between them.

_You scent of two of my kind, human, the mountain dweller from the South and the resident of the desert expanse. Tell of how you came to meet them_, the voice was definitely female, as opposed to the more masculine voices of the two that were already on the staff.

"I—we—they just showed up on our ship, first the one from the north, then the one from the south, and took residence in our galley while our chef crew was out on other business." Hikaru's speech pattern was ragged, the pain in her leg severe enough that it was interfering with her basic motor control skills and speech.

_Your ship has a galley, and two of my ilk are already on it? Lead the way, young human, for no galley can be to rights if not commanded by a competent lady_. If anything, the Tonberry sounded like it (she?) would enjoy such a thing

"I—I can't move, I took a hit in the leg," Hikaru notes.

_A minor obstruction. Show me where to go in your mind's eye, and I shall teleport us there_, it replies. In moments Hikaru had envisioned the galley of the _Archangel_, and a moment thereafter she was there in reality.

-x-x-x-

(4 March 987)

"This isn't much of a cave," Fuu notes, expecting a lot more of a challenge for their explorations.

"This, no," Nicol notes as he sweeps the entrance area of the cave once more for any activity. There was none. "I expect there will be a lot more over there," he says as he points at the dark recess across the spring. A turtle was lazily floating in the spring area off to one side, and as Fuu looked down into the spring depths with the barrel-mount flashlight on her weapon she could tell it was little more than shin deep all the way to the crevasse.

"I came out here to explore a cave, not a stone-enclosed walkway. I say we go for it," Fuu notes, wanting to live the real role-playing game that her life had become to its fullest.

Of course, the rules were significantly different for this 'game' than the ones she cheerily spent hundreds of hours of her life on at home. When everything was said and done, the games she was accustomed to had a reset button 'just in case of stuff happening' as she thought of it nowadays. There was no reset button here, and she knew it. One major mistake and she would be the third plexiglass shadow box on the wall outside the hot springs.

"All right, I'll take point," Nicol says as he shoulders his combat shotgun and flips the light on to illuminate the path ahead of them. Fuu steps back far enough to make sure she was clear of the side of his oversize camping backpack as he slowly skids his way down into the spring waters. "Whoa, this is warm water, it would make a great bath spring," he notes as he starts stepping through, wary to keep his shotgun forward toward the 'unsecured' area.

And that was another thing that Fuu had come to grips with since she began living the adventure instead of playing it through a console and television: in these games the team always had an apeshit massive inventory, some had a somewhat limited inventory, very few games actually gave a system by which the amount of material a team could carry was limited by how much the team could physically carry. Not so in real life, as she had found out that her first idea for a good load of gear to take had weighed in at almost double her weight. Nicol had been kind enough not to laugh at her definition of 'preparation' but she could sense he wanted to. After some judicious restructuring on Nicol's part, most of which leaned away from camping and medical gear and more toward arsenal, they both had hashed out a pair of packs that carried everything they would need that their spellcraft could not handle. Even with everything pared down to bare bones, however, it still weighed a helluva lot more than she expected, especially just the web harness over her Magic Armor that held sixteen magazines for her Rorynex and two grenades. At least Natarle had worked out a better holster arrangement for her 9mm leg holster and magazine holster, so she would not be chafed by it while walking.

Fuu followed in after Nicol did, careful to keep her footing solid as she moved down into the deeper part of the springs. The turtle floating in the springwater bounced off her leg but continued its lazy swimming around without any other indication of having run into someone. On the far side of the twenty meters of spring they climbed up the far side and into the crevasse as it cut sharply left.

A third issue that her old games did not get right: most real life 'adventuring' places were extremely poor of lighting, and even the tactical light on the end of her Rorynex was not a hundred-percent solution to that darkness. Caves in particular were susceptible to being flat-out creepy dark, and every step of entering was both exhilarating and terrifying to her at the same time. The irregular formations of rock also gave denizens of the cave plenty of hiding space, and to be safe they had to check every area thoroughly. It was part of their tactical training that nothing be left to chance in such matters, they checked everything.

"It's really hard to believe we have been away from our homelands for over sixteen months now," Nicol notes. "I wonder when we shall arrive home, sixteen months after we left, or the same time period as when we left?"

"Either would be really strange," Fuu replies. "If we arrived at the later time, it would be that many years never spent with our families. If we arrived at the same time as we left, it would be a much older us that met our families that never changed." A pause ensues as they dodge through some stalagmites. "Another few months and I shall be older than my elder sister, were that the case," she notes with a clear tone of embarrassment.

"That puts you how old now? Fifteen?" Nicol asks.

"No, actually sixteen," Fuu declares. "I think I turned fifteen on Romulus, if not then on Twycross for sure," she replies. "And you should be seventeen?"

"Yeah, I think so." The two were silent, focused as they crossed a rope bridge across an underground ravine that neither wanted to think about how far it went down. "Bouncing between dimensions like this, it is hard to keep track somedays, even with the automation of the _Archangel_ to keep track."

"A moment, Nicol, plug your ears," Fuu requests as she centers her light on what the locals called a 'Bleary', a somewhat weak and very slimy caterpillar. Fuu waited two seconds, then unleashed five rounds into it from ten meters away, shredding its body into two pieces and flinging guts of it all over the surrounding rock.

"Bats, down!" Nicol shouts as he dropped down on the ground and killed his tactical light. The cacophony of terrified bats lasted for a good two minutes, but thankfully neither of the two cave-divers was injured by their passage.

"That was fun," Fuu notes sarcastically as she stands up and flips her light on again.

"Shall we continue?" Nicol asks before they resume their trek deeper into eh cave area.

Yet another thing that the games missed: caves tended to be residency of bats, and while some game publishers could argue that bats don't exist in the timeline of their games, so far Fuu had not found a case where bats did not exist. Any loud activity would definitely had stirred up bats in the course of the party's actions in the games, so why was a bat attack not normal course for cave-diving in these games?

"At a guess, I would not say there is much more in the way of cave to come after this," Nicol notes as they reach a fairly large open area. Wherever his tactical light went, there was not much indication of a continuing path forward, except for two branches roughly south and east from the large done-like chamber.

"Oh, no, Nicol, we have a problem here!" Fuu-half squeaks.

"Oh, shit," Nicol swears when he sees what Fuu's flashlight was highlighting. "That's the biggest damned spider I've ever seen."

"How do we—oh no, it moved!" Fuu gasps as she centers her Rorynex on it and begins firing short, five-round bursts that appeared to be causing damage but far from enough damage to make a real difference.

Her peripheral vision caught something white, possibly yellow fly toward it, and once it arrived the spider deftly caught the object in mouth and began eating it. Three seconds later a muted _puff_ could be heard from the stalled spider, and after a few moments its head began smoking from the inside out. A mere second later, the Spider appeared to go berserk, running toward the ravine that they had just crossed, then diving down into the groundwater river below with a tremendous splash.

"Water will not help that thing now," Nicol says coldly.

"What was that?" Fuu asks.

"White Phosphorous grenade. When it goes off, the phosphorous bits it blows out burn at over 2000 degrees centigrade. The only way to save a person with that stuff burning into them is to cut it out of their body before it burns through and kills them. Taken internally, there should be no hope for that thing," Nicol finishes up in a matter-of-fact fashion. "We should check the nest, make sure there are no others," Nicol says as his tactical light passes over the webbing it had built.

"Nothing, no enemies, Nicol," Fuu notes. "Should we...erm...?"

"Fire the web to be assured? I will do it," Nicol says before he unslung his gearpack and began rummaging in it for something. "Ah, perfect, I did bring these," he declares as he hauls out a red stick. "Emergency flare."

Nicol pulled the cap off the exposed end and struck the end of the flare against the top of the cap, scraping fast to ignite it. The first one did not ignite it, the second one did, and immediately the area around him was illuminated by a red, almost sinister light. He approached cautiously regardless, the flare in left hand and his pistol drawn in his right, and whence close enough he touched the lit flare to the webbing. Spider silk is a highly flammable medium; as it burned it lit the whole cavern up gloriously, showing them the scale of the room they were in like no other way possible. As for other branches of the cave, there were only the two they had prior seen in the distance, though something else came of note as the webbing burned:

"Look, Nicol, remains of people and their equipment," Fuu declares, her light centering on the pile of dead bones and long-unused gear nearby one of the two branches.

"Follow me," Nicol says as he takes point again, though as Fuu angled for the equipment Nicol went first to the branch mouth and checked it for threats. Assured it was clear, he then ducked back to the deceased and their remains as Fuu was carefully picking through it with the end of her weapon just to make sure there were no traps or anything similar awaiting them. Satisfied, she dragged the one sheathed sword clear of the rest to examine at length. "All this equipment is solid Mithiril, I'll bet it would fetch a handsome price for a collector," Nicol notes while inspecting the armor.

"Nicol, look," Fuu says as she turns to face him. She had pulled a few centimeters of the blade clear, and what was exposed above the tang recess to the hilt was glowing violet.

"This sword...it is amazing," Nicol notes. "And it is a big one, like a claymore," he gasps as she pulls the whole blade clear of the sheath.

_The sword you are witness to is the Imperial Arc, a blade with a checkered history. It was conceived by the most foul and arrogant of Gods as an insult and a way to counter and control a band of mortals that they were at odds with, but the sword took a liking to its own whims and not those of the Gods. It never struck a blow against the enemies of those Gods, and in due time they were slain or exiled by the beings they sought to control and counter. Yet another lesson in what arrogance will cost you_, Windam declares coldly, even for his usual dictum on such matters. _It is of no use to you, for your weapons are of equivalent power or greater, but in due course it will serve purpose on this world. Best you retain possession of it to be taken to the Archangel for disposition_.

"I shall do so," Fuu notes as she straps it to the outside of her gearpack. The blade was physically large, but the thing barely weighed as much as her sword did, and her own sword had practically no weight to it at all.

"We'll be back for this stuff later," Nicol notes, indicating the remaining swords and armor from persons killed in their travels through here. "C'mon, we still have cave to explore," he notes as he shoulders his shotgun again and begins headed down the nearby branch.

"Not much cave at that," Fuu notes as the two take the first turn in the path of the crags and come face-to-face with a wall of stone.

"Well, we do have one other branch to check," Nicol notes as they about-face and head for the main chamber.

"I shall go first, unless you object?" Fuu asks as they approach the next tunnel.

"By all means, but first, swap out magazines. Your Rorynex is empty."

"Oh," she moans as she pulls the used magazine and replaces it with a fresh one. The bolt went forward and picked up one of the amazingly small but explosive rounds and rammed it home into the chamber, and just like that her weapon was ready again.

The stock to her shoulder, Nicol was reminded that Fuu really was a lot older today than she was when they first met in the forests of Cephiro. He had no doubt that he had changed quite a bit since this mystery tour had begun, but he definitely knew that he had neither grown nor matured as much as the three Magic Knights had. For him, this was simply a side show of the war at home, something he was not really trained for per se but something as a military officer he was mostly prepared for. In contrast, the Magic Knights had learned hard and fast that this was not school, this was cold hard reality and they were stuck in it until further notice. Given that fact, Nicol could not help but wonder what Fuu thought of her life now, though he could not work up the courage to ask her. Nor could he work up the courage to ask her more than a few other questions.

"One question, Nicol," Fuu begins as she starts down the branch. "If I died, what would you do?"

Nicol's answer was not immediately forthcoming, though she did get one. "I don't know what I would do, really, I've become so used to you being there, being part of the unit and being a close friend that I just do not know."

"You would...at least tell my family what happened, right?" Fuu asks.

"Oh, certainly, I would tell them the whole story," Nicol replies immediately. "I won't have to, though. You will get to tell them yourself," Nicol notes.

"It is all right, Nicol. I know the longer this goes on, the fewer of us will live to tell about it," she says. "I've...mostly come to grips with the fact that this is not one of my video games, this is real and real scary." They continue in silence for two twists and one forking path, but nothing major in the corridors taken. "If you don't make it out, who should I contact to tell what happened?"

Nicol bit his immediate response back, since the fate of one Dearka Elsman was evidence enough that the Gundam Pilots were not immortal, were not Superman, or were not even likely to survive this nightmare. "Yuri Amalfi, part of the ZAFT Supreme Council. If you make it to my home without me, you will need to arrange to meet with the Amalfi in neutral territory, it is unlikely you could get into the PLANTs. Captain Ramius or one of the other senior officers can arrange it." _Not to mention, my family will come running if anything is heard about me dying_, Nicol thinks aloud.

"Oh, wow, this must be part of that same spring we walked through to get here, but this one is much deeper," Fuu notes as she steps down into the water that was quite a bit warm. The small cavern that the spring occupied was its own dead end, meaning they had just completely run out of cave to check. "This would be better for a spring bath," she declares.

"This is the end," Nicol notes. "Now what?"

"We planned on being here several days, and I really don't want to head back early," Fuu notes. "Would you object to camping out here for the sake of camping?"

"A getaway, basically, escape all the hustle and grind of the Capital and the ship? You don't have to ask me twice," Nicol replies.

* * *

Author's Chapter Afterword:

I, being a former Chicago resident, have no problem with snow whatsoever. Let it snow, as far as I am concerned, gives me excuse to laugh at the dipdunks that have problems on the road because they don't understand how their cars react to snow. Ice is another story, however. Ice makes it rough enough that even I don't want to play with the roads and enough ice usually kills off the power to my place, which delayed this chapter by pretty close to a full week deploy time. Oi. At least it did not kill off any of my source, so I still got it done.

This is just the beginning of the blatant end to the adventures in the FFVI world, but keep two things in mind: one, there is a lot more to come than this, maybe enough for two more chapters before they leave, and two, even when the Archangel has left, the fun is not over. This may be the first area I do a side story on for this story, and if what I am planning peters out how I want it, it is going to be one hellishly bloody side story at that. Hint: you can rest assured that the Empire was not alone in setting up the Metal Gear units to try and take down the Archangel, even though they failed they are not through yet.

A step away from the grotesque battles is indeed a good thing, gives me time to focus on the non-combat aspects of the story. These forays are going to prove to be events to shape the future of the crew, so I have a little pressure on to do it as I envision it, do it right, and do it right the first time. This does not detract from the writing, if anything that makes it more fun knowing what you do is a linchpin for the rest of the long-ass story to come. Now if I could get enough slack from my jobs to write faster, this would be less of an issue...

Not much else to say about this chapter, except you can expect the politics of this chapter to get a lot more involved as the nest two evolve, and you can expect some serious surprises in the chapter or two to come.

Next up: An outstanding political problem is solved and Yzak begins the bread-and-butter work of modifying the Teleporters to work interdimensionally.

* * *

Review Replies:

I received a lot of reviews, as well as reviews with very poignant questions. I will be block quoting those reviews that I already replied to that I think would be appropriate for everyone to know. Here goes:

**Deathzealot**: Two month wait is out, comrade. I'm back to closer to normal, hopefully back to normal soon enough.

**Kelvin**: There will definitely be a revisit of Cephiro, that is one destination I reveal because I have some real evil plans about it, but other than that the future is still uncertain...

**CHM01**: It could have been quite a bit bloodier, but the dice seemed to favor the Archangel this time around. Next time they may not be so lucky.

**One-Village-Idiot**: Block quote of my original reply:

OVI: Yes, Volt was the Tales of Phantasia version, but a little more than just that.

The Mechs will get reclaimed and repaired, but not all of them will survive to be used again. And keep in mind that 'mechs are practically useless in space combat.

The Personnel deployment doors are simply the crew hatches on the legs of the Archangel, as well as a pair about midships and a pair toward the rear. The Commandos modified it so they could use them for fast-rope, long-rope or zip-line deploy. As to the Cook, oh yes, Ryback is his name, and there will likely be a fight sometime in the galley somewhere.

Not going to comment on the Knights and their post-death experience at this time, going to save that for another day.

Well, keep in mind that there are a lot of Gods, Attempted Gods, not-quite-gods and Trans-Divine beings in Existence. it is only logical that the Archangel is going to run into them from time to time.

As to profit from the world, that is hard to say, but you can expect to see that in the next chapter. Two words: Arms Race.

More is on the way, stay tuned.

**FraserMage**: The extended info is always a pleasure. And you can rest assured they will get a restock, but the cost to the hearts of the crew may be significantly heavy...

**Akalon**: Block Quote of my initial reply:

he weapon in question is a heavy rail gun, and if you read the other reviews (specifically Barricade's review) it is the primary purpose of the Metal Gear REX. The MGS Canon REX uses the rail gun for stealth nuclear deployments, but in this case since the Empire does not have nukes they use it as a kinetic penetrator weapon...with alarming success. Those kinds of rail guns are not pleasant weapons to face down in an Omnimech, but they did. And they paid for it.

My only advice for the FF Anthology is this: level up like it's going to save your arse, because it will. If you get to the final boss with most your team around 60, you're low-balling the battle. Thankfully, the core game and story line is easily long enough to put you there, so getting up to 75 or so should be little trouble for you.

**Barricade**: Block Quote again (just too much juicy material to pass up)

You guessed it, Metal Gear REX is the nasty de rigeur. And you can guess that some of its armaments will be joining the ship, but I'll leave where and how to your imagination for now.

I have not thus far sorted out how the Espers are going to play things, but you can guess that the dice may be involved. Stay tuned on that front.

As to reading material, they will get something far better than just books.

The Archangel does evolve, but it does not restock itself. Resupply is handled locally. Mods tot he ship may continue, depending on the whim of the dice, but mods to the units are out, and I will explain why in literary. Not to mention, is it not interesting to watch one Warship go through mobile carried units like a chainsaw? Lol.

Ehh, Gilgamesh is good for a laugh, but not epic battle worthy laffs. There will be more summoning in there somewhere, though, so stay tuned.

**Knives91**: Kristen may be dead but she is not forgotten...nor shall this be the end of what you see of her.

**NHO**: Yes, you are referring to the Dominion, a rather interesting ship with an interesting fate. Unfortunately, though, I cannot divulge if there will be possible encounters with the other extended-class monitors (Archangel, Dominion, Minerva, Girty Lue) in this story, all such information is classified as usual and UFN (Until Further Notice). Sorry, comrade, it be the rules.

**EtienneOfTheWestWind**: Last block quote, here on out it is original material:

There are so many nasty surprises I could play out right now, but I think I have one of the deepest, darkest recesses of Archangel hell lined up to come, so I'll save any more fun in this arena (the world of FFVI) for another arena. Keep in mind, I deliberately showed there was only half a world known, so...

I'm pretty much lucky right now, my cat is asleep, with his head buried under a paw and his tail. The longer he sleeps, the better for me. Put your power strip under a small object so he can't get to the button, works for me.

I'll have to look into the real Hitchhikers Guide, the movie didn't do much for me.

Stay tuned, far more antics to come.

**NHO** (Round 2): Your ideas have been recorded but as usual destinations are classified. Stay tuned, you may like where this nightmare is headed...

**Archaon83**: To answer your questions:

1: No pilot for the Stone Rhino, no dice there. It may get dusted off soon enough, though.

2: This is the Archangel were talking about here. They'll find a way to compromise enemy shields or die trying, it is the ship's motto.

3: I have not thus far seen Crest or Banner of the Stars, but they are on my list of anime to see in the next ~1.5 years.

Thanks for the questions and tip, keep 'em coming.

**Akasui**: Like usual, destinations are classified, but you aren't the first to ask about Xenosaga, which I find to be a very interesting and entertaining game series.

As to the Life Spell, What I illustrate here is part common sense, part cold hard reality, part bringing the story in line with my unified theories of wizardry. The fact that everyone just got knocked out when they took otherwise lethal hits (doom spell just as one example) never set well with me. So I play it by way of death is death and the Life spell is what you use to unscrew a dead guy. More and more powerful spells of that nature will be coming this way soon enough.

Much thank yous to all who reviewed and especially to all who read! Stay tuned, the fun is only beginning, people.

* * *

The Gripe Sheet:

No notable gripes from the last chapter.

On an aside, I am in negotiations with someone at this time to beta this story to keep me from posting a major screwup, so hopefully there won't be much in the Gripe Sheet from now on...

* * *

Footnotes:

(1): **U**ntil **F**urther **N**otice.

(2): Look upon this incident and know that it can happen IRL, so ALWAYS be sure of what you are shooting at. People have been killed by incidents like this, make sure you use firearms in a safe and responsible manner. Always be sure of your target and backstop, as is normally worded.


	27. Ends And Beginnings

(Archangel's Amazing Adventures, Set 3, Chapter 11: Ends and Beginnings)

(10 May 987)

"Fine weather for campaigning," Lord Cyan notes in a low, directed whisper as he looks through Natarle's binoculars at the town.

"Better than some of the battles we've been in," Natarle confirms. Cyan was using her binoculars for the moment to analyze the buildings of Jidoor while Natarle was using 'mark-1 eyeball' (1) to check for possible human activity.

"By what they have on the outskirts to town in sentry, likely there shall be few of them with combat skill," Cyan declares. "Shall we be off, milady?"

"A moment, I shall fell the sentries," Natarle declares as she fits the silencer she had prepared for her rifle onto the barrel. A monstrous device, the suppression quality it gave to her weapon was phenomenal, but for general room-clearing purpose it made her rifle too long and changed the balance. The optics she carried on the weapon were no less stellar, of course, being purchased on Twycross for just the purpose. She flipped down the bipod that was standard on the assault rifle, then sighted up the farthest of the two sentries. When the nearer of the two looked to her right and away from the other, she fired a round with an initial aimpoint six centimeters above his head. Gravity did the rest as it dragged the flying .308-caliber round down and into the hollow of his left eye. With that accomplished, she sighted up the other of the two sentries and waited for him to turn on his downed friend, then fired the same distance above. The helmet he was wearing provided no protection against the standard 185-grain FMJ round that entered the side wall of it, eventually bringing that sentry to the ground as well. With two silenced shots, there was no guard on the south perimeter of town, meaning they would be largely uncontested going in.

_Damn, I'm even beginning to sound like the natives_, Natarle thinks as she jumps up to join the crew headed north from the treeline outside town.

A Battalion had been assigned to a rather unpleasant task: take Jidoor, then release it. There would be no Imperial-style tactics or policies of taking and holding territory where they were not welcome. The objective was to eliminate all armed resistance, and simply fade away, actions as a clear warning that their hostile raiding of convoys headed from Kohlingen to Zozo (Which had been cleaned up with the deployment of a Battalion and a few Espers to said city) would not go unpunished. These persons who had committed wholesale slaughter of civilians, men, women and children, were to be executed on sight. Such were the orders of the King of Figaro, who had no tolerance for dishonorable larceny and piracy.

Natarle had taken up the challenge. The strike, as was laid out, had been her plan. The one sop to the matter at hand was that the strike would use almost completely local resources and personnel, despite the fact that Natarle wanted to do it with the Commando Team. There were two of the Light Machine Guns from the _Archangel_ on her left flank, the area of expected heaviest resistance, and her assault rifle with scope and silencer, and that was it. Everything else was the local-manufacture heavy machine gun or the Enfield bolt action rifle, with a few anti-tank rockets here and there just in case of the worst case.

Aerial reconnaissance of the town by the Skygrasper had netted good, hard intel on civilian structures, commercial structures, and deployment of sentries. It had also scared them into a week lull in raiding actions while Natarle and Lord Cyan worked out an assault plan. Narshe Jaegers had verified that the raiders were indeed deploying from the town, meaning that these were not bandit attacks as was initially feared, but were indeed a concerted effort at undermining Figaro authority over Zozo and renewed cooperation with Kohlingen (after a new mayor had been instilled in the town).

And now, 'the final ten percent' as it was always called in Natarle's academy days. The final execution of effort is pulling off the plan, and for that Natarle was just as ready as the rest of the unit.

The two hundred meter charge across the open territory to the southern territory of the town was strangely quiet. Natarle did not expect complete surprise as they approached, she expected some dumb watchman to call out attack and stir the people to action, yet no such cry came into the air. Even as her platoon approached the corner of the outskirts house, nothing was heard even after she approached the far-side corner and did a quick sweep around to verify there were no concealed sentries.

"Be there a lack of persons with spine in this town?" Cyan asks from right behind Natarle.

"I am beginning to believe the same—" her sentence was ended by the wailing of some lady as she ran northward from a house west of where Natarle stood, screaming about an invasion. Of which she was right, of course, but not for the reason she thought she was right. Natarle tracked her with sights on, but did not fire as the unit's mandate was to minimize civilian casualties.

Of the resistance generated by her wailing, two young screaming bucks, one with dual wheel-lock pistols and the other with a saber, tried moving against the oncoming Battalion. The one with the pistols crumpled in a bloody heap under rifle fire from the Doma contingent of the force, 3rd Company, taking no less than a dozen hits in the space of a second and a dozen more in the next two. The fop hit the ground in a bloody, soggy mess, his pistols unfired. The one with the saber fared no better, his flashing blade clear warning to the Narshe Jaegers that this guy was not playing nice and a single aimed body shot to the sternum brought him to the ground skidding and rolling, his death assured.

With that accomplished, there was effectively no hiding the fact that the force was there any more. "Surprising, our stealth lasted this far, better than I expected," Natarle declares before she strips the silencer off the end of her rifle. "Advance slow, eyes on the windows and be wary of possible lateral ambushes. Move out!"

The Battalion moved out slow and cautious now, since they had the possibility of lateral ambushes and vertical envelopment (some of the buildings were three or four stories tall), they had to make sure that the area they were approaching and entering was not hostile. A simple enough task, given that the infantry entering the town may have outnumbered the whole town population, much less any armed parties within. Street by street, building by building they advanced, the sight of civilians at their windows watching their actions was unsettling to Natarle but so far none of them were stupid enough to try shooting. The silence, though unsettling, was far preferable to the outright sound of massed gunfire that Natarle did not want ot hear today.

"Commander, we've got somethin' up in the center area of town," a Jaeger Private from the Narshe Jaegers declares after worming his way back to where Natarle and Lord Cyan were. " 'Bout a hundred guys with hunting rifles waiting in half-ass ambush, probably for us."

"Best course?" Natarle asks as she unfolds her map and holds it against the nearby wall for them to plot out. The map was a composite of aerial recon photos, giving them immense detail of the structures if lacking in accurate intelligence on where people were right now.

"Use these alleys here to force them into a limited fire field—or even enter and clear these buildings on these sides of the clearing and plunge fire into them." If anything, Narshe Jaeger were not afraid of the principle 'vertical envelopment', given that most of their hometown was built into the walls of a canyon in the mountains that made it famous as a mining town. There were areas of the town where you could literally shoot at someone five hundred meters south of where you stood, and be shooting at them from an altitude of 500 meters or greater. The Jaeger were trained in such combat and excelled at it, now more so with the introduction of the Enfield Rifle.

"That's how we'll do it, then. Radio team, pass the word around that all companies are to approach the central square cautiously and take up positions on the perimeter in buildings while minimizing exposure to the enemy riflemen." Within moments the radio operators were to their handsets, relaying the orders to the company commanders to enact the move-and-fire plan. "Private, relay to your commander to have the Jaegers start moving around the area toward the rear of the enemy ambush. With a lot more and a lot better guns in every direction, they may grow a brain and surrender," Natarle orders.

_Not bloody likely_, the Jaeger Private thinks but does not say. "As ordered, Commander," and he was moving away before Natarle could begin folding her map back up to continue the movement with the rest of the battalion command section.

The whole force was shifting location, and despite the main resistance being in the center of the town by accounts, there was still quite a bit of skirmishing being done almost entirely by the remnants of the few fighting-capable men in the town not set up for a blatantly obvious ambush. Natarle saw no more action as she followed the command section in approach march, though when she did near the town center there was some sporadic gunfire from first company.

The teams basically converged on the center of the town as per Natarle's battleplan almost completely at the same time, and by taking the houses and commercial buildings first they gave themselves the benefit of a covered structure to use as a defensive position. The only downside was that some of the enemy was smart (dumb) enough to do so as well. Natarle watched from the east perimeter of the area as one of the buildings on the opposite side was site of a scene only seen in real life, as one of the Doma troops entered the top floor to take plunging fire and was accosted by someone in the house using it as a sniper's perch. After a bit of a physical struggle, the local was butt-stroked out the window he was prior aiming through, to fall two stories and land with a sickening crack of bone and back; the trooper, then a moment later a machine gun, now occupied the broken window, aiming at the cluster of people with rifles in the center of the area.

The scene was repeated several times over, though in many cases not violently, as more and more Infantry took buildings and took position to give them hell. After enough time, with windows and doors now glistening with bayonets perched on the ends of rifles, the sound of Enfield bolts being drawn back and locked in load was sinister and creepy in no other fashion to the civilian militia now trapped on three sides by the people they were supposed to entrap themselves. Natarle could tell the enemy was about to break in one fashion or another, be it surrender or fight.

From the corner upon which she was braced, watching the actions of the enemy, she could see the horrid fate coming. One of them leveled a rifle in her direction and fired; the shot passed by her once, struck a stone wall, and bounced back into her. It was just her luck that the bounce shot missed her body armor and penetrated the back of her left shoulder, driving her whole body into the wall she was braced against, and causing her to screech in pain as she recoiled back from the wall.

"Hold, milady," the company commander of the Narshe Jaegers half-shouts over the sounds of a few more rifled musket shots, though those hits did not get close to her. The Captain in question pressed a cloth against the entry wound, there was no accompanying exit wound since the slug lost most of its velocity in the bounce but not all.

The sound of the machine guns, the rifle fire returned from the Battalion that had come to quell these renegades was something altogether horrifying to Natarle. She wanted to avoid this, the only casualties mandated to the unit were to be the bastards that were raiding the caravans, but an outright wholesale slaughter was something she wanted to prevent. Still, she could do little as the Captain of the Jaegers used a cloth to keep her from bleeding too badly. Thankfully, the shooting only lasted a few seconds, though immediately thereafter there was the inevitable screaming that chilled the listener to the bone.

"Commander Badgiruel, looks like they've surrendered," one of the Figaro Lieutenants declares. "Who is left, that is," he continues after a moment.

"How bad?"

"You and one other got hit," the same Lieutenant replies. "Other guy's being seen to by a field medic, and one's coming this way now."

"No, them," Natarle asks as the field medic arrives to begin treating her.

Not entirely sure, the Lieutenant peeks around the corner and takes stock of the foe's situation. "Oh, about a third of 'em dead, the rest wounded to a man."

"Not how I wanted this to end, but it could be worse," Natarle declares.

"Milady Badgiruel, a white flag approaches," Lord Cyan notes.

"Cease fire! We surrender!" Someone on the far side of the corner shouts. "I want to parley with your commander! Is he here?"

"You're it, Lord Garamonde," Natarle declares. "I won't be of much use right now." Despite movies to the contrary, being shot did a lot to the body, including make it far harder to think straight and rapidly, necessary talents of the negotiator.

"Thine plans shalt be done," he says before turning to head around the corner.

It took several minutes, during which Lord Cyan's gravelly voice was answered back-and-forth by a moderately deep one and someone whom Natarle could only guess was speaking in such high pitch he could almost pass for a lady under these circumstances. Apparently, by the tone and bent, the two that Lord Cyan was 'negotiating' with did not like what they were being told, but at least they appeared to show the good sense not to inflame the matter. Or at least Cyan was being restrained about how pissed off he was becoming. Natarle could not tell which.

"It is done. Thine foes have received the message, they shall no longer threaten trade convoy," Lord Cyan reports after he returns.

"Indeed, it is done," Natarle sighs. "At least we did not go with Yzak's recommendation to use the Duel as support here. One shot of some of his arsenal would have killed them all and distributed the parts all over town." Natarle was still bracing against the wall of the building, and could not see the grimaces from the officers around her. It was reassuring to her, however, that nobody opined that would have been a better solution.

-x-x-x-

(22 June 987)

The walls of the control chamber for the teleport system had been plastered with charts, diagrams, calculations, operational plans, and a poem of prayer that all the aforementioned crap actually worked. The last was Hikaru's contribution to the 'Wall of Madness' as some of the prior Imperial Teleporter Techs called it, since the plan involved utter madness. The former Teleporter Techs didn't trust the demon they created on their own, they sure as hell were not going to trust the upgrade planned. Last Athrun had heard of them, the techs were headed north, as in Narshe north, to take up jobs as mining equipment technicians.

In one of those classic almost-too-unreal-to-be-reality principles, the solution to the problem was a classic guy's euphemism: _more power and control_. The Imperials had tapped a lot of energy to get the Teleporter system working, but they had deliberately engineered it basic so that the only thing it would do is teleport around the surface of the planet. Yzak, Kira and Athrun had gone over every piece of documentation on the machine, every schematic, and every theoretical physics lesson the three had ever heard and mashed it all together into the oplan on the walls around them. To get it working on jumping between dimensions as they so needed to get home, it would require both a slightly larger power output (on terms of megajoules more power) and a system of controlling the 'where' and 'when' of the destination home.

"So, today's when we start, right?" Hikaru asks before taking a seat at one of the consoles. Athrun and Kira had just showed up and were sucking down military-grade coffee to combat a poorly-disguised hangover on Athrun's part and general lightheadedness on Kira's part. They had made the mistake of delving into one of the hard liquor bottles that had been 'acquired' from the former Imperial Infantry barracks, something called Scotch. Given how bad it hammered the two Coordinators, Hikaru decided on the spot she wanted nothing to do with such self-inflicted torture.

"And this is where it is supposed to begin, but we first have to wait for our hung-over colleagues to get some caffeine in them," Yzak declares with a decided hint of disdain.

"Hey, I offered you a drink," Athrun notes.

"And I declined for just this reason. I'll save my brandy on the rocks for when we get the bastard working, clear?"

"...Couldn't find any brandy, man..." Kira half-mumbles.

"And I thought Miguel had problems with the hard stuff. You're beating him out on wimpiest drinker in the unit, Strike."

"I'm not sure if that is a good thing or a bad one," Kira replies as the coffee starts getting his mind working somewhat properly.

"Probably both," Athrun replies coldly. "So, where do we start?"

"How many fingers am I holding up?" Yzak held up the classic 'V for Victory' sign.

"Uh," Athrun cocks his head, looking at Yzak. "One plus this," and Athrun flips Yzak the bird for being an officious smartass.

"Works for me," Yzak grumps, getting the message. "All right, now that we're ready to begin, today our primary objective is to pull the stage-1 charge coil housing and begin replacing it with a higher-rated coil. We'll need it for the amperage boosters down the line, and for controlling the taps for the dark energy that really does the dirty work here. I expect rebuilding this to better spec should take about three days."

"Two," Kira corrects Yzak.

"I agree, we can do it in two, piss-eyed drunk at that," Athrun replies.

"Murphy's Law," Yzak rebuffs them. "Always add a gratuity to any operational estimate to counter for Murphy's Law."

"He has a point," Athrun replies after a moment and a heavy sip of high-power coffee.

"Murphy's Law? Never heard it, what is it?" Hikaru asks.

"You've been hanging around gearheads and mechanics for how long?" Athrun asks.

"Over a year, almost two?" Hikaru replies.

"And you've never heard Murphy's Law?" Yzak asks, rather shocked of tone himself.

"I've heard it mentioned, but never really explained. What is it?"

"Anything that can go wrong will go wrong," Athrun, Yzak, and Kira all declare at the same time in the same tone.

"Usually in the worst possible way," Athrun continues.

"And at the most inconvenient time," Yzak adds.

"And in the area of the project with the least amount of backups or redundancy, thereby crippling the whole thing," Kira finishes their series of add-on corollaries to the classic Murphy one-liner.

"Wow, that is really happy-go-lucky," Hikaru replies drolly.

"Anyways, we should get to it," Yzak notes as Kira stands up and stretches in a fashion that caused his spine to pop several times in rapid succession. "Man, that sounded like you just hemorrhaged a disc out of your spine or something," Yzak notes almost with a tone of disgust.

"Nope, felt good," Kira replies offhand as he heads over to his locker and pulls out his toolbox.

Hikaru did not keep a tool set, instead mooching off the nearest toolbox to where she was. She also managed to keep it straight as to whose tools were whose, so nobody took offense. Yzak had a blue-painted box with more electronic gear than mechanical tools, used mainly for covering the inner control systems of the machine.

Athrun was the last to his locker, and Hikaru watched as he opened it. Something large and purple jumped out of the locker and straight at Athrun's chest, causing everyone in the room to jump at least a foot. "SHIT!" Athrun shouts as he drops to the ground under it's jump arc, instinctively drawing his pistol and taking aim at the thing that was now hanging over his head.

Hanging on a spring, that is. A large purple spider, and a kinda cute one at that, were it not used to scare the shit out of everyone in the room.

"Jesus, Kira, that was _slick_, not even a scratch on the lock from where you picked it open," Yzak replies with no shortage of admiration for the sheer bravery of such a prank. "Woulda worked on just about any of us equally, no telltales until it hits you in the face."

"Thank you," Kira replies instinctively, but only after realizes by acknowledging he blew his plausible deniability.

"Kira? What the hell, man?" Athrun asks, still aiming his pistol up from the floor at it.

"I told you I would get my revenge for that stunt you pulled with the crate and the fuzzy arm scare," Kira replies deadpan.

"Oh," Athrun replies, now knowing why this happened. "That...well, I did start this," Athrun replies philosophically, staring past the spider and to the ceiling.

"Even?" Kira asks, offering Athrun his hand.

Athrun nods yes for a few moments, then holsters his pistol and takes the hand to help get up off the floor. "Even," he declares after standing up. "All right, who wants the spider plushie?" Athrun asks after dusting his pants off.

"I'll take it," Hikaru declares, then realizes that she had no clue how it had been attached to the wall of Athrun's locker. "Erm, can I get a hand pulling it?"

"Sure, here," Kira disassembles the spring-load mechanism and gives the whole thing to her. For their effort, the occupants in the room got one of Hikaru's heartwarming smiles as she set it in a corner to be collected later after the work was done.

"All right, jokers, let's get to it. Time may be infinite but our lifespans are not," Yzak concludes the incident with a harsh reminder of the matter at stake.

-x-x-x-

(10 July 987)

One of the requirements of the treaties that Commander Badgiruel had signed was that the Magitek facility had to be disassembled by a multi-national team of the North, South, the _Archangel_, the Espers, and at least one of the Gods that had been freed. Though unlikely on the face of it, the plan was to ensure that the power contained in the facility was not abused and the workings of the Magitek Research Facility were completely eradicated to prevent them being used again by anyone.

The _Archangel_ had sent two of the most unusual people to see to this problem: Murdoch and Pytor. The bulk of the labor was being deployed by the former Imperial Magitek researchers, headed up by (former) Imperial Research Officer Cid, and enforcement was being provided by a company of Narshe Jaegers conspicuously armed with their Enfield Rifles. No bullshit allowed; two who had tried to smuggle an intact draining capsule out had been jailed for three years, no parole. The two attempted thieves had almost been shot on the spot had Murdoch not convinced the Jaegers that using a wrench was somehow more satisfying. Murdoch had been vindicated when the two traitors had tried resisting, and then somewhat creeped out about how much the Jaegers enjoyed using a wrench on them.

"I just thought of something," Murdoch begins; "Once we've disassembled all the Research and Magitek Armor component lines and tooling, what do we do with this facility?"

"A facility to produce the Metal Gear machines would be one course, and likely require little to be reinvented about the facility," Pytor offers.

"I think producing those trucks your ship has would be best. The things that we could move with those things would be immense, and far more reliable than steam power," Cid replies.

"Electric would be the way to go for low emission, then, but fuel oils are just as readily available and in a natural form," Murdoch thinks aloud.

"Bomb Juice?" Cid asks, thinking he knew what was meant. Pressed Bomb Juice was rapidly becoming a hot item, since it was even more potent per liter than diesel fuel was, just not quite as stable. Refining would be a minimalistic task, no more so than pressing grapes, though getting the Bombs would be difficult unless regulated bounty hunting was performed.

"Exactly. Damn stuff is just useful, I think it can even be gelled into napalm if we tried," Murdoch comments.

"Napalm?"

"Hot-burn fuel that has been turned into a heavy liquid. Sticks to everything and burns for hours. Hellishly effective against structures and infantry."

"Can be deployed by aircraft bomb or by rockets," Pytor interjects. "When I was in Sibko training, I used Infernos—napalm rockets by another name—to great effect against other warriors, as most Clan Omnimechs are notorious for overheating under combat load."

"Oh, yeah, jack the heat up and they can't do a thing about it," Murdoch replies, never really considering that angle.

"What would we be lacking if we started building trucks?" Cid asks, apparently fixated on the thought of moving forty tons of freight easily.

"Well, you'd need good tires, something I've only seen on your Mag Roader (2) bio-units, and transmissions for the truck engines. We can probably do the engine specs and design easily. Hell, you want to win points, import the engines from Figaro and have Doma do tires and fuel," Murdoch opines.

Cid was writing notes down furiously. "You may have just saved this facility from going completely under," he declares.

"Hold on, Cid, hold on!" Murdoch half-shouts. "We want this facility to go completely under, but to be reborn as something else. The whole Magitek line has to be shitcanned first before we can redeploy it for something else. You clear?"

"Wow, why? I mean, yeah, using Magitek is immoral, but you don't have to completely wreck the facility before we retask it, do you?"

"Oh hell no," Murdoch replies immediately. "No, we just have to remove any of the fabrication for the Magitek, including the Esper Research equipment, and break it all down. Scrap it and recycle it. After that, the building is out of our hands," Murdoch concludes. "You want to build trucks, go for it, you want to build beach umbrellas, go for it, not our concern once the Magitek stuff is toast."

"Got it," Cid replies immediately.

"You there!" Pytor shouts, pointing. "Step it up on dismantling those capsules! That glass is supposed to be smelted and reforged already!"

"Yes sir!" one of the workers in question shouts back.

"Another thing you will have to correct is the roads between destinations. There is a lot to this southern continent; the four largest cities not including the Eastern Gate have very poor roads to and from, sometimes inside their bounds. If you want practical road transportation, the roads will need to be graded, paved, and most of all, maintained thoroughly and regularly." Surprisingly, this wisdom was from Pytor, whose normal affectations they all considered to be blowing things up, not improving them.

"He's right, roads are a must for high-speed truck traffic. Good roads. Graded brick at the least, pavement would be better, like concrete or asphalt," Murdoch declares.

"I think with the labor available now, we can probably do that," Cid replies. "Easier, if we could get the Espers to help since they would benefit as well. How cooperative are they really being?" he wonders aloud.

"Downright civil," Pytor replies immediately. "I think they realize that they were partly at fault for the animosity of the past millennia. If you covet power, everyone else will want it."

"More to the point, they know they can't live alone and isolated, their world is too big and too interwoven to this one," Doom says as he steps up to the observation platform they were watching things from. "And you are correct about coveting power, Mechwarrior. Too many people now have Magic on both sides to walk away from that kind of power, but your team shows that even the magic of the Gods can be used for good purpose if it is done right." Doom had approached from the rear of the facility, having volunteered to help disassemble the research areas and deal with the stored Magitek power in a rational fashion. Murdoch had little doubt that he was storing the power for use himself, but he was not going to argue the matter with the Grim Reaper of old legend.

"I was thinking more along the lines of magic use for civilian purposes, not necessarily combat, Lord Doom," Pytor replies after a moment's silence.

"Both are valid, and both are forms of power. I have been working with the elders and Goddess to work out a way to normalize training and summoning for the groups." Doom hangs his head for a moment, looking almost straight down over the rails. "We created the Espers...as penance to Existence for a crime we committed long ago, to build new lives in compense for the ones we aided in severely hindering or destroying. But they are along the same model as the Summons of elsewhere in Existence, and many of them want to become Summoned, instructors to humans." He looks up and back to the others. "Can you find us the willing, people who want the power to help and protect?"

"You're not going to pay back what you've already run up in debts, man," Murdoch replies somberly. "Some things become a permanent charged debt on your soul, things you can't undo by doing one, ten, a hundred good deeds. You can do better next time, you can pay what your society thinks is just payment for your actions, though it just can't be erased. I think once you realize that, you'll be all right." _Holy crap this is weird, psych'n up a God for shit's sake. How the hell do I get these things on me_, Murdoch asks himself.

After a few moments, Doom smiles. "You and Lady Badgiruel may be the smartest humans I have ever dealt with, closely followed by Captain Ramius, General Leo, and forgiving his lecherous tendencies, King Edgar."

"Hey, I just fix things, you're a God. Some things, though, you don't fix 'em, but you do better next time. You been through the _Archangel_ before?"

"Indeed," Doom replies immediately. He considered it a fascinating ship, but silently he wondered why such a technological marvel also had a strong magic and spatial aura about it...

"You go down through the Sauna area?"

"I have, but I did not partake of it."

"There are boxes on the walls outside the saunas. The flag boxes of those who've died on this trip already. We've lost a lot, man, but no matter how hard we try, they ain't coming back. All we can do is pay our honors to those who died saving our asses and do better next time. I'd say it's probably going to be the same for you guys as well, and the others who were in on this mass crime with you. Just do what you can, but do it better, and you won't repeat the mistake next time."

"Most of those vile scum were already dead for their crimes, the remainder have fled their posts forevermore," Doom replies, now understanding completely what Murdoch meant.

"You lazy stravags! If I have to come down there, you will be disassembling and maintaining the toilets in this facility well into tomorrow morning!" Pytor shouts over the rail at the workers below him, who were visibly and quite crassly slacking off. As soon as he began shouting, the whole wad of workers split up almost frantically and got back to their tasks. "I am truly glad this task is almost done, it is beginning to grate on my patience."

"And now I am beginning to understand the Clan mentality," Doom replies.

-x-x-x-

(14 August 987)

(Location: South Figaro Township, Factory District)

Umi was poring over paperwork in the manager's office for the Figaro Arsenal, the factory that produced the wildly popular Enfield Rifle, and was now diversifying into other military small arms. Modernizing the military was the goal of all three of the large powers, mainly because the countryside was no less safe today than it was a year ago. Umi had been called upon to oversee the Figaro factories for that purpose, and though the thought of managing a factory did not really thrill her, she took up the challenge instead of loitering around the _Archangel_.

The theme was World War II weapons. Umi had little to no love of the things, her schooling had pretty much beat any acceptance of warfare out of her, but since her rude awakening in the fields and forests of Cephiro she had learned that war means the difference between a chance to go home and being guaranteed dead before she could return to her family...

...And thank them. Umi knew half of the reason why she was still alive was the wondrous friends she had come across in the travels, the remainder was her iron will to not give up before going home. Saving the worlds of Cephiro, the Inner Sphere and Terra, was all well and good but saving worlds and being a hero was not in her blood. Hikaru, definitely, Fuu, maybe (she was a self-confessed RPG gamer and saving the world is integral to most RPGs), but not Umi. Thus, she was running on determination to go home, and that is something she figured she owed her family. Someone, somewhere, could and likely would consider such conduct selfish but Umi didn't really look at it that way.

The numbers were adding up. They always did; one thing Figaro Arsenal had going for it was personnel that were loyal and efficient, and the quality of material coming south from Narshe was exceptional. The quality of material coming from Vector was just as good. The flip-side was that verifying sheet after sheet of nothing but production quotas and listings of units turned out numbed her brain after a while.

After a half-hour, her head hit the desk. "Any normal girl would have flipped out by now...." she tells herself. "I'm just barely sixteen, I've been the next best thing to a soldier for two years, and now I'm practically running a factory that builds high-power rifles and sub-machineguns. Something is wrong with my life, seriously wrong," Umi grumps as she puts her head down on her forearms on the desk surface. "No, no, no!" She berates her own logic. "That's the pacifist schooling talking! That belief is not going to get you home, girl!" she rages at the paperwork centimeters below her nose. "I need to get out of here before the numbers start telling me to do things," Umi pushes herself away from the desk and stands up. "Definitely can't end up like Flay, or I'm toast."

Getting out of the office and the building for her was simple enough. All she had to do was tell the Foreman that she'd done the numbers and they all came back green, so she was headed out for the day. There was no objection, the shift was about to change anyways and the Foreman did most of the dirty work of making sure these things worked out properly.

That accomplished, she was instantly reminded of a lesson Murdoch taught her: 'The air is always fresher on the way out than it is on the way in or during the duty shift.' The air did seem fresher to her by far than it had in the morning, despite the growing stink about South Figaro as more metalworking shops were opening up by the week. Hardly a pleasant smell, the constant burning of coal to heat blast furnaces for the metal-hungry forging and stamping industries, but the smell of industry and booming economy she could tell. Her intention was business major through Secondary schooling and college, therefore she could look at the numbers and tell that the rough times and uncertainty were over, Figaro and Doma, and even Vector were now booming as people no longer feared the inevitable war to come. Things were looking up for the locals, but word from the Teleporter Labs was that setbacks were driving the deploy time back bit by bit.

Wandering around the southeast of town, she saw houses and businesses interleaved, people in the streets going about their daily tasks. Nothing special, but reassuring. A busy people with honorable politicians above them were less likely to call for war than any others, which made things more stable in the long run. A few greeted her, most were cordial, almost all that she passed knew she was one of the Magic Knights that had led the Espers in the most Gods-awful bead down of any military force they had ever seen. There was much respect among the people on the ground for that, which both did and did not thrill her in the long run.

"Huh?" she asks a strange sign she just walked past, looking at the sign closer. "Magic classes? I could always use more magic," Umi says. "Wonder if they accept walk-ins." Without a second thought to the contrary, she tested the doorhandle and found it opened readily. A moment later she was through the door and tt did not take her long to realize what was inside: not much. A simple circle of six benches—four persons in the room total—with one of them wearing the non-combat garb of the Undine, a water Esper. Of the two on the benches, one was an older guy, the other two were ladies in simple garb. Other than that, it appeared to be just an average building in a row of 'em.

"Come in, come in, please," the Undine requests immediately, realizing that someone had just entered. "You are here for the training in basic magic?"

_I always wanted to learn more than just a few spells_, Umi thinks quickly. "I wasn't sure if this was the place or not..." she begins.

"This is the correct establishment," the Undine says. "I was just beginning the day's lesson and regimen. You are well come."

"Thank you," Umi gives a significant bow. "I am Umi Ryuuzaki, of the Archangel Team."

"Umi...as in Magi Knight Umi? Of the Rune God Selesce?" the Undine asks warily after a moment of overcoming the shock of being told such.

"I am," Umi replies calmly. "Though, being a Magic Knight, I'm more along the 'Knight' side than the 'Magic' side, so I'm willing to learn anything that can help, if you are willing to teach me?"

"Certainly," the Undine replies immediately after regaining composure if not a ration of decorum. "It would be an honor, milady Magic Knight. Please join the group."

"Thank you," again with a bow, before Umi does take a seat among the group.

"Well, to continue where I left the discourse, the shared history between the Human and Esper is indeed a bloody one, and rightfully so, but it is not the whole story. Among both groups, the Human Magitek and the Espers, battle wizardry accounted for less than a third of the skills in use," the Undine says, with emphasis on the 'less than a third' in his sentence. "For every Magitek Knight and Combat Esper, there were at least two among both sides who truly excelled at healing and general purpose magic, not in the deadly arts. To both sides, this fact is ignored but it is there for any who want to see it. Certainly it is the same upon your ship, Magic Knight?"

Umi was not expecting to be included in the lesson, but had no problem with it after a moment's hesitation. "Uh, yeah, there's about twenty-five dedicated fighters on the ship, and about a hundred or more in support crew. It amazed me at first, I thought everyone on a warship was a fighter, but most of them just run the ship and never get to shoot the guns."

"And this also applies to the human and Esper societies: for every soldier in anyone's military, there are at least twenty, as many as fifty non-soldiers in both groups. It would only make sense that most of the spellcraft would be for civil purpose, and this is where the teaching always begins; once you learn the basics, you can advance to learning the more advanced combat spellcraft, the more advanced civil and general purpose spellcraft, or a combination of both. We will begin today by learning how to levitate the stones that are on the bench behind me."

"Yes, sir," the two ladies in the learning group chant, believing it an explicit order.

"Please open your spellbooks and prepare to transcribe your first spell." All four of the others open their recording books, though Umi took a moment to find the fountain pen and book under her bench waiting for her. "The spell is as follows: _**Of gravity I annul to bring buoyant this object as I Levitate Object**_, and there you would either point to the object or gaze hard at it, though the gaze trick is for more advanced spellcasters. Please begin attempting to levitate the stones as you see fit," the Undine instructor declares as he steps aside to allow clear sight to them.

Umi does point first. "_**Of gravity I annul to bring buoyant this object as I Levitate Object**_," she chants letter-perfect, and after a few moments the stone that she was pointing to began hovering off the surface of the bench...then immediately shot up to the ceiling and bounced off the wooden clapboard that sufficed for the inside layer of the roof. Once it hit the roof it continued traveling upward by way of floating uphill until it was at the highest point in the roof and hovering motionless. "Oh, wow, it worked!" Umi half-squealed before the rock dropped and narrowly missed landing on one of the students.

"I can tell you are versed in the power of the Magi, if not in the ways thereof," the Undine notes. "If you shall try next?" and he indicates the first of the two ladies in the room that was not Umi.

"_**Of gravity I annul to bring buoyant this object as I Levitate Object**_," the lady chants, pointing clearly to one of the other stones on the bench. The stone in question slowly takes off from the bench but achieves no more altitude than a meter clearance.

"An excellent start," the Undine declares. "This will require drilling, but an ostentatious beginning compared to the average among Espers. You shall be next, good sir," and the instructor indicates the younger of the two ladies in the room.

"_**Of gravity I annul to bring buoyant this object as I Levitate Object**_," she declares, and the stone that she indicated raised only a half-meter for her efforts.

"This is what I seek to see. The more you cast spells, the more effective your spellcraft becomes, and the more effective the spellcraft of those around you becomes. Even failures are still beneficial, for you are still improving even slightly. Please continue."

For Umi, the lessons were something more rudimentary than she expected, but she also knew she would never guess the chants for _**Levitate Object**_, _**Read Hidden Marks**_, _**Heal Minor Cuts**_, and _**Glowing Ball**_. A far cry from her _**Watter Dragon**_ spell, but as the Undine had mentioned more than once, she had the power of a true Magitek Knight but not the skills of one. Despite her insane levels of power comparative to her skills, Umi never received a crass comment from any of the other inductees. Each of the persons in the room had to cast at least a hundred spells of the four types during the day's training, which made Umi wonder if her teaching was simply a case of perfection by repetition or something else.

"Before we break for the day, Lady Umi," and Umi focuses back in on the Undine from her mind wandering on a strange tangent. "I would like you to use the Heal Minor Cuts spell on me, please," and before any word could be said the Undie had drawn a small belt knife, presented his forearm, and cut a spiral slash into it. Umi could tell by the way the Undine bit his bottom lip that it was a rather painful experience for him.

"Oh man, that's just freaky how you did that," Umi declares. "I'll do it, but please don't use yourself for a testbed any more, please," Umi declares as she stands and approaches. "_**The bounties of Nature and its regenesis shall eliminate the painful scrapes by Heal Minor Cuts**_," Umi chants, touching the forearm of the Undine in question, as was required of the spell. Rather grotesquely, the cut itself seemed to fold in on itself as the damaged tissue rebuilt itself into a normal forearm. "Is that...right?"

"It is excellent, I feel nothing. Truly your power is amazing, Magic Knight." He looks to the students and gives a bow to them. "The class is concluded for the day. Each of you has made measurable progress, and tomorrow we continue with more spells. Though not necessary, I do advise you practice your spells tonight, the more you use the spells the better they shall become. Thank you." The other six of the class (two more had entered and joined at random) stood, bowed to their instructor, and were gone in less than a minute. Umi remained, however, as the Instructor requested she did.

"Simply be wary that your power can also be a curse, Magic Knight, or it will eat your soul doing some of the things that those corrupt on power tend to do."

"Thank you, sir Undine," Umi bows deeply. "I have many friends on the ship, we all keep each other straight and sane between the insane battles we have to fight. I will be back tomorrow for more instruction, if that is all right with you?" Umi sounded genuinely concerned, as her power was immense and some people would not want to deal with that.

"Please do so, and bring any others who would like to learn with you. It has been a pleasure, and I would love to learn tales of your existence and exploits, but I must return home to my daughters."

"Thank you again," and a moment thereafter Umi was moving toward the door with a smile on face and a spring in her step.

Nothing beat learning as far as she could tell. Of course, Flay would beg to differ, but Flay had not been seen nor heard of since the day she was released.

-x-x-x-

(5 September 987)

"Vector shall not be overlong before 'tis ready to stand upon its own," Lord Cyan judges.

"Concur," Natarle replies. "Almost all benchmarks for the installation of a legitimate government are in place." Natarle knew this well, she had done most of the organizing of the new state herself. She had wanted to set up a republic, but both Figaro and Doma had preferred an honorable monarchy or oligarchy system. Not that either really mattered to Natarle in the beginning, she intended to leave here one day with the ship.

"It will still be months, _years_ before Vector is completely ready to stand alone," King Edgar declares. "And, with the exception of the Imperial Generals, we have no line of command or succession. This will need to be rectified before we can release the nation," he completes his pitch smoothly, and the glance he gave Natarle was plausibly deniable in such a circumstance. Commander La Flaga thought little of it. Natarle knew otherwise.

Natarle had to admit, in the beginning she was completely willing to walk away once the Teleporters were done being modified. Today...not so much completely. With everything that had been transpiring, Natarle had found herself personally not wanting to leave the state she had essentially rebuilt with the help of the Espers. After a fashion, it was less than surprising to her: spend a year of hard effort rebuilding something, you're not going to want to leave it. And yet, she found that still did want to return. The combination thereof was beginning to tear at her.

And the hell of it was, if Natarle was actually offered the job, she had little doubt that she would accept it. Those unpleasant tasks of first gutting the original Empire, and rebuilding it, seem now a far less challenging tasking than ever her combat controller position was, and she found it a bit more satisfying in the long run. A year without battle simply reinforced her growing belief her purpose was here, in Vector, no longer on warship trying to transit hell the long way without melting the ice in the cafeteria. Not that she considered doing so was anything lacking of challenge, but with time comes wisdom and she finally realized that her battle was here and not at her home in the Earth Alliance.

And then, the rest still had to be dealt with. "Excuse me, gentlemen, I see someone I need to speak to," Natarle bows out gracefully and heads past Edgar to now-Ensign Kojiro Murdoch.

"Commander, how goes?" Murdoch asks in his usual, casual fashion.

"Excellent," Natarle replies evenly. "The Magitek Facility, it is completely disassembled?"

"Everything except the components that were rotated into the assembly line for trucks," Murdoch replies. "Pytor's the one who needs thankin', he kept those Imperial sore-loser slackers from sabotaging the effort or dragging it out overlong."

"Diesel-drive heavy cargo trucks. Whose idea was that?" Natarle asks, never properly grasping who came up with the idea to use the Magitek Manufacturing Facility for production of trucks, given that the last report on the status of the facility was rather fuzzy as to who was responsible.

"Cid, actually, ma'am," Murdoch replies offhand. "His idea. I was just plannin' on tearing the whole thing down; Pytor suggested that Vector use it to build those Metal Gear monsters for defense purpose."

"Not allowed," Natarle replies immediately. "Treaty states that we can rebuild the ones already on hand, but we're not allowed to produce any more unless Doma and Figaro get one each at half going market value." Which was a price that the Free Vector Government was not willing to pay right now, so a stop order had been placed on all Metal Gear production.

"That sucks. Then again, they built those things to take down the _Archangel_, so other than armored scare tactics or artillery, they really don't have much use."

_They are more useful than you think_, Natarle thinks but does not say. Murdoch was overgeneralizing the differences between the units, thinking the Metal Gear was an artillery or anti-aircraft platform and not the legged battletank style that it more closely matched (similar to the Omnimechs or Mobile Suits). Natarle understood different, and she knew intrinsically that the Metal Gear units would make a fearsome weapon if used properly. Certainly not the match of the Gundams, but enough of a threat to turn heads as it had done with the Doma and Figaro troops.

"Still, they beat the pants off nothing...I guess you don't agree with me on that one?" Murdoch asks after interpreting her expression and posture.

"No, actually not," Natarle replies. "There's a lot that can be corrected on the designs, but those things are walking tanks, not high-mobile artillery with short-range defense. Given time, I don't see much in the way of assets being able to stop them short of the Espers." Natarle was obligated to throw the Espers in as a caveat, since they were not going away and they were easily capable of the kind of destruction that was normally reserved for mobile army or naval forces.

"Gotcha, ma'am," Murdoch replies. Something about her mannerisms was bugging him... "Beggin' your pardon, Commander, you all right? You seem distracted," Murdoch asks.

_I am, in more ways than one_, Natarle thinks and thus proves him right. "A lot on my mind, Murdoch. We've come so far, here and on our trip to get home, yet we still have a long way to go," she judges.

"Yzak think's he'll get the teleporters working straight-up without issue. I don't think we'll be away from home too much more, Commander."

"Yzak is good, but so was Odysseus. Care to take a guess how many times he got close to home and never quite made it?" Natarle asks.

"I don't have a clue, I'm not going to guess, and that is seriously depressing, Commander," Murdoch replies drolly.

Natarle got the hint. "Don't stake your hopes on one final solution, Murdoch. You better than most should know that one already."

"Aye, ma'am. By your leave?" Murdoch asks as he notices King Edgar approaching with the Goddess of the Espers following close.

"Thank you, Murdoch," Natarle offers as a dismissal. As he was leaving the King and Lady Jaide approached.

"Commander, I am told by the King that several of the persons other than the Magic Knights are also linked to the Rune Gods," Jaide asks as the two approach and come to standing nearby. "And that you are one of their ranks," she adds after a moment.

"I am," Natarle replies. "This is part of it, but I think it goes farther," Natarle indicates her magic glove.

"How so?" King Edgar asks.

"I think at a level the linked can understand what we each are feeling, even at distance. It's more than just that if the person involved is psionic." Natarle's clipped tone told a story in and of itself, to which Jaide immediately knew what happened.

"Oops," Jaide says with a evil smile. "I can guess what happened. How many of your staff were close at the time?"

"The whole command staff, bridge staff, and the pilots." With the rearranging of quarters and Miriallia being promoted, she now had an officer's berth toward the front of the ship. At that time, though, they had been in Tolle's quarters, which was a deck below the officer's suites, though a deck did not make much of a difference in psionic cross-bleed. The reality was that Miriallia really did not know how powerful she was in this respect, and Natarle thought she was only getting more powerful. Lately it had been the Captain and the other Commander, and what little Natarle knew of Murrue's prior relationship, she was definitely not going to begrudge the Captain the effort. "Call it about twenty-five persons, or a fifth of the ship overall."

"Oh...my," Jaide half-squeaks. "That...that had to disrupt your ship's routine."

"The first time, it was rather unpleasant being kept awake like that, much less the other component of it, but after a while I got at least somewhat used to the fact it was there, but never the feelings." Natarle did not need to speak what those feelings were, she could tell Jaide knew and knew well what was referenced.

Edgar, on the other hand... "I must admit my defeat here. I have no clue what you two are speaking of," he notes judiciously.

"A good thing, that is," Natarle replies. "You would not relish being subject to what I, and by inference Lady Jaide, have gone through. Trust me on that if nothing else tonight."

Edgar simply nods twice. "While I am thinking about it, Flay Allster, she will be left here?"

"Indeed," Natarle replies. "Her stay of execution is only so long as she does not cross the _Archangel_ or her crew again."

"Is she not linked to Selesce as you are?" Edgar asks fairly.

"Indeed. We shall see what happens to her after she no longer serves with the team," Natarle replies.

"So, you are not concerned for her?" Jaide asks.

"I understand what she is, milady Goddess. Flay is an excellent manipulator. She will find some way to survive by making others do the heavy lifting, in due time she may even flourish when she has built her semblance of power in her own little way. I am not worried about Flay so much as I am worried about what she can do to others, particularly the government here in Vector if she gains a bully enough pulpit for her purposes."

"Ah," King Edgar groans in surprise. "To that end, I have a proposal for you, Commander, about the upcoming trade summit between the Four Governments, and I was wondering..."

-x-x-x-

(20 October 987)

It had required over a year of off-time searching, but she had narrowed down the location of the last known Tonberry. The absurdity of the situation was quite clear to Hikaru. Magic Knights normally did 'knightly' things or 'magic' things, to which what she was now armed with was definitely not either of the above. Searching for the Tonberries could be considered a rather Knightly quest, and one she wanted to do to help with the ship, but the way in which she had to do it was far from a knightly proposition.

The Thompson Sub-machine gun was far from knightly, in fact Hikaru remembered seeing it in old gangster movies imported from America and subtitled. It was a weapon famous the world over for being a weapon of organized crime and open defiance of the law. It was firepower in a small package like few others, the heaviest of sub-machine guns used in World War II in terms of man-stopping power, though this was arguable among the crews that were building the weapons as the Russian PPSh SMG had a terrifying rate of fire for its smaller bullet. And no SMG was a match for a Light Machine Gun or the infamous fifty-caliber.

On the other hand, it was an iconic weapon of the Allies' strength and industrial might in World War II. The Thompson had served both in Europe and the Pacific, especially in the battles to strike down her homeland of Japan. This also added to her mixed feelings on the subject, Hikaru definitely retained her loyalty to her nation since it had done nothing wrong since the disaster of World War II, but the fact that it had served against her nation in the past still chilled her slightly to hold one.

The clincher and the victory for the Thompson had to be the battle against the Grenade in the forest, though. She had managed to shoot _herself_ by way of bouncing a weaker 9mm round off the bottom side of the Grenade, where it struck the ground and buzzsawed into her leg, with very painful results. Even with some healing help from Nicol she still could remember the pain and had problems walking for a week. She carried the Thompson in response to that little FUBAR, as there were monsters around the world worse than the Grenades and Bombs, and a little 9mm pistol would not cut it against them. Only to make things more powerful for Hikaru, the Thompson she was carrying was outfitted with tungsten core armor-piercing spire point ammo in lieu of the normal 'ball' (round nose) ammo. Hardened carapace may not be able to stop her now.

Which was probably in the category of 'wise idea' as far as Hikaru could tell. Zozo had been 'cleaned up' mostly by the Figaro infantry stationed there, but not completely. There was still a lot of street crime to be had, especially in the tenements of the larger skyscrapers. There was also word that a renegade Imperial soldier was on the prowl in the town, one that was exceptionally well trained in the use of magic. Hikaru figured if she did cross him in the course of searching the tenements and slums for the elusive Tonberry, she could ventilate him with a quick burst of 45 ACP in armor piercing. She even had magazine pouches attached to the 'skirt' of her armor with a total of twenty stick magazines carried on her at the ready. It was a lot of firepower, but Hikaru could handle it since her armor felt weightless anyways.

"Hi, excuse me, I'm looking for this guy, he was supposedly...drat," Hikaru says as the lady in question scurries down an alley and into a building. "This is not going to be pleasant," Hikaru grumps, realizing that the slums and the vertical slums (the skyscrapers) were rather profuse in this town. It was proof that life itself is not fair, that in any equation there will always be people who are getting the short end of the rope compared to others. Of what she understood the history of the town to be, someone tried violating that little fact in the form of socialism, and thereby completely collapsed any semblance of order in the town. _When in doubt, refer back to the basic rule_, Hikaru thinks aloud, reciting a mantra she had picked up from the mechanics on the _Archangel_ about the premise of life being fair, making sense, or working right the first time.

_Rayearth, can you sense it_? she asks inside the confines of her mind to the soul of the Rune God that also borrowed part of her mind's space.

_It is not far, slightly north of west from where you stand. Your glove shall show you the path_, and Hikaru held it up so she could look into it. A line was pointing roughly west toward where the Tonberry theoretically was.

_Yeah, right into the really crappy part of town_, Hikaru grumps as she looked around the run-down buildings in the area. After a moment she cinches the sling in tighter and makes sure the bolt was locked in the open position, meaning it was ready to fire (3). With a guide direction available to her from her magic glove, she began the trek down the street that she would much rather be miles away from.

As she walked, her eyes ranged back and forth around her, never dwelling on one object any longer than it took to identify it. One of the things she had learned from the 'real' military personnel on the _Archangel _(Kira, Tolle and Miriallia did not count) was that when searching an area, stare usually equates to die. The Crazy Cook had even gone so far as to call the phenomenon the 'Thousand Yard Stare Syndrome', meaning any injury or fatality sustained by an enemy up close or 'in your baffles' while you were busy looking into the distance and seeing nothing of importance. After a few minutes, she checked her glove and came to the conclusion that she had at least a mile and a half to go, given how little the tracing line had moved.

_God, this gun is not light_, Hikaru thinks crassly as she flexes her shoulders on a quick stop-and-reorient break. She also used her pause to check behind her to make sure nobody obvious was trying to follow her. The Thompson she carried was about as heavy as the assault rifles the _Archangel_ had acquired on Twycross, and the assault rifles in question had better range, more ammo, better accuracy, and mounting points for optics, tactical shotguns or grenade launchers. Satisfied that nobody was following her obviously, she checked again and continued her walk deeper into what was quickly taking on the appearance of the prototypical urban hell.

The houses to each side were less than pleasant, with plenty of broken windows and even some that were boarded up. Few people were on the streets, even in broad daylight, and those that were seemed to be of the type of people that gave Hikaru the creeps even thinking about. After another half-kilometer of walking, she noticed less and less people on the streets, until she saw something that usually presaged a serious problem: someone looking behind her ducked inside her house with clear panic on her expression.

Hikaru used that moment to stop and check her glove for indication of where she needed to go. This time the guide line had moved to a different heading, but still mostly indicated to move in the western direction. As she checked she also took the time to check her surroundings, and she found that though she had not found any threats forward of her advance, there was a small collection behind her. And not one of them a lady, at that.

"Is there a reason why you're following me?" Hikaru asks politely when they stop after realizing that she was indeed observing them.

"Guess who's about to become our next camp whore?" the lead says as he brandishes what might be a baseball bat had baseball existed at some time in this world's history.

_I know what the average guy thinks about someone like you, Hikaru. One word: Lolicon. If they push and you don't want it, kill 'em all and count the bodies. Nobody on this ship gives two shits about rapists or so-called 'humane rights'. Send 'em to hell and be damned to the consequences._ On the face of it, Murdoch's advice only made some sense at that time, and that was really only in a detached way. Staring at the face of it, now, she knew exactly what he meant, and how to deal with it.

And still she hesitated to do anything except stare blankly at them for a moment. She quickly weighed options such as running or taking cover, but no such option gave her a decent chance of escape without being caught and subjected to things she _really_ didn't want to think about, despite her aversion to killing things. Without an idea of what to do nonviolent, she quickly came to the conclusion it was either fight or surrender. The matter became all that more clear when their 'lead' pulled a belt knife and tested the sharpness of the blade with his thumb. A moment thereafter the whole enemy group began to close in on her, leaving little option.

The weapon came up and the notch sights centered over the lead's chest as she instinctively took the weapon off 'safe' and into 'semi'. As she was acting on training and instinct, Hikaru had enough time to realize the shock in his expression before she fired a pair of shots into his abdomen. The 220-grain AP slugs tore through him with little hesitation, tore through the guy behind him with tumbling effect, and kept going into the side of a structure nearly 300 meters behind. Immediately she traversed left, centered on another of the punks with a club for a weapon, shot, shot, two body shots that blew through the target and killed the guy behind as well. Traverse right to one that had a short sword and was trying to charge, shot, shot; one in the chest, one in the head, and he hit the ground skidding and flopping, clinically dead before the sound of his body hitting the deck was heard by anyone. She traversed left onto the nearest of the remaining standing, though his was the course of running away as quickly as his legs could take him and Hikaru did not believe in shooting someone in the back.

She walked up to the seven that she had laid out or killed, looked over the dead and wounded, and deemed them no more of a threat to her again. With practiced motion she pulled a new magazine from her pouches, reached up to the partial in her gun, ejected and pulled the partial, moved her hand aside two inches and rammed home the fresh magazine, and put the partial in her pouch, effectively flawlessly performing a reload with retention as she had been trained by the Cooks. Just like that, she was done with the defeated, two of which were just now starting to moaning or screaming.

Hikaru continued walking toward the guide line that was her destination, sparing only a glance back and a wince for what she had done. She knew she'd see the sight picture of her gun and the faces beyond it in her dreams to come, but it beat the alternative. After all, she had heard that rape caused nightmares, just as bad or worse than killing someone. _Eight shots, seven downed enemies_, Hikaru thinks with a physical sigh to that effect.

_The words of the mechanic ring true, Magic Knight. Their intent was less than civil. Some would decry your actions, but those same people have little to no understanding of the sheer cruelty of life. Especially the cruelty to the survivors of such foul imprecations_, Rayearth declares a bit coldly.

Hikaru nodded silently in acknowledgement of the truth; again her eyes ranged back and forth over the area, though it did not take her more than one sweep to see the Tonberry that was now standing in front of a structure about 400 meters in front of her, looking directly at her. There were others out and about, but though they were wary of her they did not flee immediately as they had before. Many were simply amazed that someone like her existed: a young gorgeous lady with flame-red armor and enough firepower to massacre street gangs by the dozen.

The Tonberry was less than pleased with the racket overall, but was rather satisfied that the local hooligans (who had been noisier longer than her SMG) were now dead or fled.

-x-x-x-

(16 December 987)

The visibility of the Archangel Team was what really cemented support for their proposals among the governments and mostly from the people. None of the Team hid anything, hid anywhere. The Helmswoman Mina had become one of the chief dignitaries to the Espers, her daughter training with the children of the Espers in magic just the same. Newman and Chandratta were foremost among the personnel in Doma seeing to the industries and mostly to the expansion of Doma's railways all the way to Figaro. Umi in Figaro was making immense leaps and bounds of industry and society possible and manageable for the citizens, with glowing praise from both town elders and the King himself.

The real PR work was happening in Vector, however. Natarle was proving the most adroit at organizing a decent government for the fledgling non-Imperial state and keeping relations with the other states or Espers balanced. Petty Officer Ryback and his Commando Team had organized and thoroughly trained a police force for Vector, keeping the peace and enforcing the just rule of law. Despite their focus on the Teleporters, the four pilots involved in the project had also managed to convert the electricity facilities to Geothermal power and power the whole city without the use of Magitek, among other technological feats. Murdoch and his Madmen, with copious help from the former Imperial Magitek Research staff, had secured their manufacturing systems and were now turning out two of the 15-ton cargo trucks per day; demand for the trucks was so high that a two-month backlog of production was waiting to be filled. The Engine Mechanics from the Archangel had moved quickly on what they sensed to be a boom market, securing the services of bounty hunters to begin harvesting Bombs and Grenades as the mechanics set up a proper refinery for extracting the 'essence of Bomb' that would quickly become one of the greatest fuel sources for the planet as they figured. The Tonberries even took up the task of managing restaurants as part-time work when not running the galley in the _Archangel_, catering to tourists who wanted to see the ship that had brought the Empire to its knees.

And Murrue had turned out to be one of the crowning jewels of visibility among the Archangel Team. Even as she ran an absolutely hectic schedule of building the functions of a government, bringing order to chaos in the power vacuum of the Empire's passing, and all the negotiations that had to be done to help stabilize relations between the various city-states and larger governments, she still managed time to get out and listen to the people. It was this, listening to the people and their concerns, that truly endeared the people of Vector to her and her crew. There were calls off and on to instill the Archangel Team as the ruling body of Vector, as much for their honor and popularity as for their policies and willingness to listen to the people. And a lot of people wanted Captain Murrue Ramius as the new Regent (or whatever title she took on for the task).

They all knew that the _Archangel_ would not remain forever, the people knew the Archangel Team intended on leaving to return to their home someday, but they all knew that the _Archangel_ would never leave them completely. The white warship had silenced an Empire bent on world domination, united two-thirds of the world and the Espers against a numerically superior foe and still won a resounding victory that would never be passed in the annals of history to come, or so the people believed. And, most telling of all, the Archangel Team had raised the Gods of old legend to consciousness _without the apocalypse that was foretold in the same legend_. Most every civilian on planet was convinced that the _Archangel_ truly lived up to its namesake, after coming to understand what an Archangel really was: a bringer of hope, a soldier of honor, a denizen of light.

And then, there was the reality.

"This is pretty much the end of it, Captain," the Adjutant to Vector Affairs notes, handing off the last of her paperwork to the Captain. "Only thing outstanding is formal elections to the positions, which if I am understanding right will not be ready for at least another six months?"

"That is about the size of it," Murrue replies. Setting up a republic was not a simple task, and after having read everyone from John Locke to George Washington to Thomas Paine on the subject, she was still not convinced it was any easier than it had been even with a less-than-contentious civilian constituency. The United States, as one example, had a hellish fight to get their government going even within themselves, having to go through a crippled Confederacy before the democracy that they eventually settled on became reality. It all ended along with most of the rest of the world as they knew it, for when the fuel ran out every industrialized nation ground to a screeching halt. It was that event that brought the beginning of the Cosmic Era, with all its horrors and its wonders that Murrue still wanted to return to. "The work has begun on the systems to collect votes, but that won't be ready for weeks." Much as America, the voting would be handled by ballot card, which would be the simplest and most efficient system for now until the locals came up with higher-end electronics. The hold-up was in hiring and training persons to make sure the votes were counted right.

"If I may ask, when you leave and are back to being the Captain of the _Archangel_ instead of 'the busiest one-armed technician' in Vector, will you have need for me at that time?" the Adjutant asks.

Murrue grimaces. "If there's one thing this insane odyssey has taught me, Keilona, anything I expect will never come close to truly estimating what we shall encounter. I can bet hard cash that sometime along the way I will have to summon you, but if you do want a position on the _Archangel_ I can arrange it either by contract or as an unattached Esper," Murrue replies.

"I, er, still haven't decided that," the Adjutant replies. "I just don't know which way I want to go, remain here or follow the crew."

"You've got a lot of time to figure it out, don't worry about it right now," Murrue counters.

Keilona, one of the Seraphim Espers, nods in response to her summoner-employer's declaration. She knew there was time to work with, but one of the catchphrases of the _Archangel_ was that 'time may be infinite, but our lifespans are not'. It was as much a sop to the relentless march of time and fate as it was motivation to get home, and it had taken weeks for Keilona to properly understand the principle behind fate. Seraphim were not strictly happy-go-lucky Espers, yet the concept of fate and the march of time was almost alien to their order. They lived their lives day to day, doing what they could and helping wherever they were needed, but other than that were not a forward-looking bunch by and large. Keilona was one of the exceptions, her capacity for analysis and planning was easily rival to that of the Coordinators, though in every other fashion (except looks) was no match to Athrun, Kira, Nicol, or Yzak. Her services had proved invaluable since she took upon herself the task of helping sort out the mess in Vector's new administration.

"Shall that be all, milady?" the Seraphim asks.

Murrue nods twice, thoughtfully. "Yeah, that's about it. Return home or wander for the day?"

"Return home, if you will?" she asks in response.

"_**Dismiss Seraphim**_," Murrue chants, and a moment later she was gone. "Some days I wish it was that easy for me," Murrue grumbles, then picks up her jacket and heads for the door.

_Almost two years_, Murrue thinks aloud as she passes the antechamber to Natarle's office. Helmswoman Mina was still on duty as the Commander's secretary, and in addition to her schoolwork Mina's twelve-year-old daughter Tami was also the courier for the 'Executives' as King Edgar frequently called them. A lot more creepy than Murrue expected, Tami came to attention and saluted properly as she passed the desk, to which she quickly returned the salute. "Still at it, Mina?" Murrue asks.

"Won't be long, Captain," Mina replies. "Natarle's inbox was pretty close to empty when I last checked in."

" 'Kay. Have a good night," Murrue says before moving on and further toward the exit from the Palace and toward the city of Vector.

The day was already dark when she exited the Imperial Capital at Vector, and with clear skies the stars and dual moons were out in full force and grandeur. The hazard of winter, even in more temperate climates, was that the day was still short. Even if she could wander around Vector in nothing more than her Archangel Team uniform, it was still dark. Even at 1900 at night, there was a lot of activity still going on in town, and even in the stilling night as the street lights and shop windows took over for the sun, Murrue received more than a few accolades from the people on the street. Otherwise, Vector could have passed for New York City (what was left of it) or Washington DC back home in the Atlantic Federation.

Eschewing the full dinner that she normally took, Murrue grabbed a meat roll and iced tea from a street vendor, paid her two gold for the combination, and was on her way to see what she could find new in town today. The street vendor in question was more than glad to have customers where he had set up shop, given that a palate of semi-fast food had become the preferred of the urbanites of Vector, restaurants that served fast but also served good, hearty meals. Ultra-fast foods like a meat roll were becoming the exception rather than the norm, though Murrue figured he would not be unemployed for a long time if at all given the quality of his serving.

As she moved around the town, heading slowly east by south, she heard much and saw a lot of activity, but more than that was the feeling. Her ability to read minds was still not on the level that Miriallia could do so, but she could still hear more than just the voices. Hundreds around her, and most of them were giving off an aura of serenity, the calmness of those who were in a comfortable position without volatility or overt threat to their being. It was a far cry from the first days after the invasion, where the terror and desire for vengeance was so great that Murrue would not move about outside without another person along with and a combat shotgun just in case. Today, the only thing she carried was her usual pistol, though she was giving serious thought to upgrading to the 1911 that the ship would take on several dozen sets of because they were available, cheap and very effective.

She did not initially realize it, but after a few blocks of walking and listening, she found herself in the high-class business sector of the town, where the real movers and shakers had their establishments and residencies. The people that Murrue and Natarle had to assure at least once a week that an action taken was not for the purpose of undercutting their business or their personal well-being. In this area, there was much in the way of the glint of gold, the smell of sweet oils, the flapping of expensive fabrics in the breeze as the merchants in the area began to tear down their stalls and storefronts for the day. A few shops held later hours, including the now-infamous brothel and stripclub, but it was not limited to that.

Murrue passed by one of the four jewelrs on the block and thought nothing of it, since said merchant was closing down for the day. Ten meters more, though, and she did take notice: "—And you really think that's going to work, commander?" The voice in question was unmistakably that of Kira. Rather than be obvious about it, Murrue stepped into the shadow of a buttress on an old temple's outside wall, and carefully looked back to the store in question.

"You know the rule, Kira. We make the impossible possible. I don't see anything too wrong with this," Mu declares in his usual nonchalant fashion.

"Commander, is this something impossible or insane? There's a big difference there, keep that in mind," Kira replies staunchly.

"How do you figure?" Mu asks in the same fashion as Kira's last.

"Commander, as I see it, one of two things is going to happen: Either she'll go for it, or she'll rip your head off and kick it down the hall. Granted, it _is_ you, so I'm going to have to say 75-25 your favor, but a one-in-four chance of your skull being used as a substitute football is still not the best odds for someone having to clean up the mess."

"That's pretty harsh," Mu replies, sounding quite a bit hurt.

"I don't think 'harsh' has even begun for us, Commander, and we've already lost personnel in these close-to-three-years we've been wandering. Losing you to 'friendly fire' would not help the crew's morale, or any of us for that matter. Especially Murrue."

Murrue ducked back behind the buttress, and she could tell she was blushing. She had no clue who they were referring to, it could have been any one of the ladies on the ship, and for some reason it came to her mind that it was not her they were referring to.

"You're right, but someone has to do these things right, or all that will happen is we'll end up regretting it in the end. Or at least those of us who survive, that is."

"And I thought you made the impossible possible, Commander," Kira chides his (technically) superior officer. Murrue could tell from the voices that they were moving away from her now...

"Like you said, there is impossible, then there is insane..." and thereafter were they out of hearing range. She checked, the two of them were not in visible range any more, so she stepped out and continued walking.

If nothing else, she had learned that something monumental was likely to happen shortly. As she continued down the street, her mind wandered in dozens of tangents as to what it could be...

-x-x-x-

(Vignette: The Fate of True Warriors)

(Indeterminate Date and Time)

(Indeterminate Location and Dimension)

Kristen Redmond could not really recall having gone to sleep, but that is how it felt to her as she woke up. She knew she might have been knocked out during the battle, that was actually likely since she remembered her Mad Dog Omnimech losing its leg to one of those massive enemy machines with the over-powerful rail gun, maybe she had been knocked unconscious as her crippled Omnimech came down and struck the ground.

With a little effort she pushed herself off the ground and looked around. Everywhere in the distance she could see trees and campfires, two things that had been markedly absent in the canyon and plains that the Doma Regiments had gone head to head against the Imperials. She had remembered seeing something on the horizon, possibly the Espers, but there was no sign of them around here. The people being lit by the fires were not Doma's infantry, nor were they Imperial can-heads as she thought of them, lending her wonder where the hell she was and how to get back to her unit.

"Finally awake, kid?" a gruff guy asks from behind her as she was standing up.

Redmond looks to the guy in question, who fit the description of 'grizzled mercenary' to a tee. The massive beard and non-standard uniform, coupled with the combination of assault rifle and broadsword in sheath made him appear to be three mismatches for the price of one. "What happened? Redmond asks in a civil fashion. One thing she learned since trying to be assertive (sharp) with the _Archangel_ crew was that a kind tone cost you nothing and got you a lot farther than hostility, veiled or open.

"Hard to say, lady," he replies. "Everyone ends up here for very different reasons in the end, but almost always for a good reason. Come, have a seat, Mechwarrior, the night is still young and tomorrow shall be a busy day."

Kristen takes the offered seat on a driftwood log drug up to a campfire. In the light around the fire, she could see five others, each with an interesting mode of dress and armament as far as she could tell.

The one immediately to her right also wore the cooling vest and garb of a Mechwarrior, but he had no 'mech and was instead carrying a Rorynex SMG of some type. The armpatch on his left arm was indistinguishable, the lines on it giving no proper form or recollection to her mind, though the symbol of the Blood Spirit was immediately below it, meaning he had been taken bondsmen from Clan Blood Spirit in years past. The way he held the Rorynex bespoke decades of practice with it, though he could not have been older than Kristen was.

Farther counterclockwise was a lady in a black jumpsuit, a mask pulled up over her forehead. Kristen immediately recognized her as a Ninja, a combination spy and assassin from Feudal Japan over a millennia past in Terran history. The two short swords she carried would likely be incredibly lethal in close quarters, and Kristen had little doubt on her early-twenties frame were hidden at least a half-dozen more weapons. That alone made her extremely dangerous.

In stark contrast to the Ninja, three down the row from her was a medieval Knight, armor and all. The glint of his armor in the firelight and growing moonlight was almost obscene on a battlefield that could naught but be replete with automatic firearms and armored units, making him little more than a target to a good shot. On the other hand, Kristen had to remind himself that the Magic Knights themselves suffered from a one-up on the subject: they had armor based on their school uniforms—a miniskirt and sailor top—which made them effectively targets under the wrong circumstances. Kristen could not help but think that the same fate would befall him as would anyone else in such armor.

Directly across from her rested a guy in a white robe with a rod that looked oddly like a Caduceus Staff. Other than the hard eyes of someone who had seen hard combat more than once in his life, Kristen almost thought he was unworthy to the battlefield...and then reminded herself that she also thought the Magic Knights were unworthy to the battlefield. She could guess by his garb and staff that he was some form of support wizard, likely a healer that kept the rest of the combat team from dying out due to injuries.

Left of center and across the fire sat another guy, this one more of the modern vintage, wearing a soldier's body armor and helmet, but his web harness and gear bespoke someone of an older vintage in combat training. The M-16 rifle was famous throughout the Clans as a historical weapon of the common infantryman, along with the infamous AK-47 or AKM rifles, which were its chief competition. His body armor had several gashes in it from what looked like sword strokes, which made Natarle wonder what the hell was really going on in this land.

The last person at the seating she had not prior checked was the most stunning of them all to Kristen. She was obviously Elemental of some fashion or another, being almost seven foot tall, but not of Clan eugenic at that. She wore blue body armor and a Fritz helmet, with a massive sword similar to that of the Strike Gundam's Schwert Gewehr slung across her back and easily reachable, but she also carried some kind of a light machine gun that fed from what looked like heavier-caliber 8mm or 9mm rifle rounds. Where Kristen thought Natalya was tough, she had little doubt that this lady could rip Natalya apart barehanded and enjoy the process. Added to the sword and MG was the usual soldier's compliment of equipment, grenades, extra ammo, a pistol, combat knife, and other devices. Most telling of all, the sword itself glowed faintly green even against the light and glare of the rising moon and the fires around the area; Kristen could guess that the sword itself was magicked, possibly quite heavily.

It was the Blood Spirit that broke the silence a moment thereafter. "Ah, a Jade Falcon taken bondsmen. I do not recognize the uniform or the insignia of your victors, though," he says in a gratingly malicious fashion.

"Archangel Team, a mercenary unit that came to be by jumping dimensions seemingly at random into the path of our oncoming righteous assault into the Inner Sphere. You?" she asks in counter.

"A group called the Illyaris. We made the mistake of assuming they were Inner Sphere. They were as far beyond the Clans as we were beyond the Successor States. I served as bondsman to them for a while, then ended up here," the former Blood Spirit officer replies.

"Where is here? And how do I return to the lines of the invasion I was part of?"

"There will be no going back," the grizzled one with the assault rifle and broadsword declares. "Mage, if you will?" and he nods to the guy in the white robes.

"_**Flames distort, show us that which transpired unto the battle referenced by way of Flame Illusory Vision**_," the Mage chants, pointing the end of his staff at the centroid of the fire. "Now, Jade Falcon, speak to us of your battle, and we shall see what happened with unclouded eyes," he says.

"I was part of the Northern Invasion against the Imperial forces on a planet the Archangel Team had seemingly randomly landed upon. The Mechwarriors had been assigned to the Doma invasion corridor, as we expected the most resistance from that direction, and as we advanced we encountered the retreating Imperials. A battle ensued, and as we were routing the enemy force they sprung a nasty assault upon us, massive machines with long-range magnetic cannons. We did what we could, but...but...what happened? I remember the Stormcrow went down, a slug went clean through it's gyro housing and the pilot ejected, then the Timber Wolf went down with a hit to the chest, then..." She needed not ask, she saw from the eyes of an infantryman watching her machine. The rail trail terminated in the leg of the Mad Dog, then two seconds later as the Omnimech was falling down the slug struck the cockpit and obliterated it completely, as well as a significant part of the top of the reactor housing. "That...is what happened?"

"That is the battle you speak of, Mechwarrior," the Knight declares. "The art of war you speak of is truly frightful, the sway of battle can change in moments in your lands, and for that I have only the greatest pity for your practitioners."

"Yet, if that is what happened, and I would clearly have been killed, then how am I here speaking to you?" Kristen asks, now very clearly confused. "I, by all rights of what you just showed me, should already be dead!"

"At least she does not question the validity of your magic," the Ninja declares to the Mage.

"That is the hazard of calling upon technologically-trained warriors for this detail," the Elemental lady declares. "Yet, I believe she has at least a cursory versing in the ways of the arcane, despite having been—and soon again to be—an Omnimech pilot."

"In time, she shall learn the ways of the arcane as well," the Mercenary declares. "To answer your question properly, you did die in that canyon, having been struck by that rail gun slug. The catch is, your unit is being tracked by parties well outside your influence, parties that have purpose for your deceased even after they have died. You are one of them."

"What mockery is this? Death is death, yet why am I alive?" Kristen asks, now getting slightly frustrated.

"You are alive because one of the Valkyrie brought you here," the Mercenary replies. A moment later he spit a wad of chewing tobacco into the fire, where it continued to sizzle for a moment and give off a very distinct aroma. "This is the field of Valhalla, Mechwarrior. You do know the old mythos of the Norse, correct?"

Stunned silence from Kristen for over a minute as she simply stared at the Mercenary. After a moment she smiled thinly. "So you say that, much as in the existence of the Magic Knights and the _Archangel_ itself, that there are beings such as Gods in existence, that transcend the bounds between alternate realities, and that I have been inducted into the army of the Norse for fighting the final war?" Kristen asks, not entirely open to what even she said, but clearly reminding herself that part of the reason she was now in this mess was because of Gods—the Rune Gods of Cephiro.

"You speak true on the subject," the Elemental declares.

"Or, as some are wont to declare, this is now your cold, hard reality. Welcome to the Einherjar, Mechwarrior." From the Knight, it almost sounded of an eulogy in and of itself.

"It will be a few days before you get a new 'mech, but in that time you are going to be fighting for your life all day, and live or die you will be alive in the evening to feast, rest and repeat tomorrow morning. This is our fate, we were the masters of war in our lives prior, we shall be the masters of war come the days of Ragnarök," the Blood Spirit bondsman declared in a cheery voice. "Damaged weapons, machines of war, bodies, all are repaired and reloaded every day for us by the magicked lands we stand on. All you have to do is practice the killing and the support staff take care of the rest."

"Fair warning," the American soldier spoke; "You are about to get a crash course in why people say 'war is hell'. I've heard things about Clanner Mechwarriors, I just hope you're ready for it. Because you can do this long enough to have to kill the same poor schlub several times in the space of a few months."

"What? You keep track?" The Ninja asks.

"Well, hard not to when I keep killing the same Soviet puke time and time again. We've been trading kills for so long I lost count, all I know I usually get him three times of five, and sometimes we end up draw battle and have a drink of vodka after the day's done. Sometimes we end up on the same side, even. Had a couple of kids, girls, and a hot wife left behind in his reality because some Taliban sniper popped him in Afghanistan in '85. Helluva good guy, stuck on the wrong side of the iron curtain."

"What about you, Mechwarrior? What is your story?" the Mercenary asks.

"I was a Star Captain in the Jade Falcon Clan, commander of fifteen Omnimechs in battle. The Clan took a planet called Romulus, and I was assigned garrison detail after the main strike forces had withdrawn. There was a mercenary outfit on the planet called the Archangel Team, who were there by cosmic accident—they were crossing dimensions from their home to a planet called Cephiro, then to Dustball, a neighboring planet in my home dimension. When we captured their Dropship, they struck back hard and fast, absolutely massacring the garrison forces by the numbers. I was captured in that battle, served my time as a bondsman, and was reinstated to join my captors as was my duty. We crossed dimensions again, this time landing on an alternate Terra or similar, and became involved in the war there. The Archangel Team and two local kingdoms invaded the southern continent to be rid of a despotic, omnicidal Empire in the south, and that is how the battle that killed me came into play. We were pursuing them south through a canyon and thought we had their measure, yet they struck back with those armored walkers. They appear to have shredded the Omnimechs through and through, but if the continuing illusion is indication, it is they who fell to the Espers in the end."

"The Empire was utterly destroyed," a soldier behind her declares. "I was there, Mechwarrior, I was in Vector as the Espers came," he says as he sits down on the log between her and the Mercenary. Only then did she see the blue armor of an Imperial Commando on his person. "Our best, Magitek Knights and Commandos, no match for the weighted assault of the Espers and no match in tactics to those of Figaro and Doma. Fitting this is a fate for we; living the battle in our mortal existence, now condemned to live it forever until the final days of Existence. I hold no grudge, Mechwarrior, we received as we earned, after being here a week I now know where the Empire went wrong, listening to American civilians, UNSC Marines, English Knights, ComStar Precentors, Russian Infantry, Mages of every variety, even such far-flung as Elves and Nymphs, by the Gods how we went wrong." He bows his head, removes a flask from the hip of his armor, and takes a swig, then offers it to the Mercenary. After the Merc takes a slug, it continued around the ring.

"You are here for two reasons, Jade Falcon," the Elemental declares after she had her shot of drink. "You are here for your skill in battle, and you are here to correct the depredations of your past and use that wisdom to save many worlds in the battles to come. Look upon this as the ultimate glory, for being the best you shall now be the best forevermore, and maybe we can at least buy a partial victory in the battle to come."

"I'll drink to that," the Knight replies. "God help us all."

"God help us all," the American and the Blood Spirit replies in kind.

"I will do what I can," Kristen replies. "If this is the ultimate glory of battle, then perchance the Clans have it wrong after all," she declares as the illusion of the battle continues in the fire.

* * *

Author's Chapter Afterword:

**200 REVIEWS! 20000 HITS**! This is a definitive honor and a pleasure that I am reaching out to so many people with this story. Thank you all for the reads and reviews, people, I will definitely not give this story up until it is done and the odyssey of the Archangel is writ completed.

Damn this took way too long to get out! Yet I will not curse the fates that add weeks to these things, sometimes I just have no way to do writing when I run a tight schedule on 2 and a partial jobs and maintaining a house or two.

I'll admit, though, once I got toward the end it started flowing more freely than not, and especially the scene in Valhalla. I always wanted to show the modern, grizzled face of Valhalla, since the Norse are likely to be the most cosmopolitan of the old warrior tribes and respect or take up the newer forms of warfare. Always good to throw a sop to the fact that war evolves and the Valkyrie have to keep up or get left behind. There is reason for the Valkyrie being so progressive as well as old-school, but I will save that for another forum.

If you kept up with the datestamps at the head of each section, you'd know that this has taken over 9 months time in literary. If I kept it to 1-3 months a chapter, this section would take way the hell too many chapters before the next serious episode. And I cannot in good conscience do over 10 chapters in FFVI since both everyone and I want to get on with it! There is so much real estate for the Archangel to cover, and I want to do it all and then some! HARHARHAR! Really, though, only one more chapter remains before the first _really_ nasty surprise of the story. And I want it done before the end of the summer, which I swear shall be reality.

The Arms Race isn't through yet, and the Thompson is just the beginning of it. Can any of you say 'MG42'? Or how about 'AK-47'? Can I get 'M-16' or 'M-60'? If any of you have nominations for better, I want to hear them. Rest assured the Archangel is going to head out to the next stop with a full compliment of small arms and ammo, if a bit thin on other supplies.

And, contrary to what Hikaru thinks about the Tonberries, there is one more to go. I'm not going to say anything more about it, but any of you FFVI veterans should be able to guess at it: keep in mind that only _regular_ Tonberries have been recruited thus far :)

And that pretty much covers it, people. Next up: the final modifications to the Teleporter Systems presage the chance to get home, but do they really get there, or does something go horridly wrong?

* * *

Review Replies: Oh man, I got a whole slew of reviews from readers, as well as a lot of good hard criticism from my new beta, Strata-Assassin. If you have the time and the will to read a completely unconventional but straight Gundam SEED fic, read her story Weapon's Waltz. It starts slow but it is well worth the read, of this you can rest assured. Even dovetails very nicely with the unmodified storyline of SEED :P

**Etienne Of The West Wind**: Ask and ye shall receive thy vengeance. Though I want to cover the unknown half of the world, I am going to save that for a side story to come, which will be adroitly set up in the next chapter. Think 'The Empire didn't act alone' combined with 'noisy neighbor loan-sharks'. Miri is not the only promotion, and there will be more in plenty of time to come, but Flay is also not through; look for Allster in the side story as well.

**One-Village-Idiot**: I apologize for the slow chapters, but they are necessity. Not everything can be the last desperate stand on the bloody battlefield, but by the same token that is one of my specialties :P By the Gods, I am looking forward to getting this off Terra and back on track. Stargate is not one I am heavily familiar with, but Star Wars is an old favorite. Of course, all destinations classified. CNC, maybe one of the first two sets of games, not likely the third games since I don't have them yet, and I am not putting up with EA's DRM-ware bullshit on RA3 so that is totally out of the question. Again, though, official destinations classified

**COLINZBERTRAM**: Thank you for the review. Gundam 00 is one that I will definitely look into when the DVDs come out and if I have the budget, being such a Gundam fan I have a mortal obligation to watch it. As a destination, though, keep in mind I go places that I have analyzed thoroughly, a lot of this is random but it is all calculated in the end.

**Knives91**: It will continue, definitely. The insanity must not end!

**NHO**, I still have not received a clear cut to that link. Matrix is a helluva thought, as is RA2; Yuri versus Miriallia sounds real hellish to me :P Bigger bombs may not be needed, and keep in mind the Positron cannons are technically **antimatter** weapons. You don't get more destructive than Antimatter per pound, with one exception native to my MMC and JW lines. As always, all future destinations and order are classified; and subject to random effects as well.

**Akasui**: Tina will get a lot more time in the side-story to come, as well as revelations and awakenings. Kira and Athrun are part and parcel of the research and dev of the Teleporters, but the Duel is badass enough as-is for now. He may come across some noteworthy upgrades at a later time, however :P The Summons still have not been completely sorted out, though, so stand by; ref above comments about Flay.

**Strata-Assassin**: MUCH THANK YOU FOR THE BETA!!! I didn't know I could screw up something like this in so many small ways :P Well, as I have explained before, I do not hate Flay, for evidence just read Dilemma of Flay Allster for a good non-hate look at her in a genuinely screwed-up situation. Or better yet, hold on that for when I get the Jokers Wild series up to date. The grand battles like that are not simple to coordinate, but they are immensely fun. Most of writing them is years of studying military history (as opposed to the liberal history taught in school) and a healthy dose of understanging how strategy is applied both in games and in real life. Don't worry about writing long reviews, do as long or as short as you feel appropriate, I like 'em all. Keei it coming, as shall I.

**Gatomon41**: If you are a Flay fan, then I suggest you hang around for the first Side Story to this work. Flay will get her due desserts, of this I swear. More to follow on that subject. Rest assured that while I do believe not all of life turns out right in the end (reality is far colder than that), this is one topic I have not finished with yet.

**Gundam Chief**: I have a huge plethora of work surrounding the Executors, as they even factor into the Jokers Wild series in a small but critical way. What you sent me in information has been most interesting and enlightening, though it does not match what I apply to my stories the ideas behind it are always helpful. Stay tuned, much more is to come.

Thank you all for the continued and very vocal support! I will finish this epic, of that I swear to you. Odysseus is about to get a run for his money!

* * *

The Gripe Sheet: Any standing gripes have been dealt with and my Beta caught over 80 errors. Hopefully I didn't write a pink elephant in there somewhere...

* * *

Footnotes:

(1): Mark-1 Eyeball is a quasi-military joke about using plain sight to find something.

(2): Mag Roader is an enemy that shows up fairly early in FF VI, in the character's escape from the Magitek Facility. It is not especially tough but it runs in packs and has some rudimentary magic attacks that give it fang.

(3): The Thompson Sub-machine gun fires from an open bolt, unlike most other weapons that fire from a closed bolt. Open Bolts are fairly common on SMG weapons, helps prevent round cookoffs that can lead to the weapon firing when not triggered, and an open-bolt mechanism is both cheaper and weighs less than a closed-bolt weapon.


	28. Homeward Bound

(Archangel's Amazing Adventures, Set 3, Chapter 12: Homeward Bound)

(20 January 988)

(Location: Ancient Ruins, mountain range northwest of Zozo)

"I can't believe that such a miserable city as Zozo is the gatekeeper to something as magnificent as this," Fuu gasps out, in clear awe of the caves themselves, much less what was theoretically rumored to be within.

"It is," Nicol says. "Come on, step lively," he notes as he begins moving in, his modified Thompson sweeping ahead. They had used the fledgling plastics industry in Vector to make a series of specialized Thompson forearm stocks that had Weaver rails necessary for attaching tactical lights or laser sights. This did nothing significant to reduce the weight of each weapon, but helped in dark areas and intimidation factor. Supposedly every Thompson in the _Archangel_'s growing arsenal would receive that modification...

Immediately inside the cave in question, there was nothing of threat to the intrepids, but they knew to check regardless—anything could ambush them at random. Fuu and Nicol moved generally south with a hint of west; they passed under a natural stone bridge as they began the dirty work of the ground exploration. "Wow, compared to Figaro's caves, there is practically no wildlife here," Fuu notes almost sourly. She did not like the noise the Rorynex she was carrying delivered even with one shot, and she definitely did not like the 'random encounter' RPG game mechanic now that she _lived_ it, but something had to happen, did it not?

"I know. I wonder what happened?" Nicol asks, realizing something had to have happened to depopulate—messily depopulate, given the bloodstains here and there—a large cave area.

Almost on cue: "Eeepp! A blood stain," Fuu half-squeals. Her tactical light was centered on the ground where a large pile of blood and gore had dried into a somewhat rough mass. The mess was definitely aged, there was nothing wet to it to suggest it having been fresh.

"Something _was_ here," Nicol notes. "Make sure you are locked and loaded, anything could have caused this."

"Nicol?" It was not her getting his attention, but her tone of inflection that immediately caused his neck hairs to stand up. "Something is coming," she says in a very worried tone a moment later.

"Oh, great," he could hear a creak of metal against metal, instantly making him wonder if they were about to come face to face with some form of ancient annihilation machine that was keeping this cave evicted of denizens...and were they about to be next? "Regardless of what comes around that ledge, I'm going to Willy-Pete (1) it, give me covering fire if needed."

"Got it," Fuu replies immediately. "Should we try to Thermite (2) the thing?" the creaking grew louder as the object continued to approach. Nicol carried several of each grenade, as well as several standard ones, as did Fuu. Better to be prepared than not, she figured.

The source of the squeaking continued to approach from around a precipice, and as it did, Nicol's arm tensed more and more, ready to pull the pin from the WP grenade and throw it at a moment's notice. If nothing else, he figured he could throw it and then run.

A light source lit off a mere meter from the corner of the precipice, and Fuu immediately tensed up as she brought her Rorynex up on target with the light on to identify the target and hopefully see something she could shoot as a weak point before it tried attacking her. She had learned the hard way that while RPGs considered an enemy typically one damage model, ergo you hit it you get one result regardless of how and where you hit it. Real life definitely was not that simplistic, she had found out the hard way. Her Rorynex had a wildly different effect from her sword, which had a wildly different effect from her summoning a Valefor, which had a wildly different effect from calling fire support on it from the Buster. And each was useful against a different array of targets.

_Faugh! Please extinguish that light, you are blinding me!_ A mental voice not dissimilar to the Tonberries declares.

"Fuu! That's a Tonberry!" Nicol says as he pushes the muzzle of her weapon down to get the aimpoint and thus the light off him.

"No way!" Fuu half-shouts. "I thought we had found them all!" She releases the switch to turn her barrel light off, which reduced the lighting in the area to only the lantern of the Tonberry in question. In the light, they could see this one was a bit different from normal, it was slightly larger, naturally tinted blue-green instead of lime green or forest green, wore a better set of robes, and was wearing a simplistic crown.

_What do you speak of? I have encountered no humans in the thousand years of my being here_, he declares telepathically. _Not even the Espers that used to reside alongside the Humans in this wretched castle are here any longer. And what do you speak of, having 'found' the other Tonberries? What is your purpose here, interlopers?_

"What...huh?" Nicol asked, now too stunned to put the WP grenade away, but his finger was out of the pin loop.

"We are here to explore this cave and the rumored ruins at the end. We didn't expect...we thought we had found the eight surviving Tonberries!"

_There are nine of us, that is all that have been since the War of the Magi killed off almost all our race_. The Tonberry had approached in its usual, creepy slow step, but Nicol noticed it did not have its knife out. That made him feel at more ease than anything else. _Why do you seek the Tonberries_?

"Two just showed up in our galley and started preparing meals for us, so one of our friends went about and offered the job to the rest. We live on a Warship, the _Archangel_," Fuu says as she crouches down to look the Tonberry in the eye.

_The horrid war must be over, then_, the Tonberry declares. _I was the King of the Tonberries at one time in my life, but I lost my kingdom to the ravages of the conflict_.

"That sucks," Nicol gripes.

_Would your rank be willing to accept a failed king in charge of your galley? At least I can be with the others and pay my penance there_.

"I don't see why not," Fuu notes, looking to Nicol for confirmation.

"I think you'd have to argue command of the galley with Chief Warrant Officer Ryback, though," Nicol muses. "He's the present CO of the galley."

_Then I will keep the Tonberries straight for him. I know at least two of them are lackluster in discipline and procedures_. If he could sound more amused, how was lost on Nicol or Fuu.

"That would explain the galley fire a week ago," Nicol says.

_I will seek out the _Archangel_. In which city is it moored_?

"Southern continent, the former Imperial Capital of Vector," Nicol says. It disappeared in a small ring of light a moment thereafter. "Good luck, buddy," he wishes to empty air, knowing that there had to be some reason the rank and file Tonberries always said there were only eight. Maybe there was bad blood in there somewhere?

"Shall we continue?" Fuu asks.

"Indeed," Nicol notes as he flicks on his tactical light again. The two resumed their search for the ruins and anything else of interest therein, though as they moved south through the narrows on the east side of the cave entry antechamber they found a narrow passage to a larger cave chamber farther south of the entry chamber. Immediately within the new holding, Fuu and Nicol found themselves on an effective land bridge above an area of random stone formations inside the far larger cave area.

"The majesty of these places...it never grows old," Fuu gasps as they stop halfway south on the land bridge to look around the expanse they were inside.

Nicol chuckles once. "These kinds of things I never thought possible at home, and especially thought were _never_ possible when I was ZAFT." A moment of silence as they looked around with the tactical lights. "Makes you wonder, does it not? What else are people missing in life?"

"Probably too much," Fuu notes. "Way too much."

"I think I know where we go next," Nicol opines as he continues moving south on the land bridge until they reached the end, and a rock bevel that he could slide down to the lower areas. On the lower ground, they began moving east with the intention of going north to another chamber of the caves. They only moved a scant fifty meters East before...

"Nicol, am I seeing this right?"

"I...whoa," Nicol mutters when he realizes what he was looking at. "That's...wow," he gasps a moment later.

"I know," she declares as she begins walking toward it slowly.

"Hold," Nicol orders. "In real life, those few pirates who actually buried treasure also had traps to go with them. Be very careful, check your surroundings. No sense going for the box when you don't live long enough to open it."

"Oh, right," Fuu squeaks, realizing she had 'defaulted' on her old conditioning of being a RPG gamer and forgetting that some of her prior-favorite games had traps to go along with the infrequent treasures. Cautiously, she begins moving her tactical light around to check for signs of a trap, and sees none. "Does it look safe to you?"

"The box? Yes. The ground in front of it? No," and Nicol stomps on a cut in the stone that could be naught but some kind of floor-mounted switch. It sinks through to whatever mechanism that it was supposed to activate, creaks, lets loose some kind of metallic groaning noise, then gives a resounding crash as dust comes up from a series of holes in the ground spaced out in front of the chest. "Here, I'll make sure whatever it is remains broke for good," Nicol and grabs his WP grenade from his tactical vest, pulls the pin, and drops it down one of the more centralized holes in the array. The grenade barely fit as they could hear it rattle down to some kind of hollow space below, then detonate. The holes themselves began shining violet as the sound of rats squealing in abject horror and pain came up to them from below, the lighting casting an eerie glow about the area but not penetrating to the massive ceiling above them. "So much for that trap," Nicol declares, looking down one of the holes and seeing only the glint of iron arrowheads, no trace of the arrow itself or the launching mechanism.

"Should we try the chest now?" Fuu asks.

"Shoot the lock with your Rorynex, that should open the latch easily," Nicol requests before he covers his ears. The Rorynex ammunition was an explosive-tipped cartridge, which was what Nicol was relying on to get into it; Fuu shouldered, sighted up, and let fly a five-round burst into the locking mechanism from a dozen meters, an easy shot for her that produced the desired effect. The lock latch itself was sundered as well as the surrounding frame on the strongbox, causing the whole latch to collapse into the box innards.

Nicol moves aside and toward the box, always careful not to set off another trap, until he is close enough to the strongbox that he can reach out and touch it. Rather than opening it by hand, he disarms the Thompson, unslings it, flips it around so he is holding the stock toward the box, and uses the buttplate to push it open while he remains at range. Again, there was the sound of groaning metal as it passed a certain point, certainly not the sound of the hinges on the lid as they opened, but nothing happened that warranted an actual threat to them. "Maybe the traps are so old they fall apart when activated?" Fuu asks from a respectable distance as he finishes shoving the lid open; as the lid swung down backwards it ripped the hinges clear out of the rest of the strongbox body, causing a hellish resounding clatter in the vaulted cave as it comes to rest on the ground.

"Insane...I am not seeing this right," Nicol gasps in awe as he stands up to look down into the box itself. Fuu's light was enough for him to see the contents of the box, and almost all of it glittered in what little light was filtering into it.

"Oh, someone stashed their treasure in this box," Fuu says almost nonchalantly. "Makes me wonder, why do role-playing games have treasures in large boxes easily visible to the players?"

"It has to be stored somewhere," Nicol opines, thinking of but one possible among many. "Here, this is the trap inside the box," And he indicates a blade that was designed to scythe out when the lid was released, but the box had rusted and seized up so badly that the blade itself would not have moved without a pair of pliers to aid it. "This stuff is ancient...gems, finished jewelry, gold, silver, platinum, easily a mid-size fortune here. Absolutely absurd that someone would have left this around in otherwise plain sight, but the box is so old whoever it belongs to must have died a long time ago."

"You would think Sir Locke would have found it and seen to the contents by now," Fuu was referring to King Edgar's shadow assistant, Locke Cole, who was now a Knight of Figaro and retainer to the King for 'Special and Hazardous Operations,' as the Figaro Court called him. Even with the new-found importance, though, he was still the much infamous Treasure Hunter that captured the imagination and hearts of people the world over. What and why he hunted, though, was open to speculation.

"We win this one; a treasure pile like this would serve immense help as hard currency for the _Archangel_," Nicol says with an 'interested' tone to voice. "Think we can teleport it to the ship from here?"

"Sure, let me borrow your assistance," Fuu says. Without even time to protest, she had closed up on him but did not actually touch; the nearer she was to other spellcasters, the more effective their magic was found to be. "_**The auras of time and space shall warp to Teleport Other Object unto Nicol's quarters on board the Archangel**_," she chants as she focuses the sight of his quarters in her mind's eye just prior to their departure earlier in the day. With a touch to the frame of the strongbox, the box vanished in a small, almost dim flash of light and was gone.

"That will make someone happy when we tell the Captain what we found," Nicol says sardonically.

-x-

The ruins at the end of the cave area were exposed in a small valley deeper into the mountains north of Zozo. Much as had been told in legend, there was little left standing that the Espers did not take their vengeance upon, and that included the castle proper. Getting past the promenade, the walls, and actually to the castle proper was itself an exercise in climbing over piles upon piles of ancient debris that not even a millennia of varying weather had eradicated.

"This castle would have been beautiful if not for being smashed by the wars long ago," Nicol notes as they stood outside the main entry to the keep.

"I can only wonder what the occupants would have been like," Fuu says by way of reply.

"After you," and Nicol opens one of the doors for her. Lacking further ado, Fuu entered the hallowed halls shortly before Nicol did the same.

The inside of the castle was not untouched by time and weather, but even still it was as majestic as Figaro or Doma. The decorative armor to either side of the entryway and grand hallway was something of its own charm—and Nicol could sense it was magicked armor at that. Most of the carpet leading further into the castle was intact, and Nicol could have sworn that parts of it gave off the appearance of a faint magic glow. "Is everything in this building magicked?" Fuu asks, quite astonished at what she was seeing.

"It may be," Nicol replies cautiously. Despite growing apprehension and belief that something quite powerfully magical was ahead, they continue forward and up toward the next chamber. Through the vaulted doors was the main audience chamber of the king and queen, a basic throne room with multiple tiers of floor level leading up to the highest point in the room for the thrones.

What they were seeing, the empty hallway with a statue on the tier just below the thrones, flickered and wavered for a moment, before it settled down with something far different than just a statue and an empty hall. "Is this—an illusion?" Fuu asks aloud, directed to nobody.

_You are seeing the past, the memories of the castle's living will_, Windam tells her telepathically. _Observe, and you shall see how this dynasty ended_.

From around them, theoretically through the doors behind Nicol and Fuu, surged forward a squad of soldiers like no other that Fuu or Nicol had ever read about. The diamond shields and military forks as a standard weapon, with only a long stiletto dagger for backup and no armor but a helmet caused them to be a clash of various pre-gunpowder military types that Nicol could not define where they would have originated from, much less from anywhere on this world. With forks set to charge they surged forward to challenge the non-statue Raiden standing on the tier below the thrones. Before they could begin spreading out to surround him, Raiden charged their two columns down, his swordwork fast and merciless, cutting no less than heads off and more often than not completely chopping apart bodies. With the bodies of the foes spoiled and sundered, he returned to his guard position still riding his horse without a hint of hesitation or arrogance in his demeanor.

"That one is excellent, one of the best," Fuu says, having seen the Raiden in action against the various monsters frequenting the southern continent.

"No, Fuu, he _was_ one of the best," Nicol corrects.

"What?"

"That is where the statue is in our reality." To make the matter clear, the next illusion to pass them was a large guy in armor, though rather than the expected large sword he carried a staff. At the end of the column of his deceased comrades, a wave of the staff caused them all to combust rapidly, removing any trace of their existence in the room. After the flames disappeared, the wizard moved forward and challenged Raiden himself with the set of his staff.

The thundering charge of the Esper shook the ground even as they saw it through illusion; he charged the wizard down for all it was worth, but never struck; a well-timed defensive barrier stopped the Esper and deflected his whole transit to the left, never scoring a strike against the interloper. The horse Raiden rode took a few moments to stand up, but again the Esper charged after he was reset from the near-collapse. In the same fashion, Raiden charged him down, and again his attack befell a defensive barrier that this time deflected and shocked him back toward the thrones. In the stun the wizard advanced and struck the horse in the chest with the glowing end of his staff, never saying a word as he backed off.

"No! You will not turn me to Magicite! I will not give you the pleasure, wizard!" Raiden's voice boomed throughout the hall and rather than disintegrating in death, the Esper turned to stone.

The Wizard turned to face the two from the _Archangel_, shaking his head as the last of Raiden solidified into stone. Without a word he moved three tiers down, to a step about ten meters forward of the queen's throne and stomped on yet another switch in the floor. This caused a resounding impact echo toward the east of the castle. Without a glance at the Esper he walked into the Queen's chambers.

"We follow," Nicol orders as he moves toward the door. They followed the wizard essentially close, as he first scoped out the room, then took the stairs in the south wall that would have been recessed behind a hidden wall. The wizard was out of sight downstairs prior to Nicol and Fuu descending to below to a large storage room that was somewhat filled with boxes.

The Wizard continued north in this room until he came to the far wall and the Queen standing near it, looking away from them; Fuu could sense she was crying.

"It has come to this only by your own folly, Queen Kallis," the wizard notes calmly.

A quick nod in response, before she turns to face her assailant. "We were the first ones to see, we were the last ones to bleed." Even her sigh of resignation was measured, dignified. "Do what you will."

"_**Petrify**_," the Wizardsays, completing a pre-chanted spell, his staff pointing to her heart. With a bright flash and a radiant light, the Queen was turned to stone in a matter of seconds.

The scene visually wavered, thereafter they could tell they were looking at the here-and-now of the petrified Queen.

"Even in death, she held her grace," Fuu mutters sadly, stepping forward to reach out and touch the statue. Nothing happened as she touched it, but Fuu could sense her feelings for the Raiden that had died to stave the enemy for just that much more.

"Never is a war pretty, but some are more despicable than others," Nicol says, looking around the now-empty storage room. It showed signs of having been looted more than a few times after the battle that brought the nation down, but nothing recent.

"What shall we do?" Fuu asks.

"Shall we reside here for a few days? There are more caves and much of the castle remains unexplored. The King will be interested in what we find here. And I would relish the chance to record what we have seen thus far."

"I would love to," Fuu says in more of a cheery mood. The prospect of exploration always made her happy.

-x-x-x-

(6 February 988)

(Ship's Log, Commander Badgiruel)

_Much has changed since our arrival on this world almost two years past. We began and completed a war, brought an empire to its knees, introduced some of the higher technology weapons to the locals for fending off the bizarre and frightening wildlife, we have even built the first real republic of the world in the southern continent. All in all, we have earned our keep._

_We have bled, bled long and hard, for our actions here. Several of the ship's crew died in the altercations with the Imperial Air Force, and on the ground, during the siege of Vector, we paid dearly in mechanized forces as the Ryoken was knocked completely out of usability, the Warhawk and Timber Wolf severely damaged, and the Mad Dog decapitated with the loss of its exceptional pilot, Kristen Redmond. I can only hope that God, or Existence, or whatever is out there has seen to her for her actions in trying to bring down the cruel regime at Vector. We now have only one Skygrasper in our hangar, and only three Gundams to compliment the Warhawk, Mad Dog, and Timber Wolf. Were a serious attack to come at this time, from anything other than woefully under-equipped enemies, the ship itself would suffer serious trauma and more losses._

_Thankfully, in the two years we have been here, we have mostly prepared a way to get the ship home—hopefully. The pilots have re-engineered the Imperial Teleporter system to move between dimensions instead of locations on the planet, which, in all totality, appears to be how this madness has happened to us. Same planet, different history. The modifications are presently 89% complete, with an estimated end date and initial test of early June, though the project manager says that may still be optimistic. The whole project has been tested bit by bit, and some larger system tests have been conducted, but the fact remains that the whole assembly has not thus been tested in concert changes the equation to a large unknown for the ship. With it untested, it is still a wish, not a hard possibility that we may get home._

_Not all that has changed has been technical. Murdoch and his madmen have proven themselves amazing drill instructors and 'sea daddies' to use the old United States Navy expression. Finding people who want to join the _Archangel_ was not a tough task, especially in Vector and Figaro. Training them was not especially difficult, either. Making sure they knew that this was a one-way trip for them was the real challenge; every now and again, I found that some of the 'greenhorns' still thought there would be a way back, which there shall not be. Once we leave, the only direction is forward. They all understand this and welcome it; for most, this world holds nothing but bad memories or a lack of challenge to their spirit, and they relish the chance to go forward._

_Terra, the Magitek Knight we rescued quite a while back, has turned out to be an excellent addition to the crew as well as an absolutely intrinsic wizard. Her spellcraft grows in power practically by the day and there are few tasks she hasn't mastered in spellcraft. She remained silent and mostly unobtrusive during the war, as she was deathly afraid of the Empire somehow being able to take latent control of her and use her against the _Archangel_, but that threat is now known past. Now she works closely with those around the crew learning magic. The fact that she can destroy a hundred targets in less than three minutes with her spellcraft has definitely earned her respect, and her capabilities go the opposite direction just as far. She has demonstrated the ability to completely heal someone who was paralyzed quadriplegic by a falling autocannon using just two spells and an hour's time. Prior a soldier of a corrupt Empire, she has found her new home here on the _Archangel_, and the crew has unanimously welcomed her._

_The ship sits at the ready, awaiting the day that the teleporters become our way home. Cleaned, repainted, and waxed to a high gloss, the modified _Archangel_ today looks even more majestic than it did in dry dock at Orb or Heliopolis. This is not to withhold mention of the competency of the crew and the arsenal of the ship are significantly greater than those years and battles past. I have little doubt that were Le Creuset to attack this ship without the support of his Gundams, the results would not be a draw battle in his favor. If the ZAFT pilots that yet remain with us were to side with the _Archangel_, Creuset would not stand against us for more than three minutes in a protracted battle. Such is the pace of advancement we have seen among ourselves._

_I cannot hazard a guess at what the future holds today. Given the past as a gauge for the future, there is no real telling if we shall be home next or if we shall find ourselves in some strange, new location with God-doesn't-even-know-what challenges to face down in our quest to return home. I can only hope that the road is not as bloody as it was for us to begin with._

-x-x-x-

(30 March 988)

"What do you think, Celes?" Leo asks after a moment of silence, looking out the window at his residence into the raining mid-day sky.

"Will she take it, you mean?" Celes counters, not entirely unsure what Leo meant, but figuring that was the likely question.

"Indeed," Leo replies.

"It is not a lost cause, and you have to admit she is more than competent," the slightly smaller but no less respected General of the Republic of Vector replies to her host.

"I would have to agree," Leo concludes after a moment. "And—" An explosion nearby rocks the house, even knocking over a vase in the room. "Oh shit, was that—" Another explosion rocks the building, though Celes could tell the missile in question landed farther east than the last.

"That was a Magitek missile, was it not?" Celes asks, a bit shocked to hear one after this long but not scared of it.

"Oh, indeed," Leo declares coldly. "Guess who is back?"

Celes simply stands up and moves to the jacket rack where she had propped a Thompson and magazine pouch against the wall next to her raincoat along with her old Runic sword. Normally, she only carried the sword in town, but there had been a rash of otherwise inexplicable violent crimes around town so she was not taking chances. To highlight the situation, as she linked the sword sheath onto her belt another explosion in town shook the building, and a third as she hooked the magazine pouch on her belt.

"Shall we be off?" Leo asks. Celes looked to him, then—

"That's one of the new sniper-pattern Enfield rifles, isn't it?"

"It is," Leo replies as he flips up the dust covers from the scope lenses. "If they attack a city wantonly, I shall not give them a fair fight," he clarifies after a moment.

The door swings open, admitting Leo's Adjutant, Major Garset. "Sir, ma'am, Imperial remnants from the southwest, supported by a hodgepodge of Magitek units," he informs them. Also armed for battle, the Major was possessed of his personal choice of armament as the newest Figaro production line, the AKM assault rifle that combined the stomping power of a full heavy rifle with the ease of carry and ammunition capacity of a sub-machinegun.

"Anything in the air?" Celes asks; taking down Air Armor or Spitfires would be incredibly difficult with no more firepower than could be carried by a trooper.

"No, milady, only ground and possibly one or two Tunnel Armor," he informs them as the three move out of Leo's residence and into the streets of Vector.

"No, there is air cover, on our side," Leo comments as the Skygrasper streaks overhead at a mere hundred yards altitude, diving down slightly and unleashing a hellish barrage of machine gun and machine cannon on some targets in the distance.

"A fortuitous short-sight on the Empire's part," Celes says as the Tek Laser return fire does not even reach his altitude as he pulled sharply up and away from the target. "The ground units cannot target an air assailant easily."

"Major Garset, what's the response time for the infantry barracks?" Leo asks, mostly disregarding Celes's comment since it didn't apply to him.

"They should be moving up right now; I called them before I came for you, sir," the Major replies.

"Here comes friendlies," Celes notes as the unmistakable sound of a military support car approaches. The production vehicle was patterned on the old United States HMMVW, of which the design plans had been in the _Archangel_'s old records for some strange reason. The only difference was the engine was rebuilt to use Bomb Juice, not for the diesel or gasoline motor originally called for (Gasoline would still burn in it, yet at a lower power than bomb juice).

"Generals, fancy seeing you out here," Kojiro Murdoch remarks after bringing his HMMVW to a dead stop.

"Fancy that," Celes replies with an evil smile before climbing up into the open-cage rear end, where Arnold Newman was standing with his monster sniper rifle. Leo was not far behind in climbing in, though he took the back seat of the vehicle so he could use the radios to coordinate plans and tactics with his unit subcommanders.

"What do we know?" Leo asks as the HMMVW begins moving again, headed in the general direction of the 22nd Street Barracks.

"About a battalion of them with organic armor," Murdoch half-shouts over the sound of the engine's roar. "Coming through the Southwest district at a brisk pace, we think they got the best of the boys down in the 86th Street Barracks."

"Is the _Archangel_ putting anything else on the ground or in the air?" Leo asks a moment thereafter, looking out the window as the Skygrasper takes another pass at the enemy units. This time he also used beams as well as machine guns, causing quite a bit more havoc in the enemy ranks as he targeted the enemy Magitek remnants.

"Yeah, Commander La Flaga and Athrun Zala should be out here already," Murdoch declares.

"Command, this is 3rd Battalion, Command, come in damnit!" Leo finally hears as he gets the radio in the vehicle tuned to the right frequency. "Command, come in for the love of the Gods!"

"Third, General Leo, go ahead," Leo replies immediately.

"Thank god, General! I thought these bastards had snaked you!" The relief in his voice was clearly evident.

"Not a chance in hell, what is your situation Third? I need a full sit-rep!"

"We're holed up in the barracks on 86 Street, we've got a whole gods-damned pisspot of Imperial pukes marching by, at least battalion strength. Nasty fuckers who have been killing civilians as they come across 'em. We need help, sir, we're marooned and if we act right now we're surrounded on three sides!"

"Stand by, Third, we're working on a plan now. Fifth Battalion, Command, come in," he orders on the same frequency.

"General Leo, Major Wilcox. We roger the report from Third, what do you want us to do?"

"If the enemy is marching up 86 toward Vector, they're walking into a deathtrap between you, the Third and the Sixth. Sixth, Leo, you on line Lieutenant Colonel?"

"Roger that, Herr General," Lieutenant Colonel Helvitz declares. "I have recon personnel out forward of my main position. Their farthest point of advance is a column of Proto Armors just barely past Market Square. In five minutes I can slam the right flank of their advance for ten blocks in every direction."

"Roger that, Sixth. Third, Leo, in seven minutes I want you to deploy out on 85 street, spread into the structures and use them as cover to hose their whole left flank. Sixth, in five minutes I want you to attack the right flank of their assault as you suggested. Fifth Battalion, I am approaching your staging right now and will be going tactical at that time," Leo orders as the barracks for the Fifth comes into clear sight. "In seven minutes, we move against their rear right. Acknowledge orders."

"Third, seven minutes and we hose their left."

"Fifth, seven minutes and we hit the right rear."

"Sixth, in five I hit the enemy forward right. Moving out now, updates to follow."

"Leo from Commander La Flaga, come back," a new voice requests on the radio channel.

"Go for Leo," General Leo says as the HMMVW comes to a full stop at the barracks of the Fifth. He simply pulled the radio in question right out of the charging rack, which also meant it was mobile now.

"Aegis and Timber Wolf are in the theater, where do you want us?" Leo hears as the Skygrasper makes its fifth pass at the enemy formation, this time using a missile in addition to the machine cannons; Leo could only hope the missile's blast did not cause too much collateral casualty.

"Timber Wolf and Aegis are to prioritize enemy armor units, render assistance to the Sixth since that is the likely weight of the enemy armor."

"Copy your last," Mu replies. Leo, Celes, Newman and Murdoch had entered the barracks facility to the presence of saluting guards and Major Wilcox dishing out orders rapidly while still managing a puff on his cigar every few seconds. The Major was quite a bit older than General Leo, but certainly not afraid to say that Leo could beat him like a red-headed step-child both in personal combat and formation battle.

"Major, ready to go?" General Celes asks, having heard the gist of the plan on the trip, all the while keeping an eye out for stray Imperials.

"Damn straight I am, ma'am," the Major replies. "Get this; Sergeant, repeat to Leo what you just told me," he orders of a sergeant who also carried one of the sniper-pattern Enfield rifles.

"Sir, my unit was out forward until a minute ago, watching the enemy for signs of coming this way, when I saw an old familiar face: Colonel Abliz and his command section, all intact and laughing over a dead teenager's body."

"The Colonel of Shock and Guffaw. I heard he survived the invasion but I didn't think he had the brains to try this," General Celes practically sneers, referring to what most of the professional military officers called Abliz in homage to his complete incompetence and the fact that he thought everything was a joke.

"Yeah, the one Colonel under Lord Kefka I would not trust to lead a straight march to a whorehouse," General Leo replies acidly. "Meaning no offense to the whorehouses around here, of course," he nods to one of the more (in)famous such ladies that was also speaking to the Major. Besides her primary (and busy) trade, she was also known to cooperate with the police personnel and the military on matters of criminals and their whereabouts, since she often had better intelligence than official parties.

"Two of my ladies saw him as well, good sir, they confirm it is Abliz," the harlot declares. "And, funny thing, they don't seem to be guarding the alleys like the Espers did when they invaded," she drops in, thinking it strange and noteworthy.

"And that's our victory," Leo replies with an almost-savage smile. "He uses 'blitzkrieg' but without flank security, a huge blunder." The premise of the term was nothing new to Leo, but the strange term he picked up from the _Archangel_'s crew was entirely new to him. The meaning of the term in question he relished: 'Lightning War' it definitely was, when used right.

"Dead men walking," Major Wilcox declares. "All right, people, move out! You know the plan!" The weapon the Major hefted from his command vehicle was the—

"Whoa, holy shit, son, how did you get your hands on an M60?" Murdoch asks the major. "The factory just turned out the first finished one a week ago!" Not to mention, Murdoch had personally filed the receiving paperwork on the first eight shipped to the _Archangel_, and they had been serial numbers 000002 to 000009.

"A cousin of mine is dating the foreman of the Kolts Valley Factory where these are being made," the Major replies unevenly as his adjutant closes up with several boxes of belt-fed ammunition for the monster weapon. The arch of his eyebrow told the remainder of the tale very adroitly.

"More's the better," Murdoch replies with his own evil smile. In comparison, the AKM that he was carrying appeared to be a third of the size of the M60 and looked wholly inappropriate compared to the belt-fed monstrosity that the much-older Major was carrying.

The rest of the Fifth Battalion had surged forward of the officers, their collection of AKM, Thompson, some of the older standard-issue Enfield rifles, and even the occasional M2 Heavy MG team visible in the slackening midday rain. The approach march was silent but speedy, as they had three blocks to cross to get to where they needed to be to hit the rear of the enemy formation. Thankfully, Vector's city streets were not themselves straight, they were circular with axial bisectors that were straight (like the 86 Street that the Imperials were on), making it difficult or impossible for them to be seen as they approached right up until the last half-block distance. By the time the Generals, Major and the rest had closed up to the front, the side of the Imperial column was becoming clearly visible to the Republic's troops.

"There! Fan out and hit them hard!" Major Wilcox shouts as he moves to a lamp-post and braces his light machine gun against it, shouldering into the behemoth weapon and bracing before letting off the first burst. The sound came as much of a surprise to Celes and Leo as it had been to the Imperials on the march, though the sight of two of them going down, one dead and the other screaming, made the shock worth it. Celes braced and rattled off several bursts of Thompson at them, though her efforts were less than nominally effective and she only got one kill for a magazine's effort.

The follow-up from the other soldiers was immense compared to the opening shots of the Generals. Leo's first and second shots from behind a fruit stand were drowned out in the torrent of AKM and Thompson headed downrange into their sides, and he even had to admit his second shot only made the body of his chosen target just one more bullet hole farther past unrecognizable after all was said and done. Leo, following in his soldier's instincts from long ago, jumped up and joined the surge of troops headed west into the left flank of the enemy as more even continued coming on, determined to continue reinforcing the column headed north into town.

The first real fright of the day came to Leo as he sighted something he hoped he would never have to see, the sight of looking down his telescopic sight at an enemy looking down the sights of an Enfield at him. The enemy fired first, a bare moment before Leo did, but the enemy round never struck him, it hit a soldier behind and to the left of the general, taking him down after blowing through his head and tearing the helmet clear off. Leo ran the bolt and swept the enemy ranks again to target another Enfield rifle, and this time he shot first, downing the enemy with little problem.

"Oh, fuck! Leo, enemy Ma Deuce dead ahead!" Murdoch shouldered into the General and crashed down on him, though pointlessly in the end: the team with the Ma Deuce and every soldier for ten meters to the east or west was killed by 30mm HEAP and 20mm API shells; the effect was repeated for a hundred meters southbound before the Skygrasper screamed barely meters over the rooftops in the area, banking sharply up and pirouetting west to come in for another pass.

"By the Gods, and to think the Skygrasper is a new take on outdated technology from your world," Leo declares as he stands up and rejoined the movement forward, led by Major Wilcox and his stuttering M60.

The advance had moved well into the middle of 86 Street, the fifth now fanning out to the north and south, having cut off the enemy advance and now proceeding to crush the enemy inside the town against the other two Battalions. The south flank of Leo's advance now moved to drive the remainder of the Imperials out of town. Leo and Celes joined in with relish, not wanting to see the Empire rebuilt after having perpetuated its crimes themselves. Celes found her mark with the Thompson after a few more mags, where each burst she laid down at least wounded someone, and she got five bursts on average per magazine. Leo's sniper rifle work was far more precise, bordering on one shot one kill. He used it to take down those who held the now-civilian Enfield Rifles or the occasional Thompson, as the other Infantry used their weight of firepower to keep the enemy blade infantry from closing up properly on them.

It was as Leo first sighted the ministrations of the Timber Wolf that he also recognized the enemy commander, Colonel Abliz. He still wore the maroon Templar's armor that he had worn as an Imperial officer, but rather than the halberd, he carried an Enfield Rifle himself and seemed to have sighted Leo as well. The target's first shot went high, missing any Republic soldier completely, as Leo dropped his first shot into the heavy armor he wore. The steel plate apparently had slowed the round to where it made it hard for him to walk, but had not killed outright, so both ran their bolts and resighted. This time Abliz struck closer to home, and Leo's second shot missed completely as a soldier fell onto his back and caused him to lose aim wildly. Speedily Leo reloaded and sighted again, though once more Abliz took first shot and Leo heard a high-pitch scream from his left, a lady's scream; he shrugged it off and fired his round, which struck Abliz in the armored collar and punched clear through. The damage only became worse as his collapsing body slammed down on its knees, whereby it was struck in the chest first by a heavy 50-caliber slug fired by Newman, and as the body began collapsing backwards the Major hammered his body with over a dozen rounds of .308-caliber machine gun from his M60, to aid in its descent.

"Celes!" Leo shouts, looking to his side to see what happened.

"I'll live, I'll live," she grumps. "_**The wounds of battle shall be healed by the natural energies of Curaga**_," she chants, applying her hand to the wound against her side. As she glowed and sparkled green for a moment, the tension in her face eased and the blood stopped flowing altogether; ten seconds later she was standing and cleaning the excess blood off her right hand. She then reclaimed her Thompson and replaced the magazine.

"We got the bastards!" Major Wilcox shouts. "The rest of these scumdogs are surrendering, Generals!"

"About bloody time," Murdoch complains. In the distance, the Timber Wolf and Aegis stood silent, looking over the enemy ranks as they surrendered and stood there, awaiting their final disposition.

"Round them up and haul them off to the brig," Leo orders. One thing his new military procedures made clear, taking prisoners was a requirement if they surrendered.

"The courts will turn them into hamburger soon enough," Newman declares, not lowering his rifle at all.

-x-x-x-

(4 May 988, 2230 hrs)

(Figaro Castle)

"Locke, well come, well come," Edgar says as the Treasure Hunter-turned-Knight of Figaro entered the King's study.

"How goes, Edgar?" Locke asks as he approaches and takes the offered seat. "Chancellor," he says by way of greeting to Edgar's adjutant.

"Extremely well, extremely well," Edgar continues smoothly. Locke knew the King better than average, and he could sense something was going on. "Before your suspicions go too high too fast, my friend, I don't need your services for any special or hazardous operations. This is simply a 'comparing notes' session, maybe a little brainstorming. Nothing major."

"Gotcha," Locke replies. "What's the big deal de rigeur?"

"First off, the Imperial Remnant. Have you found anything on where they are getting their arms?"

"Yes sir, the M60 picked up three weeks ago was a dead giveaway. I rolled one of the auditors at the Kolts Valley factory, she gave up everything on an arms smuggling ring. The _Archangel_'s Commando Team did the takedown completely under the table, they didn't even leave brass behind at the location, they're that good."

"No chance in hell of us ever taking that ship, if it ever came to that," the Chancellor declares coldly. "What happened to the smuggler's cache of weapons they had?"

"Who knows? All I know is they weren't at the scene, the Commandos may have taken them back with them," Locke replies. "The Imperial Remnant tried getting a second ring going, no luck there after word spread what happened to the first one. Plausibly deniable, one hundred percent."

"And more efficient at deterring a repeat offense than if the courts had done it," the Chancellor concludes. "Street crime took a dive after that incident, as well. Law of Unintended Consequences, I guess."

Edgar snickers at the thought. "That's a good sign, I guess, even though officially I am supposed to deplore the use of such force. And that brings us to our favorite white floating Warship, I've heard some rumors that they are stocking up big-time, what have you heard?"

"Weps, ammo, material, fuels, a couple Hummers, long-term foodstuffs, medical supplies, potions and tinctures, uniforms, yeah, they are stocking up all right. No doubt they are preparing for departing toward their home," Locke concludes.

"Damn, guess it's approaching time they complete the Teleporter, then, if they are collecting provisions they must know their engineers approach being through re-engineering the system," the Chancellor grumps. "And I was beginning to enjoy having someone as straightforward and rational as Commander Badgiruel around..."

Both Locke and Edgar gave the Chancellor a strange look, but said nothing. "Anyways, can those teleporters still be used for teleportation, in addition to what they are to use them for?"

"Oh, yes," Locke replies. "They have not been able to use them because the system has been in one state of disassembly or another for over a year, but it can be done," Locke says.

"Excellent," Edgar replies. "Between the teleporter system and Doma's rail lines, the world will soon be open to free and easy trade for us all," he says almost with pride to voice. Rail lines were now being laid to Narshe, to better facilitate feeding the hungry industries of Figaro and Doma.

"How's things going down in Vector?" the Chancellor asks of Locke.

"Honestly? People are worried that when the _Archangel_ pulls out, we are going to undercut everything Captain Ramius and Commander Badgiruel have done to clean the place up," Locke says. "Which is bullshit and we all know it, but try telling that to a people who got stomped by the combined armies of Figaro, Doma, and the Espers."

"Treaties notwithstanding, of course," Edgar replies grimly. In the age of the Empire, Figaro's independence and standing with the Imperial Government at Vector had been so thin and insulting that Edgar was more than willing to use the documents the treaties were printed on as toilet paper. In turn, Vector's citizenry would expect the same courtesy from the North due to the depredations of the past. "They forget, though, the Espers are also in the equation; and in this case the Espers would be in on the side of Vector since they do a lot of trade."

"Where the hell does all that material and manufacture go to? I thought the Espers were somewhat thin in numbers since the war of the Magi," the Chancellor asks in frustration.

"I figured someone should ask, so I did," Locke begins, then hesitates; whatever he had to say had to be monumental. "The Espers have made contact with their original brethren, the ones that the three Gods sealed away where few can ever find them but can be summoned, and they opened extensive trade with them. For everything they buy from us, Vector or Doma, five times that they make on their own and send to their malnourished cousins in those other Summoned Realms, or whatever they call it. Major business potential there, guys, I suggest you take advantage of it."

"Figures," Edgar notes with a crooked smile. "They sealed the Summoned Lands, it is no wonder the Gods left themselves an easy back door into those locations."

"Is it just me, or is the Summon that Murrue works with all the time, that Seraphim, is she hot or not?" the Chancellor asks.

"And people call me a lecher," Edgar notes with more than a hint of disgust.

"Sorry to say it, Edgar, but the Chancellor just beat you at your own game by at least three-to-one," Locke declares as the Chancellor's face becomes more and more reddened.

The Chancellor clears his throat. "Shall that be all, my liege?" he asks as request to depart now that he had thoroughly embarrassed himself on something they were all thinking but none should have said. Edgar simply passed his conduct off to consumption of more than his fair share of fine brandy this evening.

"Yes, thank you, Chancellor. Locke, I have one last thing I need to request of you before I retire for the day."

"What is it, old friend?" Locke asks after the door closed with the Chancellor on the far side.

"Without a doubt, in your travels and tribulations as a thief—erm, treasure hunter," Edgar corrects himself before Locke's usual admonition that he was not a thief but the latter, "You have undoubtedly come across a wide variety of gemstones, have you not?"

"A few, here and there," Locke lets fly, with a clear tone that it was many multiples of 'a few'. Or, more likely 'a few tons' in Edgar's estimate.

"I was wondering if I may be able to purchase some of the more suitable of those off you for an upcoming project I have to see to," Edgar offers.

"Oh, really?" Locke asks in counter. He knew nothing of a project that Edgar was planning that required gemstones, all that was on his King's docket was the usual ration in the usual fashion, and that did not require such finery. "Might I inquire as to what this project is, to better aid his Highness in selecting the right assortment?"

"Oh, yes, my concept is thus," and Edgar went about describing his intentions and timeframe. After five minutes, the roundabout explanation was over.

For his part, Locke wasn't sure if he wanted to toast his liege or laugh at the King for something that almost sounded hair-brained insane. "Well, sir, you've been dancing around the issue for going on two years now, it's try or die time. I'll see what I can scrounge up for the purpose; tell you what, if it works I won't charge for it, either."

"On the provision that if I try and end up dying for it, you will charge my estate? Extremely friendly of you, Sir Locke," Edgar replies drolly.

-x-x-x-

(17 June 986)

(Regimental Teleporter Facility 3, Republic Of Vector Northern Military Outpost)

Yzak twitched his fingers on the throttle of the Duel nervously. It was all fine and cool and dandy when he was doing the math in abstract in the bowels of Vector. It was something entirely different when he was about to get put through the cosmic wringer on the slight hopes that his beer math had been spot-on. Set up a variable wrong in this line of work, and you could turn a science experiment into a black hole, an outcome Yzak really did not want to see in his lifetime.

_On the other hand, no guts no way home_, Yzak berates himself for hesitating in the line of duty. "You ready?" he asks the controllers.

"Let's go over this one last time, make sure I got it right," Kira begins. "You jump up to the centroid of the gate, we activate it, you get sucked into home—hopefully. We wait sixty seconds, then activate it at ten times size to ensure you get drawn back in home. If I fail to draw you in, I will try every sixty seconds thereafter until I do draw you in or have evidence you won't be coming back. Did I get it right?"

"Roger that, Strike," Yzak replies. "Whenever you are ready, give me a count of five and I'll jump when appropriate."

" 'Kay," Kira replies simply.

"You sure you don't want to hit the can before we begin, Yzak?" Athrun asks plaintively.

"Piss off, Zala," Yzak replies with what he hoped was a nonchalant turn of tone. He had made sure to avail himself the restroom before strapping into his Gundam for this test.

"In five, in four," Yzak jumps from the ground, headed for a predetermined point in the sky that would take three seconds to get to. "In three, two, one, NOW!" he shouts as he slams the activation button.

For Yzak, it was unsettling in the extreme. One moment he was jetting up into clear sky, the next he was in the black hell of space. It took him a moment to kill off his inertia compared to where he had started, but in the end he was still relatively close to where he had arrived, and that is what he needed.

Then came the realization: the equations bloody worked. The years of modding the systems worked. The dozen Imperial teleporter techs that swore it could not be done would have to eat their _Archangel_-issued ration of crow in short order. The whole setup had worked flawlessly, instantaneously, with not even the bright white flash that Emeraude had used to transport them.

"It fucking works! HELL YES HOME BOYS! WHO DA MAN? HUH? WHO DA MAN?!?" He shouts to his front screen, easily recognizing the twisted southern continent of Junius Seven, drifting through the remnants of space wreckage and dead ships and industrial waste left in the Debris Belt. To further the reference, part of a Moebius Mobile Armor passed by his Gundam, followed by the upper half of a GINN with a Cattus recoilless rifle; it was close enough that he reached out to it and pulled it close, removing the recoilless rifle for evidence that it worked.

The sixty second timer lapsed, and since he was still nearby the centroid of where the second equation would have taken effect, he was drawn immediately back into the skies of the planet. His orientation was slightly off, which he corrected with a pitch adjustment before firing his main jump jets and landing safely.

"Damn," Athrun was heard to say on the radio. "And I was kinda hoping I wouldn't have to listen to your foul mouth any more," he notes. Despite his wording, it was obvious from Athrun's tone he was relieved Yzak had come home alive and well.

"You could not get that lucky, Zala," Yzak replies smugly.

"True," Athrun replies. "I see you brought back a souvenir. Cattus recoilless rifle."

"You got it. Even had a good look at Junius Seven while I was there," Yzak replies, still smug about it. "C'mon, it's fucking Miller Time, gents! Drinks are on me!"

"Shouldn't we have to review the footage of the arrival site first?" Kira asks.

"Nah, we can do that later," Athrun replies calmly. "If Yzak said he saw Junius Seven, that means he probably got everything right since I don't think most of Existence hinges on that colony being killed."

"Yeah, you're right, not all life is that cruel," Kira confirms.

-x-x-x-

(19 June 988)

(Stateroom, Warship _Archangel_)

Three knocks at the door heralded the commander of the ship coming, which was something Murrue was expecting in the end. It really had come down to the only person Natarle was fooling was herself, certainly not Murrue or Miriallia, much less any of the rest of the bridge staff.

"It's open," Murrue half-shouts at the door, audible on the other side.

"Captain," Natarle greets her as she enters and walks forward to the desk.

"What's going on, Commander?" Murrue asks, leaning back and away from the pile of paperwork she was going over. Mostly reports on the readiness of the ship and supplies brought in, the paperwork was mundane and time-consuming, not something she relished but necessary nonetheless. The _Archangel_ would be leaving for home with a full arsenal and full cargo holds. This time around it had not been modified with any major systems, but the ship's interior had definitely acquired a lot of souvenirs from the years of residence on this planet.

"Captain, it is with regret that I must inform you I am resigning my commission in the Earth Alliance and from this ship," Natarle replies after a moment's hesitation. "Here is the necessary documentation to take to Earth Alliance HQ, should you be inclined to do so when you return." Murrue received the clipboard and looked it over. The forms were all there, filled out in triplicate, signed and dated the day after they had been sucked out of the Pacific Ocean and dropped quite rudely in Cephiro.

"I expected as much. For the record, I need to know your reason, Commander," Murrue replies, gesturing to a chair for her to take a seat.

"I find I have lost heart, Captain," Natarle replies. "I no longer see as does the Earth Alliance. Other than my family, most of whom were killed in the war and the remainder who probably would not survive it regardless, there is nothing for me to go back to. Best I not pretend my heart is in with the ship when I know it is elsewhere and not coming back." The unstated but easily understood quandary to her declaration was that if she continued to pretend she was in it 100%, eventually she would screw up somewhere and cause casualties, or maybe even get the ship destroyed.

"Understood," Murrue replies, clicking off the recorder that was required for such things. "I take it there is more?"

"King Edgar has asked me to head up the final stages of the interim government until elections are conducted later this year. As opinion is in favor of me doing so, and because more than a ration of the people have asked the same, I...I just could not refuse."

Murrue nodded twice. After a moment of contemplating it, she reached down to the drawer that normally held the bottle of whiskey and opened it, withdrawing two glasses and a bottle of some of the finest from the northern continent. "I hate to say this, Natarle, but that is not the only reason why you are jumping ship, and the last one is one for which I can not fault you." Murrue poured both herself and Natarle a stiff one. "The fact that you aren't wearing the ring is not fooling me."

"Oh," Natarle replies, having forgot (temporarily) that Murrue was one of two telepaths on the ship. "A toast, Natarle. To you, to your soon-to-regret-it husband Edgar Figaro, and to the nation you will for now command."

"How do you get 'soon-to-regret-it' out of Edgar? He'll hit on anything female that comes close enough." Natarle did not consider it one of his most endearing traits, but it was something that she tended to overlook at length. Even royalty had to have a hobby.

"And you think that's going to change with married life?" Murrue asks in counter. "Not to mention, if you run Vector and Figaro like you did this ship, things are going to get whipped into shape real hard and real fast."

"There may not be any whipping Edgar into shape," Natarle replies honestly. "I think part of how he is happens to be local custom of royalty—Doma being the roaring exception. And after a fashion I think I will have to live with that. He should mostly calm down in due course, though."

Murrue snorts sarcastically, evidence enough of how likely she thought that was. "I can only say I regret we shall not be here for the wedding," Murrue says almost dejectedly.

"It can't be helped, Captain, you have to get moving soon or Yzak will have to make more modifications to the systems before you can jump for real." Which would entail another several months of delay, something that Murrue was reticent to inflict on the crew.

"I know. The necessity of it only makes being forced to go more obscene," Murrue grouses. "I did want to be there for it, though."

"It can't be avoided, Captain. You have to go now or delay for at least another year. Just go, I certainly will not hold your absence against you, and if nothing else Edgar is understanding on such necessities." Natarle's demeanor was both reassuring and convincing to Murrue, something she realized she had come to expect.

"You really have changed, Commander," Murrue says offhand.

"I know. Long gone are the days of taking orders and commanding with iron resolve," Natarle half-grumps, half-declares. "Long gone," this one was more of dejection. "I guess...years of the impossible combined with years of building a bureaucracy really can twist even the hardened out of their morass."

"It probably won't be the same without you, Natarle. I've come to rely on your judgment to get us out of bad scrapes."

"Most of it was luck, the rest by the book," Natarle offers as consolation. "And the ship has more luck per capita than should be rightfully legal."

Murrue could not disagree with her on that fact. Everything that had technically happened to the ship was on the premise of luck itself, since by all accounts the ship should have been destroyed at least four times, maybe five since it departed Orb airspace.

"I propose a different toast, Captain," Natarle says, finally picking up her shot glass. "To the _Archangel_, the bizarre adventures that have led us from dimension to dimension to here, and to the ship's return home, even if it did entail a march through Hell the long way."

"Thank you, Natarle," Murrue accepts the toast, and both proceed to slam their whiskey. "You will not be forgotten, Commander. Good luck in your endeavors here, and good luck keeping the King in line."

"Nothing is impossible," Natarle replies. "Safe journey, Captain. I'll see you when I see you," Natarle stands, comes to attention, and salutes. After a moment, Murrue does the same, then offers her hand for a shake.

Murrue and Natarle both knew it would be the last time they crossed paths in their lives, but neither regretted the journey or envied the other their chosen path.

-x-x-x-

(21 June 988, 0210 hours)

(Warship _Archangel_)

Newman looked to his left, at the secondary helm station, and simply shrugged. Mina had resigned her position on the _Archangel_ so she could live in Vector with her daughter, out of harm's way and somewhere where she could build a new life for herself and her daughter. That left the bridge down to a handful of people, given the (no surprise) resignation of the Commander. Mu was filling in for the commander until Miriallia could be trained up to the necessary standard; Kuzzey was still too hesitant for the job, Chandra disqualified himself on account of being the gun-bunny of the ship, and Newman figured himself not enough of a hard-ass to fly as the Ship's CIC officer.

"Don't think I did not hear that, Newman," Miriallia cautions very sourly.

"I didn't mean you are a hard-ass, Miriallia, I mean I just can't be a CIC Commander and tactical officer, I'm too nice for it."

"Uh, Newman, you're only digging you grave deeper by the sentence," Commander La Flaga interjects. Murrue had a good snigger about it.

"Right, I'll just get back to flying the ship now," Newman replies as a cop-out. He knew he lost that argument, and was not going to push his luck.

"Helm, take us up to 600m AGL, center the ship over the teleporter zone," Murrue orders.

There had been a minor banquet at Vector for the officers of the _Archangel_, and catering for the crew on the ship as they prepared for the takeoff. The two generals, Leo and Celes, Locke, Cyan, Edgar and his brother Sabin, and the three Gods of the Espers had hosted the command staff for a night in gratitude for the accomplishments the _Archangel_ had brought to an almost-assuredly doomed world. It was also Natarle's last chance to say her peace to the staff she had come to know well, and she had done so. Though expected, Murrue did not expect the words of Doom, the Grim Reaper manifest: 'Know, Captain: a dark wind follows you; beyond the inevitable death at the twilight of your days, you will be haunted by destruction and battle and slaughter for a long time to come. I tell you this not out of cruelty, but of forewarning that no thing is as simple as it seems.' Thankfully, Murrue had not yet imbibed her fair share of alcohol, and had taken his words phlegmatically; had she been drunk, she had no doubt that she would have used the nearest bottle of alcoholic beverage as a weapon with which to smash over the head of said God. There was no telling what Doom's reaction to that would have been.

"Don't worry about it, Captain," Miriallia says. "This is the _Archangel_ we're talking about, and he was referring to. He is right, we're destined to be in the middle of some conflict, just as the Archangels of yore."

"And we'll have to take up some cause when we get home, if for no other reason than to stop the war," Mu adds after a moment of silence.

"Conn, Helm, we are at the appointed zone," Newman declares.

"Kuzzey, do it," Murrue orders without hesitation.

"Teleporter Control, this is _Archangel_, we are in position and ready for the jump," Kuzzey broadcasts on the radio frequency set aside for the Teleporter systems.

"_Archangel_, Teleport Control, we are powering up the system now. Fifteen seconds." Fifteen seconds did not last long to some, but seemed as if it took fifteen hours to others. "_Archangel_, Teleport Control, systems are ready. Good luck and the speed of the Gods to you, saviors from another world. Jump initiated, detonation in three, two, one, n—"

The remainder of his last word was cut off as the pre-dawn darkness of Vector gave way to the star-lit darkness of the space around Terra. Just as Yzak described, there was no major white flash, no hairy feeling as when they came from the Inner Sphere to their latest conquest. Just change to change, followed by the hull of the _Archangel_ creaking under the released pressure from not being in atmosphere any more. She immediately checked the damage board, and nothing had changed from green to yellow or red, meaning the ship suffered no damage in transit.

"Thank you, Yzak, it worked," Murrue gasps.

"Conn, sensors, we're inside the debris belt! Massive object to starboard, closing fast!" Sai half-shouts over the growing cheer of the crew.

"Newman, get us clear!" Murrue orders as she gets a look at the object. "Is that the underside of Junius Seven?" she asks, seeing and immediately recognizing the underside of half of a PLANT colony.

"Roger that," Newman acknowledges as he hammers the throttles to the max to get clear of the approaching continent of a colony. "We're going to make it by a fair margin," Newman declares when he compares the rapidly-building speed of the _Archangel_ to the approaching colony section.

"That is moving way too rapidly to be in orbit," Mu says after running some quick numbers through the computer. "And in the wrong direction."

"Conn, sensors, object is on definite collision path to Earth," Sai says with a quivering voice.

"And there isn't a damned thing we can do about it," Murrue says.

"Captain, that is not Junius Seven!" Miriallia says, watching the half of the PLANT in question fall toward the planet. "Junius Seven is dead ahead of us!" Murrue looked forward and did confirm that Miriallia was right. The half of a PLANT behind the _Archangel_ was not from the same PLANT as the one in front of her.

"Where the hell did we arrive?" Murrue asks nobody in particular.

* * *

Author's Chapter Afterword:

And thus finally ends the arc of the Final Fantasy VI. As typical, though, what they did here may come back to haunt them in more ways than one, so it is unlikely that you have seen the last of happenings here. Additionally, since I could not get everything done that I wanted to without making this arc impossibly long, there will be a side-story that picks up some of the missing detail and runs with it...and this including the veiled hint that there was more to the world than I showed.

I need to make clear note of one thing for those who realized what I altered in Nicol's cave exploration: to maintain continuity with other parts of the story, there is no Odin summon. Odin is a God, not a summon. Odin is staying that way. On the other hand, Odin or some of his subordinates may show up from time to time in other parts of the story, and give a demonstration as to how bad-ass Gods really are (as if the Rune Gods were not ample evidence of this already).

And onto the Archangel's arrival. I don't think Yzak made as much of an error as Murrue made it sound. Everything will be explained thoroughly in the upcoming chapter, which will be a One-Shot chapter (only one chapter in this setting). It will be a longer chapter, as I have much ground to cover as well as a partial explanation why this shit keeps happening to them. Stay tuned for the worst.

Next up: the Archangel gets a real indication of where they are and how badly they are screwed. Some stories are meant never to be told, trust me.

* * *

Review Replies: Eight reviews, always a pleasure. Right now I am averaging 7.4 reviews per chapter, which is just plain awesome. Keep it coming, people, the more fuel for this nightmare, the more hellish it gets :P

**Knives91**: MP5 is a nice piece of hardware, but I have a general aversion to 9mm. Sorry about that :P

**FraserMage**: 1911 and AKM (the better version of the AK-47) are go, but the MG42 I swapped out for the M60 (same effect, though). Hope you like :P

**One-Village-Idiot**: I'm going with the higher-caliber rifles by and large, trying to avoid .223 weapons (the XM29). Sorry about Natarle, the dice roll for her accepting Edgar's proposal, but keep in mind that I have kept a lot up in the air besides just that. Rest assured, though, Natarle is not through being badass. One thing I don't quite get, though, is how you consider the CE wars pathetic compared to UC wars, since I figure they are both about as violent and vehement as the other.

**EtienneOfTheWestWind**: Yeah, I'll miss doing Natarle as part of the crew, but she will get her final shot at glory in the side story. I had to set it up slowly, or it would have been too jarring for my normal conduct, though, which meant anyone who reads between the lines could see right through it. Oh well. As to Murrue, I'll leave that one as an open guess for now, especially since there is a lot of possibles on the ship right now, and will be a lot more in time to come. Not that I aim for pairing, but sometimes that is how it happens.

**CHM01**: Flay, well, good ol' Flay will get some good limelight in the coming side story. I won't spoil how or why she gets that limelight, but she will get some. As with Etienne above, I will leave open who proposes to who until it actually happens (anti-spoiler regs). M-16 is acceptable but not really as rugged as the AKM, the Desert Eagle isn't as hot as people think it is so it's out (my one time firing a DE didn't convince me it was better than my .357 Mag revolver), though the BAR almost ended up on the list of weapons, only narrowly defeated by the M60 light machine gun. Came down to belt fed versus magazine.

**NHO**: Thanks for clarifying your prior messages, NHO. I do not see the need for such mass destruction in this story (it is all almost tactical scale), but there will be a need for it in the Jokers Wild and in its predecessor, the Multimage Chronicles. Expect much mass destruction there.

**Strata-Assassin**: Well, this time around, I think I capped 100 corrections you listed in the beta. That is the price of doing it fast, though. If Yzak actually did call Kira by his real name, hell would probably freeze over. Actually, my intent was to finish this arc bfore the summer, the story has an insanely long way to go still. Stay tuned on that account :P

**Nim Maj**: The Vandread suggestion is an interesting one, if practically 100 percent fanservice. Still and all, I think I can make it interesting, if the dice pick that direction to go. No bets on whether it shall happen or not.

Thank you one and all for the reviews, first-timers and repeat reviewers :P Next chapter is now in the planning stages at this time, and it will contain quite a bit of shock and awe. You have been warned.

* * *

The Gripe Sheet:

The gripe sheet is being dealt with by my beta reader for this story, **Strata-Assassin**. She is an excellent writer of her own right, check out her Weapon's Waltz story, it is OC-centric but certainly better writing than many and quite action-loaded despite the strange (almost serene) title.

* * *

Footnotes:

(1): 'Willy Pete' is a common nickname for a White Phosphorous grenade, which was detailed and used in the last chapter.

(2): Thermite is commonly used by soldiers to cause serious or crippling damage to mechanical equipment by pure thermal transfer. Thermite heats up to over 2000 degrees (Farenheit), making it extremely damaging to mechanical components and even the inside of a gun's barrel. I used to know what Thermite was comprised of, but not any more...


	29. Nuclear Nightmare

(Archangel's Amazing Adventures One-Shot Chapter 01: Nuclear Nightmare)

"Oh my God," Miriallia gasps, watching the half of a PLANT begin entry of the Earth's atmosphere. "It's—and—Captain?"

"No, Miriallia, even our Lohengrins are not capable of causing enough damage to that." The 'enough' part really meant 'enough to make it break up in the atmosphere and burn up', which did not require 100 percent destruction on the _Archangel_'s part. And still they couldn't do it. "Helm, take us forward to the Junius remains. Miriallia, focus, see if you can hear anyone out there."

"No, Captain, I can't," Miriallia replies. "I—why did this happen? What—our families—why?"

"Looks like we made it back, all right, just well after someone ended the war for us," Chandratta notes sourly.

"Captain, look at the planet; where North America is supposed to be," Mu requests.

"Oh, my God," Murrue gasps. Where North America had been, there was now a very large crater, or at least what they could see of it. The atmosphere was hazy from dust particulate in the upper reaches. "It's...nothing left..." The destruction was not limited to just North America, though: South America had at least one impact zone and part of Brazil appeared to be flooded; an impact in Central America had erased everything south of Mexico and north of Peru off the map, replacing it with a water-filled crater. Africa could just be barely seen from all the dust particulate, but what they saw looked like it had escaped damage for the time being. Asia would be the next to be seen, and Murrue had the feeling that she would not like what she saw.

"When they hit, they are capable of rearranging the face of the world," Mu says.

"Kuzzey, anything?"

"No, Captain, not a trace of anything out there except a few communication satellites." Which itself was an oddity, since ZAFT made a point to smash in the communications satellites at the beginning of the war...only to render them obsolete courtesy of the N-Jammers.

Murrue picks up the growler phone. "Yzak Joule, Athrun Zala, Kira Yamato, please report to the bridge."

Three minutes later, all three of the requested pilots were on the bridge. "I won't chew anyone out for where we landed, no sense in arguing about it now."

"Thank you for that, Cap'n," Yzak replies immediately. "So, what's up that you want all three of us here?"

"We can't hear any electronic noise except a few comm satellites, probably the last of the commercial communications birds. I was wondering if you'd be willing to get inside them and see when they were last used and how they were last used?"

"Easy," Kira replies. "All right, guys, how we breaking this one down?" Kira asks while climbing up to the empty radio station chair.

"I'll do frequencies, Yzak does strings (1), Kira can start crunching the encryption."

"Way ahead of you," Yzak replies. "Got several good cuts already, though I'm not sure what they are from."

"Feed me," Kira requests. In moments he had the necessary data chunks, and applied the _Archangel_'s beefy quantum computer to the task of busting the string open. "Oh, wow, done already. Looks like that was a basic-encrypted SYN packet."

"SYN? Perfect, if it is real; we can use it to spoof our way into the network," Yzak says smugly.

"Setting it up now, slug me the data, Kira," Athrun requests. Moments later; "Oh, yes, clear-text to the address and password. Let's see if I can make the _Archangel_'s radio look like a sat node." With some creative manipulating of the carrier frequency and node designations, Athrun began the process of trying to get in.

"Conn, helm, we are thirty minutes away from Junius Seven at this rate," Newman reports, having to dodge around a lot more debris this time than he remembered he had to last time through.

Newman's comment was the only thing that broke the silence in the room other than Yzak, Kira and Athrun's hacking work. Truth to tell, everyone else was rather stunned at how fast the three were working to get inside the communications satellites. Other than the sound of the keyboards, the three passing directions back and forth was the only sound in the bridge. It lasted the better part of ten minutes, before: "Bingo, we're in," Yzak half-shouts proudly, given that it was he who finally got inside the system. "Whoa, these are laser-communication relay satellites, not normal radio-frequency sats."

"Excellent, looking into it now," Kira says, more-or-less disregarding Yzak's latter comment.

"I'll check the buffers (2), you see if you can get inside the sat's permanent storage," Athrun tells Kira.

"I'll head down the network path, check into another satellite," Yzak adds in a moment later.

The rapid-fire typing continued unabated as each roamed around the innards of the satellites, trying to find some explanation of what went wrong. Occasionally one of them would stop and mutter a curse or something else, having heard something that was heartrending but not necessarily informative. "Man, it sucks hearing someone's last phone call as they die from radiation poisoning," Yzak bemoans after hearing the fourth such call. "And none of them say why."

"I know," Kira sympathizes.

"Guys, I got something. Hold on."

"What is it?"

"A very optimistic satellite tech. Observe," and Athrun slugs the movie file he happened across to the main monitor.

The picture was of a large, multi-terminal control room, somewhat poorly lit, with most of the desks empty. After a few moments, a sickly-looking bald guy sits down in front of the camera. "I don't have much time left to live, so I need to be fast. Most of my co-workers at the Eurasian Satellite Relay are dead already, the rest, well," and he glances back to one lady who also looked stricken, but was just sitting a row behind him staring off into the distance while drinking a beer. "Both sides lost. The war escalated. JOSH-A, Panama, Boaz, Jachin Due, bad to worse to insane to apocalyptic. It ended a day ago with both sides using their weapons of mass destruction on each other. We don't know how much of the PLANTs survived, but we don't think any of them lived. For sure a lot of the PLANTs are now headed for Earth in pieces, and the first should impact us in about three hours. What the radiation from ZAFT's superweapon doesn't kill, the rest of us will be killed by the impacts of the colony remnants."

As he paused to breathe and rest, his exertions wearing on him, the lady in the background half-crushed the beer can, threw it off-camera, picked a pistol up off the desk, and before anyone on the bridge could even begin to gasp she shot herself just behind the jaw hinge. The sound of the gunshot caused the guy to jump slightly, but he did not look at her remains even as they made a grotesque thumping sound in hitting the floor after sliding out of the chair.

"Humanity has paid the price for their arrogance. None of us gave a shit, and yet we're all dead, if not now then within the week. I can only hope I'll get a good chance at seeing them all in hell so I can beat the shit out of them daily. We never...never...deserved this..." the satellite technician finally collapses onto his keyboard, killing the video file.

"Conn, Sensors, that colony half is about to strike the planet. Estimated impact location...Madrid, Spain," Sai reports almost mechanically; Murrue could easily tell he was trying to avoid breaking down.

"Roger; I'm not going to watch it," Murrue says deadpan.

-x-x-x-

(25 minutes later; 8 October CE 71, over the remnants of Junius Seven)

"This is the 'wrong' scale cranked up well past 11," Yzak gripes. He was back in the Duel, and in his element as he was out in space and maneuvering around to try and find anything, something more that knew what the hell was going on. There were distress beacons here and there, but the two life boats picked up were simply grave markers for here died someone lucky enough to get away...and suffocate in the days thereafter.

"I know what you mean," Athrun says. They had watched another colony chunk drop to the planet below, this one landing in the Indian Ocean off the southeast coast of India. The tidal wave was even visible from space, it was that bad.

"Duel, Control, we have a possible live one at your three o'clock, low. Stand by for further."

"Roger that," Yzak replies.

Further instructions took 30 seconds to come. "Duel, Aegis, Control, confirmed live personnel in a machine that looks a lot like the Strike with an attached Moebius Zero painted orange. I have uploaded the coordinates to your machine. Please recover and bring to the ship."

"Duel rogers your last, moving now." Yzak was moving in that direction before she gave the orders, since he knew it was going to come down to picking him or her up. "Athrun, you have the location?"

"Roger that," Athrun replies. "You check high, I'll go low."

"Got it," he replies immediately. "Control, Duel, entered the area, beginning search now. Stand by for updates."

Searching the requested area only took a minute. "Control, Aegis, have eyes on MS, and man is it beat to hell. Beginning recovery procedure."

"Roger that, Aegis."

Athrun maneuvered his Gundam to position where he could reach out and grab the lifeless arm of the machine with his right, then began making small thrusts to begin moving it away from approaching debris. With that accomplished, Athrun converted the Aegis to mobile armor form, spreading the claws of the Aegis and grappling it, which was the easiest way for Athrun to transport anything large in space.

"Duel, Control, Aegis has one-man-grab on the recovered MS, I'm out of the loop. Anything you want me to do in this vicinity?"

"Negative, nothing specific, continue searching the area for any other signs of remaining life."

"Roger that, Control. Duel is out."

Athrun did not have a huge distance to transit to get to the _Archangel_, as the ship had maneuvered close for easier pickup. Getting his Gundam down the catapult deck without causing excessive damage to the machine that really did look like a simplified Strike was another story, however.

-x-

"It's Earth Alliance, all right, the rescue systems are exactly the same as the Strike and the Buster. Hold on." Murdoch connects a power pack to the external comms connector to charge it; the designs anticipated a system running out of power, so the designers were kind enough to give external access crews a location to separately power the intercom. "Hey, pilot, you still alive in there?"

The response was not long in coming: "Hell yeah I'm still alive! Can you get me out of here? I don't care if you shoot me afterwards, I'm just getting bloody tired of this cramped, stoved-in cockpit!"

"Hold on, we'll get you out. Move your command couch as far back as possible," Murdoch orders. "Natalya, can you pry this hatch open without killing the poor guy inside?"

"Aff, Master Chief Petty Officer," she replies immediately as she takes up a large titanium prybar. She drove the hooligan end into the small gap between the hatch and the cockpit frame, then pushed toward the machine to wedge it open. It gave, slightly, but not enough to promise salvation. "Two more! Pytor, take up that pipe and join the fray!" she half-orders, since they were technically the same rank at this time.

"Aff," Pytor replies as two other hearty technicians join the effort as well. "On three, everyone drive your backs into it! One, two, THREE!" All four of those involved let fly a guttural shout as four prying objects and the gravity on the ship conspired to loose the cockpit hatch. After a moment of straining, the hatch slams down into the deck around the midsection of the MS, revealing the innards of the cockpit to them.

Murdoch was the first to peek inside. "You all right, pilot? Need a medic?"

"No, just sitting here, contemplating my pistol." The pilot had removed his helmet when he heard voices from outside, an indication that the cracked frame of his cockpit was letting air in.

"C'mon out, then, we'll get you fixed up with a meal and something resembling amenities," Murdoch offers. The pilot was a bit wary, but after thinking about it did exit his cockpit, sidearm low but still in hand. Outside the almost-completely-dead MS, he could see the totality of where he was and what else was in the hangar.

"What...what the hell is this? What unit are you with? What kind of machines are those, Master Chief Petty Officer?" the officer asks after a long moment of silence, looking at the various machines in the hangar—a hangar that could easily transport sixteen machines in repair cubes and at least that many in open space tie-downs.

"We're an independent unit, made up of about six different groups, maybe a little more," Murdoch replies. "I won't try explaining it, the whole thing is just plain mind-blowing. Best you talk to the Captain about it, she can probably give the best short-hand version of us all."

"I'll settle for the explanation first, if you don't object, Chief," and that moment Murdoch thought he recognized the pilot, but could not put his finger on who immediately.

" 'Kay." Murdoch pulls a radio from a holster. "Bridge from hangar deck, come back."

"Go for bridge," Miriallia replies.

"The rescued pilot would like the full G-2 on what happened to us, sounds like (2)." Murdoch managed to keep his voice even about the subject.

"Commander Badgiruel's paperwork would probably be the best bet for that," Miriallia declares. "Still, the Commander will meet you two down in the mess hall. The Captain says hold off on repairs to his MS, we may have more recoveries to bring in and secure."

"Roger that," Murdoch grumps. "Moving to mess hall now." The radio went back in the holster, which the pilot deftly noted was not a standard-issue Earth Alliance holster or belt...nor was the pistol and magazines he carried standard-issue Earth Alliance, either, despite the architecture of the ship being very similar to the _Agamemnon_-class ships he had sortied from a week prior. Consciously, he put his pistol away and strapped the holster down; he did not think he was at hazard of being attacked on this ship, just weirded out.

On his way through the pilot's lounge, he encountered four veritable kids sitting around and apparently waiting for deploy orders. Three of them were girls, laying about in gray uniforms with what was obviously the silhouette of the _Archangel_-class ships on their armpatch, but each of them had a different symbol below it, a picture of a very ornate sword as far as he could tell; the blue hair of one of them didn't much phase him, some things like that were becoming strangely common outside Coordinators as far as he could tell. The fourth was a guy in an Earth Alliance pilot's suit, who was snoring quite loudly while hanging practically upside down over the back of the couch in the lounge. He did take time to note the presence of a ZAFT pilot's helmet, a red one (which he knew was for their elite or politically-elite pilots), with some kind of memorial plaque hanging over it, attached to the wall space above the bank of lockers. He didn't question it, figuring the gesture some kind of battle trophy, given the burn marks on it.

On their way through the halls, they passed a goodly collection of the ship's crew, and in each case the pilot took note of the armpatches on their otherwise standard uniforms: the large Archangel patch with a smaller patch below it: two symbols he didn't recognize on some, a green bird carrying a katana on one, the OMNI globe and accents on a few, and on others no symbol at all. He did not have much time to ponder the nature of such insignias before stepping into the cafeteria.

Since the ship was presumably at heightened stations and alert, there was not much going on in the cafeteria, at least by _Archangel_ standards. A handful of crew were chowing down quick, either off-duty and not anticipating staying that way or before they returned to their stations. It took a few moments for Murdoch to realize where the Commander was: in the line to get a lunch load.

It didn't take the pilot long, either. "No way! No fucking way! You died at Alaska, along with the _Archangel_!" he says, clearly indicating Commander La Flaga.

"Uh, huh?" Mu grunts in response. "What do you mean?" Mu asks as he brings three lunches to a clear table. Murdoch was not hesitant to grab a seat, though the pilot was for a few moments.

"This is fucking unreal." Still, the pilot took a seat after being offered one as well as the best-smelling hot-cooked meal he had seen since departing the moon, A meal was a meal was a meal, when everything was said and done. "Damn, something's not right here, either the Earth Alliance lied about you dying or you didn't die and they only _thought_ you bought it at Alaska."

"Okay, start from step one," Mu requests. "First, you're Eurasian, right? What unit?"

"I was part of the Operation Elvis fleet, the attack on Boaz and the PLANTs. Name's Morgan Chevalier, and you are Mu La Flaga, right?"

"Mad Dog Morgan," Murdoch grumps. "No wonder you looked and sounded familiar," he tacks on for good measure.

"Yeah, that's me," he replies gruffly.

"Yeah, I'm Lieutenant Commander Mu La Flaga, formerly of the 8th Fleet."

"So, tell me, how did you get out of Alaska alive? All the forces assigned to guard JOSH-A were annihilated by ZAFT, as we heard." Morgan's shock at that seemed paled compared to other things of late, and they could tell.

"Uh, you serious?" Mu asks. "The _Archangel_ never made it to Alaska."

"No way, the EA brass was very specific about you arriving in Alaska a few days prior to the ZAFT assault on JOSH-A."

"Okay, okay, something is not adding up here. Please give me a run-down on what you heard happened."

"The _Archangel_ left Orb and went north to Alaska, chased by a ZAFT special forces team the whole way—the captured G Weapons. The one Earth Alliance machine was shot down, pilot killed in action, but the ship continued on. ZAFT attacked JOSH-A a few days later, and the whole defending force—including the _Archangel_—was annihilated to the last man by the assault. ZAFT supposedly lost most of their assaulting personnel in the attack, and were extremely furious with the casualties so they assaulted Panama two days later to keep the EA from capitalizing on their losses."

"Oh man, absolute disaster," Mu declares, meaning more things than one.

"So, how'd you guys snake them _and_ the brass?" Mad Dog Morgan asks in response.

"Well, based on what you just told me, Morgan, I think we both are and are not the _Archangel_ you are talking about."

After Morgan got over the shock of the fact that this was the _Archangel_, only not the _Archangel_ supposedly destroyed in Alaska, Mu settled down and told him the whole story, with visual reinforcement in the holograph projector and his halberd to drive the point home. Explaining things took well over two hours, a gallon of coffee, ad-libs from a dozen other personnel that came and went, and some holoprojector recordings of the battles they underwent...and of course the obligatory _Immortal Warrior_ episode that was definitely not something shown in Earth Alliance territory, since the episode in question referenced one of the planets that Mu said they had been on, Romulus.

For his part, Morgan thought that what happened was batshit crazy, though there was no denying the halberd Mu had was as magical as its origin. That alone went a long way to convincing Morgan that not all was bullshit or batshit.

-x-x-x-

(8 June CE 71, 1030 hours (2 hours after recovering Morgan Chevalier))

"This one, never seen the like," Murdoch declares as the Aegis places the almost-pristine Mobile Suit in an empty hangar cubicle. "You recognize it, Morgan?" Murdoch asks.

"Oh yeah, this one was on nobody's side but its own, and it had some fellows. Tried stopping both the EA and ZAFT, it succeeded partially but not much more than that. I thought it was caught in the second blast of the ZAFT superweapon. How it survived at all is beyond me."

"It's big, that's for sure," Nicol says. The box on its back made it look even larger than expected, as well as the odd hemispherical extensions coming from the sides of the box, but on that Nicol could not guess what they were for except to look impressive.

The machine in question was...big. It also had a cross-resemblance to both Earth Alliance and ZAFT aesthetics, and most telling of all was the X-20L designation on its helmet crest, which put it in the wrong designation system to be Earth Alliance—EA machines were classified as 100-Series (Basic frames), 200-Series (Specialized frames) or 300-Series (Transforming frames) as Morgan pointed out fairly. "20L matches close to what our intel boys came up with as ZAFT's new model machines: X09A Justice, X10A Freedom, X11A Regenerate, X13A Providence. Providence...that one was freaking bad. It tore through our forces, only stopped by this machine and the renegade ZAFT ship _Eternal_. Damn pity, really, hindsight...god, if only we'd paid attention to that little girl, maybe this would have ended before going all-out nuclear."

"Here," Murdoch punches in an activation code that Yzak had written down, an override code that ZAFT had in all their machines to access the cockpit from outside. It took a moment, but the hatch did indeed pop open to reveal the contents of the cockpit.

"Whoa," Nicol grunts. "Blue?"

"Something up?" Murdoch asks. What he was referring to was the pilot suit, of course.

"Green is common, red is elite, but what are the blue suits about?" Nicol asks.

"You don't know?" Murdoch asks for clarification, and gets the same answer as expected. "Morgan?" he asks a moment later.

"Not a clue. That is a ZAFT pilot suit, right?"

"Right," Nicol replies. "Just...there's too much wrong for this to be a ZAFT machine, I think. The symbol, the pilot suit coloring, what it was doing, I don't think it was ZAFT."

"Sure as hell was not Earth Alliance, I watched it sink the _Doolittle_, _Kitty Hawk_, _Nellis_, _Thermopylae_ and the _Dominion_ on its own." His tone betrayed that he considered one of the most horrifying things he had ever seen. Murdoch mostly agreed with it, watching five ships go down in flames would have to be less than pleasant, but...

"Badass machine, I guess," Murdoch declares.

"Badass pilot, more likely," Morgan adds after a moment. "Shall we?"

"Yeah," Murdoch joins Morgan in removing the female pilot (deceased) from the cockpit of the machine. She had been gripping the sides of her helmet, and to add to the creepiness had died with her eyes wide open in clear shock at whatever had happened to her.

"How is it going?" A lady's voice asks from outside the cockpit.

"Captain, we're just beginning to ponder this machine we picked up. Though, what should we do with, well," his sentence trails off.

"Burial in space," Murrue orders. "Intern her in a metal container, we will use the linear catapult to send it off."

"Aye, Captain," Murdoch declares.

"One thing, though, have Fuu check her for identification. Maybe that will help us identify where the machine came from." Even though the pilot appeared to be a classic pettanko (3), there was still enough there for Murrue to tell it was a lady without looking in the faceplate, and she was not going to have the guys see to that.

"Will do, Captain;" Murdoch looks past the Captain. "Tony, Gomer, c'mere," he orders immediately thereafter.

"Yessir!" The two requested Mechanics took over seeing to the body, allowing Captain Ramius, Murdoch, Nicol, and Morgan Chevalier to return to the machine in question.

"Kinda too bad we can't do anything for her," Murdoch grumbles. "She'd know best what the hell was going on, and why everything went to shit in a hurry."

"Can't be helped," Murrue replies. Thus far, she did not know of anyone who could un-kill the dead. She had little doubt that somewhere, somehow, she might find someone with that skill, but for now that was not a possible.

"Whoa, new machine," Kira was heard to say as he approaches the catwalks. "And that encounter suit was the pilot, right?"

"Was," Murdoch replies. "We're just getting ready to check it, you want to give us a hand?"

"Sure," Kira replies.

"And how many are we going to involve in this?" Colonel Morgan asks nobody in particular.

"Relax, Colonel," Murrue requests. "Kira is the guy who took over the Strike, reprogrammed it from scratch while fighting a GINN with having never used a Mobile Suit before in his life, and used it to clobber ZAFT's elite Le Creuset Team again and again and again. If anyone can divine the secrets of an unfamiliar machine, it would be Kira."

"Whoa." It had never cropped up that he was the pilot of the Strike, to which Morgan's Dagger was the mass-production version of the Strike, hardpoints for the mission packs and all. "You're telling me that this guy," to which Morgan was stretching things but didn't want to offend him by calling him 'kid', "Is the infamous pilot that positively mulched whole teams of ZAFT forces with just one machine?"

"And brought down the next best thing to a Goddess in the skies above Cephiro, and aided in turning a whole Clan Galaxy into scrap, salvage and poorly-organized remnants, and brought a Magitek Empire to its knees at the controls of an omnimech with twice the firepower of a Mobile Suit and the survivability of five. Yes, Colonel, he's probably one of the major reasons why this ship is still alive. And I don't think there is a person on the ship that doesn't trust him implicitly."

As Nicol had been recounting Kira's various feats, Kira had climbed into the cockpit with a slight shudder for the morbid feeling of taking over a Mobile Suit that someone died in. Unlike the typical guy, who would have started pressing buttons to power up the machine, Kira started looking for the pilot's manual first, which turned out to be a prescient move on his part. With enough digging, he found it behind the command couch, along with her personal effects. A lot of them. At least a quarter ton's worth of them. Untangling the pilot manual from a small-figure bra was not something he would soon forget, but not something he really wanted to remember, either.

"ZGMF-20FL Strike Freedom Mass Production Type, Long-Term Deployment Variant" Kira reads off the manual cover.

"ZGMF, definitely ZAFT," Nicol notes.

"Whoa, holy shit," Kira mumbles. "This thing weighs in at 75 tons fully loaded, is armed with two beam rifles, two rail guns, a hyper impulse beam cannon, two beam sabers, two beam _shield_ generators, two 31mm CIWS, and has options to carry two heavy plasma cannons, a set of eight DRAGOONs, whatever those are, storage containers up to 25 tons, a Gate Generator, whatever the hell that is, or can be fitted with modular adapters to mount Silhouette, Striker, or Wizard packs."

"Makes your poor old Strike look grossly outdated," Nicol notes.

"Too bad this thing doesn't have a tactical doctrine section, it would be nice to see what it's intended to be used for," Murrue grumps, figuring that given what Kira had just read off it had about a dozen possible uses.

"It does," Kira replies. " 'Strike Freedom Mass Production units are designed explicitly to engage enemy Mobile Suits and Gundams at a variety of ranges with a wide array of capabilities, with secondary purposes of engaging enemy Warships and ground forces. When outfitted with various mission equipment or extended weapon sets, the Strike Freedom Mass Production Type can fulfill any number of tasks the equipment allows for in addition to its primary functions.' So quote the manual," Kira reads off from the pages he was perusing.

"A Gundam killer, is it?" Murdoch asks with a chuckle.

"It achieved its goal all right. This one machine easily massacred over a hundred Mobile Suits and at least a dozen warships from both sides. Fucking unstoppable."

"Uh, Colonel, be warned: we have personnel on this ship who slap people hard enough to loosen teeth for foul language. None here, but," Murrue cautions.

"Uh, I'll keep that in mind," Morgan replies dubiously.

"What'll it be, Captain?" Kira asks while flipping page after page through the manual. "Should I fire it up and take it out for a test drive?"

"I want it inspected before I trust anyone's life to it," Murrue orders. "Murdoch, plan on getting the 105 Dagger rebuilt and ready for deploy as well. Morgan, you said the remnant ZAFT and Earth Alliance forces are still hunting each other?"

"Yeah, dodging them is how I ended up out here in the debris zone." And why he had been scavenging killed ships for food, water, oxygen and power to survive.

"Willing to stay with us for a few?" Murrue asks plaintively.

"It would be a pleasure," he replies. _No more hunting for supplies, and they ain't on anyone's side_, he thinks irreverently.

It was his thoughts that sealed his place with the ship. "Welcome to the Archangel Team."

-x-x-x-

(8 June CE71, 2100 hours)

(In transit to the PLANTs)

"Conn, Sensors, we have contacts dead ahead," Sai says.

"Classify them, please," Murrue requests.

"One colony, appears to have been moved from L4, two ships unknown class, four Earth Alliance ships of _Drake_ and _Nelson_ classes."

"Helm, continue on course. Miriallia, can you tell anything?" Murrue asks.

"Not yet, just a feeling of unease," Miriallia replies.

"Well, that makes me uneasy," the Captain grumps. "All pilots to ready stations at this time, do not launch until combat is imminent."

"Conn, Comms, incoming from the Earth Alliance ships," Kuzzey declares.

"My screen," Murrue orders before turning the volume up to be heard by the whole bridge.

"This is Captain Irian of the Earth Alliance warship _Mumbai_, unidentified ship cease your advance and state your intentions immediately. Fail to comply and you will be fired upon. This is your only warning."

"Captain Irian, this is Captain Murrue Ramius of the Archangel Team warship _Archangel_, we will cease advance immediately if you will explain what is the present situation, over," she replies moments before the ships closed enough to establish visual link. "Newman, reverse thrust, all stop."

"_Archangel_? The _Archangel_ was sunk at Alaska, and your silhouette is too large to be an _Archangel_-class ship, Captain. Identify yourself immediately or we will fire upon you."

"Captain Irian, this **is** the _Archangel_, hull designation Lima-Charlie-Alpha-Mike-Zero-One-Xray-Alpha. We have had to make some rather extensive modifications to our silhouette and arsenal due to extreme circumstances, but you can rest assured the ship is the same ship the Earth Alliance commissioned and constructed in Heliopolis. Now, if you do not believe me on that account, I cannot stop you from firing on my ship, but you damn well better make that first shot count or I will send you to hell immediately thereafter. Do you copy, Captain Irian?"

"Captain, if that ship CO is Wesley Irian, he's ascended scum, he's looking for an excuse to kill someone," Newman informs her. Murrue glanced at him but said nothing.

"Conn, sensors, shuttle launch from the colony," Sai blurts out. "Estimated destination...L4 colony group."

"Conn, Comms, Earth Alliance fleet is ordering shuttle to surrender and heave to—"

"Conn, sensors, one of the _Drakes_ fired on the shuttle!" The main screen showed the line of tracers lance out from the large anti-MS rotary cannon on the ship, one pass, two passes, and the ship broke into several distinct pieces.

"Captain Irian, I demand an explanation for firing on an unarmed civilian shuttle!" Murrue shouts at him.

"You sympathize with the Coordinator scum that killed off our blue planet, killed almost everyone in the Earth Sphere? You are an Earth Alliance officer, Murrue Ramius, and you will follow orders! All Earth Alliance ships are to eradicate the remaining Coordinators by any means necessary, do you copy, Captain Ramius?"

"Chandratta!" Murrue half-shouts.

"Way ahead of you, Captain," he replies maliciously, his typing already fast at work to activate the arsenal of the _Archangel_.

"Conn, ECM, laser designators tracking our ship!" Sai shouts in a half-panic.

"Control, launch everything! Prioritize for space battle, launch Aegis, launch Duel. Full assault," Murrue orders in clear fury.

"Gottfried turrets loose, all tracking systems active, laser designator lock on; valid solution to Irian's ship, Captain," Chandratta tells her.

"They fired!" Sai shouts, then cringes. The beams only took a second to streak the relatively short distance to the _Archangel_, but even when striking a known weak point of the armor (the launch bay hatch), they did not blow through. The lack of significant damage itself was testament to how far the _Archangel_ had come in three years.

"Gottfried cannons, fire!" Murrue half-shouts. Her attack took the same second to cross back, but the difference in application was severe. Her four beams chopped clear into the _Nelson_-class and cooked off the ammo bunker for the vertical-launch missile silos, chopping the ship roughly in half in front of the conning tower.

"Gottfrieds recharging, estimate 45 seconds, shall I deploy Valiants?"

"Yes, immediately," Murrue replies over the shuddering and loud metallic impact of the catapults launching the Duel and Aegis out into space. The surviving _Nelson_ and one _Drake_ had launched missiles at the _Archangel_, but the oft-maligned Igelstellungs tore through the missiles with frightening ease. Not one missile struck the ship.

"Aegis and Duel are engaging the outside _Drake_, ma'am," which had been the one to fire on the fleeing shuttle.

"Valiants, missiles on the middle _Drake._ Chandratta, Gottfrieds on the _Nelson_ when charged."

The _Archangel_'s next attack set, missiles and Valiants to one, the Gottfrieds to the other, turned out to be the last insult to break their morale. Chandratta missed with one Valiant slug, but not the other or the missiles; the _Drake_ so struck remained intact but was out of action. The final _Nelson_ took both sets of beams from the Gottfrieds, destroying its engine block and the whole forward section of the ship from the missile launchers to the bow, rendering it disabled.

And no surviving Earth Alliance ship had a crew competent enough to pull an attack off like that, or so the remaining _Drake_ figured. The ship launched three white flares and immediately offered surrender on open channels.

"Surrender? After killing civilians like that?" Athrun asks in reply. "Like hell!" The Aegis lands on the foredeck of the _Drake_, looking in the front window. "Explain your misdeeds to Saint Peter here in a few minutes, genocidal scum."

Nobody was really surprised the Aegis reached up to the bridge front windows, gripped tight with its massive hand, and twist-wrenched the front windows completely off the conning tower, venting the bridge to space. A few were trying to get to the door to escape deeper into the ship, but those poor souls were simply sucked out into space and suffered faster decompression. After a few moments of pause, the Aegis jumped clear of the ship, transformed into the mobile armor mode, and fired a single blast of Scylla to finish the job.

"Athrun," Kira begins, but stops before going any farther.

"Huh?" The Aegis transforms back to mobile suit form, then looks to Kira in the new Strike Freedom MP.

"I think I should say something, anything, about doing that, but," he says quietly.

"But what?" Athrun asks almost accusatory.

"I won't say anything. You're right, in the end. They shouldn't be killing people like that." Even still, the tone of Kira's voice was extremely grim, evidence that he thought his own position morally ambiguous, much less the rest of the team.

"Colony C4-146, this is _Archangel_, are you all right?" Kuzzey requests on radio.

"_Archangel_, this is Colony Control, we're all dead. The Earth Alliance suits have infiltrated the colony and are killing everyone. There's not much we can do to stop them. Just...just get the remaining survivors here and get them to Mars. Step over our dead bodies if you have to, just get the remnant to safety, please. There's nothing left for them—" the crackling sound presaged that the radio had been destroyed, presumably along with the user.

"Aegis, Duel, Strike Freedom, Buster, 105 Dagger, enter and clear the colony. Rune Gods, remain on station and eliminate any Earth Alliance genocidal maggots that try fleeing." If Murrue could sound any colder, how was lost on the ship's crew and pilots.

"With pleasure, Captain," Athrun replies just as coldly. "Aegis has point. Dynamic entry, Strike Freedom, Aegis, Duel, 105, Buster, that order. Kill them all and count the bodies."

-x-x-x-

(9 June CE 71, 0630 hours)

(Maius 2 PLANT colony)

"It's like a freaking graveyard," Yzak comments on the open-channel radio. A few of the PLANTs maintained their position even with being bombed out by nuclear weapons. Most did not, and the bulk of the deceased colonies were headed for Earth or already there. Three PLANTs were all that remained intact, though in a veritable cemetery of the deceased colonies.

"Is this...what war really looks like?" Hikaru asks; her Rune God was looking around, watching for debris and observing the colonies.

"No, Hikaru, this is genocide," Kira replies darkly. "The killing of whole groups of people, almost everyone."

"Omnicide, technically, since damn near everyone was killed off, no discrimination as to side or creed," Athrun clarifies. "We can enter through this harbor entrance. I'll get out to activate the lift controls."

"All right, everyone pile on the harbor lift." Yzak suits his own actions to his words, something quickly followed by the other Gundams, the Rune Gods, and even the newcomer Morgan Chevalier.

"Can these things handle all of our units?" Morgan asks. There was no question as to where he stood now, the only thing he lacked was a uniform to match the rest of the team. Especially after using his Gunbarrel Striker to kill almost half of the EA Strike Daggers in C4-146 singlehandedly.

"Yeah, easily, we used to run a dozen GINNs up and down these lifts at a time," Yzak notes. "Granted, each of our machines except maybe the 105 Dagger are a bit heavier than a GINN, but the principle holds."

Athrun parked his Gundam on the lift, picked up the Rorynex SMG, and made sure the safety was on before popping the hatch. Outside, it only took a few moments to cover the distance to the control room access hatch, and on the inside of the hatch a dead lady greeted him. His sharp gasp drew attention on the radios, but Athrun reassured everyone that there was no threat. Inside the lock, two hallways stalled his transit to the control room, one hall filled with dead people that had been obviously killed by shotgun, and another with just parts of bodies and congealed blood drops floating in the weightless atmosphere.

"I'm in, give me a moment to set up the lock transits," Athrun works quickly to set up timing close enough to the fastest the lock could manage. A minute later: "Set and ready; in ten seconds, you'll start moving. I'll meet you inside and pick my Gundam up there."

"Roger that, watch your can, Zala."

"Always," Athrun adjusts his sling back to combat carry position and heads out into the corridors.

The whole dock area resounded to the movements of the lock doors and the crawling of the lift toward the interior of the colony. As he moved along toward the interior, he did so passing by body after body after body of people killed by small arms fire. The experience sickened him; every time he reached out and touched a body, he could see the last moments of their life, and many of the time he heard the hatred slogans of the Blue Cosmos.

And then, he encountered what he knew he would find, and dreaded all the same. Someone near his age, a lady likely no older than seventeen, roughly stripped naked and with her throat cut. He didn't have to touch her, even approaching within three meters was enough that he could see what happened. Horridly gang-raped by Earth Alliance officers in her last moments, then her throat slashed and left to choke on her own blood, her death took several minutes of amplifying emotions and pains, until the blackness of death took over. The pain, the fear, the anguish, overcame him before he could move a meter past her dead body, and he stopped moving, just sobbing uncontrollably from her leftover emotions.

"Athrun! Are you all right? Respond!" Yzak fairly shouts at him.

"I—no—I—I'm not all right, Yzak, I—damnit!" he shouts, his own frustration finally overcoming the leftover agony. "God damned Blue Cosmos! This is fucking horrid! I can see—every time I touch or pass a dead body, I see their last moments, the worse and more emotional their death, the more of it I feel. And I just passed a rape-to-murder victim." Athrun pauses to draw in a breath through a ragged sob. "A victim—freaking teenager not even as old as we are. Throat cut. She took four minutes to die after the slice, and before that...God help them, help them all, please..."

The radio channel was silent for over a minute. "Are you—no, can you move, Athrun? I know you're not all right, but can you continue?" Yzak asks calmly.

"I'll continue on in a minute. If you get in, secure the landing and wait for me, please."

"Should I come and get you?" Kira asks.

"No, no, I can move, just give me a moment to stop hyperventilating and sobbing." It took Athrun the minute and an extra before he could regain enough composure to continue moving. "Zala is moving now. I should be topside in about two minutes."

"Roger that, we are still one lock short of the surface."

"Entry Team, Captain Ramius, Commander La Flaga and I are retracing Zala's steps to enter the facility with the Elementals. We...copied his last few. This is not the Earth Alliance we signed up to protect, in more ways than one."

"No qualms about killing them all?" Yzak asks.

"None, none at all," Murrue replies.

"Kill them all, count the bodies, file the paperwork," Morgan Chevalier replies. "The day they fired nukes at the PLANTs, they stopped being human."

"Can do," Tolle says. "Sad to say, but, well, this is just horridly unforgivable." The thought of someone his or more appropriately Miriallia's age being raped was too much. He surmised that the person who tried doing that to Mir, succeed or fail, he would kill them as quickly as possible with as many weapons at hand as was possible.

"Is this really how people want to spend their last days? Violating others in cruel ways?" Fuu asks.

"It takes a sick mind to force the end on humanity like this, Fuu, and Blue Cosmos is in no way of their right mind," Murrue explains. "I expect inside here we will find more depredations, and those not just by the Earth Alliance."

"Yeah," Athrun replies coldly. He had just passed a dead female Earth Alliance officer that had been shot mortally enough to keep her from doing anything while she died, then was groped very roughly by her assailant until she passed out. "It goes both ways."

"Duel reporting, we're in open air at this time. No enemy Mobile Suits inside the colony, going in on foot to investigate further."

-x-x-x-

(9 June CE 71, 0725 hours)

(Maius 2 PLANT colony)

Yzak figured the AKM sufficiently different from the Earth Alliance or ZAFT assault rifles that mistaking them for ZAFT or EA would be hard unless the person was hopelessly delusional. There was a possibility of that, but not much of one in his opinion. Most of the crazies were likely to have already killed themselves off by now, leaving those few desperate souls in the facility. Although he had to admit that under the right (wrong) circumstances desperate could very well equal crazy.

"Is this how Hiroshima looked after the first bomb?" Umi asks nobody in particular while searching through the remains for survivors.

"Maybe," Yzak replies. He knew what she was referring to, even though 'ancient' history was not often or properly taught in the PLANTs. Something he figured he would work very hard to correct, to prevent the mistakes of the past from repeating again. "Not enough destruction, really, but it's probably similar."

Yzak looked over his shoulder to where the Gundams were standing, guarded over by the 105 Dagger. Morgan volunteered to remain on station as rapid-response support, given that his uniform was assured to draw attention and fire from the locals. The Archangel Team personnel could get away with being on foot in his opinion: the large Archangel Team emblem was so far removed from ZAFT or EA artwork that someone would have to be blind—or fanatical—to mistake it. "It'll be all right, his is the only machine in the colony, isn't it?"

"Should be," Yzak replies to Umi. "Still, can't shake the feeling that I'd rather be in it than on foot, though."

"Uh, Yzak, movement at two o'clock," Umi says as she stops nearby a prominent pile of concrete and twisted steel girder. There may be a lack of Mobile Suits active in the colony, but the dead Strike Daggers and new ZAFT models was evidence enough that there had been a huge amount of fighting inside. The fighting had reduced roughly 40 percent of the structures inside to rubble, and damaged practically all the rest.

"Down," Yzak orders, suiting actions to words as he crouches down behind the pile, then begins cautiously edging around the far-side end of the rubble pile to see what was going on. "Two adults and five kids, picking their way through the rubble."

"Can't be bad, can it?" Umi tries to stand up, but Yzak fairly drags her down by her skirt armor. "What?"

"The guy is carrying a pair of pistols and a sub-machinegun like I used to have. It can be bad, very bad," he tells her in a low, directed whisper.

"'Kay," she replies, keeping her head and body well below the top edge of the debris.

"C'mon, we'll stop here for a few, then head to the harbor and try to find a way out of here," the guy is heard to say. "We have to get to Copernicus or the colony that is taking people to Mars, or we'll die here of starvation," he tells the lady.

"You! You there!" a distant voice shouts, obviously in a rough manner.

"Oh, no! They found us!" the lady wails.

Umi saw the guy peek up cautiously, raise his sub-machinegun, and fire off two short bursts before it jammed open. He never had a chance to clear the jam, though, as before he could duck down a three-round burst of 30-caliber rifle rounds tore his head and face apart. Given where he was standing, the extremely loud shriek of the lady was inevitable, as she would have either seen the mess of what remained of his head or would now be covered by the remnants. Yzak could see her practically clawing at her face and clothes, trying to remove the gore that now covered her, but it was in vain. Stuff like that did not come out of its own volition. Unfortunately, Yzak had learned the hard way over the years of traveling with the _Archangel _that blood was a very hard stain to remove.

"Heh heh, this one looks interesting," one of the assailants says as he approaches. The blue beret and rough clothes bespoke of people less concerned about their appearance than else; the state of repair of their gear told Yzak these were not regular troops, which made them Blue Cosmos.

"Yeah, I think I could bone this one before we knife her," another of the BC pricks comments.

"You know the regs, though, kids get killed first." An assault rifle came up; Umi's jaw dropped before a single round was fired.

The kid that was shot, five years at best, more likely four in Umi's estimation, went down screaming with her leg bleeding massively. At a range of maybe five meters, the shooter completely missed a fatal shot, whether on purpose or not was anyone's guess. It infuriated Umi enough that she gripped and shouldered her Thompson, preparing to jump up and spray all four of them.

Prepared, but never did. Something happened that kept her from moving, something she intellectually knew could happen, but had never seen in real life before. The shooter locked eyes with her for a brief moment before the front-left of his face exploded outward from the transit of an incoming rifle slug. His body was partway to collapsing before the loud, flat crack of the firing rifle was heard.

"Wha—OH SHIT!" one of the other BC terrorists shouts before his chest was torn up, body armor and all, to the sound of a Rorynex SMG. Yzak hauled Umi back toward the center of the rubble pile they were hiding in, to prevent her from being seen by anyone. The Duel pilot saw a burst of the said SMG rounds walk across a debris piece to his left, each round leaving rather significant craters in the concrete edifice even by Rorynex standards. The damage was almost akin to very weak grenade launcher rounds.

"Oh man, who are these fuckers?" the nearer of the two remaining BC terrorists shouts. He ducks around the side of the rubble he was shielding behind, rattling off several single rounds of assault rifle at whoever was shooting at him. The barrage was answered by a burst of Rorynex that tore his left arm completely off his body and knocked him down; the shock from the attack had literally overwhelmed and killed him on the way to the ground, as his unblinking eyes attested.

"Oh, GOD!" The fourth and last of the BC drops his weapon, running and jumping away from the enemy shooters, trying desperately to flee.

Umi figured herself in some form of vividly horrid dream or an action movie of some grotesque kind, but had to remind herself that it was real in the end. A person, dressed head to toe in white combat fatigues and even white tactical body armor, vaulted over the rubble that the BC terrorists died nearby, then sprang up with a Rorynex SMG shouldered and aimed toward the last of the terrorists. The soldier's first burst resembled nothing so much as a loud tearing sound, followed by a series of single rounds from another shooter that had not cleared over the rubble. The second and final burst came from the lady again, and after two seconds, she safed and released her weapon to hang on its tactical sling.

"Damn, got a kid," a young guy says. Umi had been smart to cover hear ears during the shooting, and could hear reasonably well courtesy of it.

_I will deal with it_, the lady replies wordlessly; Umi immediately recognized it as telepathy even though Miriallia or the Captain normally spoke to her audibly. _**The leaves of Spring's eternal vitality shall bestow upon these wounded their eternal Sylvan Healing Restoration**_, they all hear from the lady as her outstretched left hand begins glowing green. Then, when she finishes telepathically chanting the spell, glowing green leaves could be seen flitting through the air and falling to the ground; Umi could just barely see the wounded kid as several of the leaves fall upon him, the green energy of the spell sealing and cleaning up the wounds and internal trauma.

"Who...who are you?" the lady asks.

"We are Crusaders, ma'am, we're here to save who is still alive and evacuate the survivors," the obvious guy declares.

_Wow, neat magic spell_, Umi thinks, finally realizing that she had also been touched by some of the leaves and felt instantly better physically and mentally.

"That thought didn't match a normal 'local'," the male Crusader declares.

_Oh crap, we've been_— she begins thinking, but doesn't complete the thought.

_Behind the debris, weapons safed and above your heads, stand up slow. I will not ask a second time_, the lady orders them telepathically.

"Do it," Yzak orders. His AKM was the first above his head, followed shortly by Umi's Thompson, then both stand up slowly.

_Indeed, not 'locals' just on dint of their arsenal_, the lady says to all present telepathically. _Who are you? I do not recognize your unit symbol, much less a unit that has a Coordinator paired with a schoolgirl in magic armor_.

Before either could answer: "No fucking way! That's a 28-A1 Thompson sub-machine gun! Can I buy that off you?" the guy asks.

"Fair warning, man, she slaps people for foul language," Yzak jerks his head at Umi, who by all accounts right now was too scared to slap anyone. That didn't even faze the guy in question, who had dropped his aimpoint.

_Why am I not surprised he asked that_? The lady asks nobody in particular. _Port-arms, please, it appears you are no more an enemy in these grounds than we are. Come on out, if you feel up to it_.

"Anyone that kills terrorists is on my list for free beers," Yzak says, despite the fact that in most places he was illogically not allowed to do the purchasing or drinking.

"This...this is just horrid conduct, even for the end of the world," Umi says, the first to take the leap of faith and step out from behind the rubble. She had slung her weapon over her right shoulder, as had Yzak. "I'm Umi Ryuuzaki, Magic Knight in the Archangel Team, a wandering mercenary unit."

"Yzak Joule, Gundam pilot in the same unit."

"Harald Reeven, support infantry, Crusaders 6944 Rapid-Reaction Support Regiment," the guy says.

_Enya Tolose, Mana Support Wizard, also of the Crusaders but of a different posting_, the lady tells them.

To Umi, something about the lady seemed seriously off. She could tell she was not lying in the slightest, but something about her did not seem human. Still...

"Team 72, command, come back," the guy's radio blares before anything else could be said.

"Go for 72," he replies.

" 'Miko' would like to request the two members of the Archangel Team you encountered to come to the memorial site, she has something to discuss with them involving what is happening with their ship."

"Roger that, out," the guy replaces the radio.

"You expect us to trust that?" Yzak asks fairly. He had skipped over the obvious question of 'how the hell did their command section already know we were here' to the immediate conspiracy theory.

"No, not really," Harald replies just as fairly. "Your call, I ain't gonna drag you over there. I'm here to get the civvies out of here before they start dying of exposure and dehydration or other problems. I wholeheartedly recommend you do talk to her, though. When people in her position have something to say, the wisest listen long and hard, lest they never understand what is happening, or what needs to be done."

"Thank you," Umi answers for the two. "Come on, Yzak, we'll listen," she fairly orders of him before she begins hauling him unceremoniously in the direction the lady indicated. Yzak did not resist, giving into his curiosity on the subject.

-x-x-x-

(9 June CE 71, 0735 hours)

(Maius 2 PLANT colony)

"Damn," Nicol mutters before standing up from the dead body of a young teenager. She had been shot as Nicol and Fuu watched her frantically trying to flee, and Nicol had seen to the shooter with a pair of three-round bursts of AKM, but their healing magic wasn't fast enough to save her. Not for want of trying, but a chest shot is a hard thing to overcome if you can't immediately respond to it.

"Huh?" Fuu asks, looking toward an approaching sound. "Oh, no..."

"Oh man," Nicol says in almost a moan.

"You! Hands up!" the ZAFT infantry orders; Nicol counted what he could see, and the total was over seven, not something he expected he would walk away from if shooting started.

"We surrender, do not shoot!" Nicol half-shouts after raising his arms.

"Close up." With that simple order, the ZAFT soldiers slowly move forward, three of them never taking their sights off Nicol and Fuu, while the remainder checked around the area to make sure it was not an ambush or there were no other threats. It was around halfway in their approach before their commanding officer stopped. "No way, Nicol?"

"Heine?" Nicol asks in response, finally recognizing the voice he thought was his old academy classmate. "Wow, you did survive the blatant end. Guess not all of the good die young," he concludes as Heine steps forward of the Infantry.

"Yeah, it's me, I heard you were killed in the south Pac by the Earth Alliance prototype mobile suit before Alaska. Man, what happened?" he asks as he approaches. "And...who's the lady?"

"Both of the above are a very long story. Very long story. But—"

"Green Team, Blue Team, you on?" the voice on the other side of the radio was definitely Yzak.

"Go for green," Nicol requests immediately on the radio.

"Hey, we encountered some very unusual persons, Crusaders they call themselves, they say they may know something about W-T-F is going on with our ship. Meeting place is the park at 62 Street and Harmony Court. Recommend you drop by and listen in, worst it could be is a waste of time."

"Roger that, I have a long hike to get there from my present location. Don't wait for me unless you have to," Nicol replies after a moment of consideration. "Command, Green Team, did you copy Blue Team's last?"

"Roger that, Command is moving in that direction at this time."

"Red Team from Green Team, did you Copy Blue Team's last?"

"Green, Red, negative copy from Blue, we've been in and out of gunfights for the past three minutes. No casualties our side, civilians down and dead. Not much we can do for them, sad to say."

"Roger that," Nicol replies, pausing to cringe at the thought of yet more civilian deaths. "At the park at intersection 62 and Harmony there is possible personnel that may know W-T-F is going on with the ship. Blue Team advises possible good intel, not likely jerking us around. We'll get the cliff notes regardless, your call as to whether or not you hear it firsthand."

The sound of a Rorynex barks out from close-by, a haunting, tearing sound due to the gun's high cyclic rate of fire (well in excess of 1200 rounds per minute). Immediately all the ZAFT infantry hunch up and examine their surroundings more thoroughly, though nothing comes of it; there was no shooter in sight. The sound of a frantic, extremely scared runner was unmistakable, however, and approaching from the rear of the Infantry was someone running extremely fast. She jumped clear of the rubble causeway and skidded to a stop practically at Nicol's feet.

"Huh? What are you running from?" Nicol asks before two of the Infantry knock her down and restrain her. The only thing he could recognize of her was an Earth Alliance enlisted uniform, and at a rough guess of her age was maybe twenty, nothing much else in the immediate seconds afterwards.

"You have to RUN!" she shouts. "A machine of war is coming! Run!" she entreats.

"What?"

"Nicol!" Fuu shouts, looking toward where she had come from. A massive four-legged machine about four meters tall had stomped its way over the debris she had strained to clear, and immediately Nicol could see the truth in her statement. There was no doubt this machine was designed expressly for warfare, though after a pace forward it apparently realized that the quarry it was chasing was fleeing no more, and approached slowly. The whole thing resembled nothing so much as a huge tiger fashioned of armor, actuator, and advanced composites.

"Oh, good God," Nicol moans. He didn't even know where to begin on attacking such a monstrosity. The sight of the turret on its top with a large cannon of some kind, a rotary machine gun, and a side-mounted Rorynex only made things worse in his mind.

It stopped at fifteen meters, not moving, nor was the turret moving or pointing at anyone in particular. "Do you want to take possession of that scumdog you are restraining, or should I?" Surprisingly, the lady's voice sounded perfectly human, except for being retransmitted by amplified speakers..

"Is that thing piloted?" Fuu puts words to Nicol's inner dread. "Like an Elemental?"

"What did she do to you?" Heine asks the machine.

"Not what it did to me; one scrawny wench like her cannot carry the firepower needed to damage my armor. What she did to a ZAFT soldier her teammates captured was beyond deplorable, though, thus my chase."

"What did she do so bad to warrant you killing her friends and chase her to the point of collapse?" Heine asks in a very accusatory fashion.

"She reverse-raped a ZAFT soldier, then when she was through having her 'fun' with him she cut his crank off and started stomping on his balls. That is when I opened fire. Any questions?" Nicol figured that two could play the game of condescension, and she was so far holding her own against Heine.

"That's fucking sick," the one female ZAFT soldier in their group moans.

"As I said, we can take possession of her and deal with her as is appropriate, or you can see to her in the fashion you see fit. It is your decision."

"We will hold onto her," Heine replies automatically; he could guess what their solution to her continued life was, and did not want to see it done that way.

"Very well, you will need this for evidence purpose. Not safe for the kids, rest assured." A small fragment of the outermost layer of the armor pops off the unit and lands practically at Heine's feet. "Video of my boresight cameras at the time of the crime all the way to here. Please deal with her as needed." The armor takes a step backwards, making to turn around and heads away from the unit, but—

"WAIT!" Fuu shouts.

"Huh? What is it, Magic user?" the armor asks in response, not even having turned halfway away.

"Who are you, and why are you here?"

"We are Crusaders. Our duty is to defend and save lives or die trying. We fight the terrorist scum like you now hold captive, in the hopes that we can save enough to make a difference. If you seek a way out of the colony, transient (4), evac and relocation is being set up through the safe zone centered on 62 and Harmony. Go there, and you will be taken to a transport to Mars or to an alternate-dimension ZAFT."

"What the hell?" one of the Infantry asks. "Where do you get off?"

"Where do _I_ get off?" the pilot of the armor asks indignantly. "Fuck you and the horse you rode in on, ZAFT elitist pissant ground-pounder! If you want to die in this half-dead colony, that is your prerogative and not my problem, nor is it the problem of those around you. Do not screw your comrades by way of your own death-wish, regardless of who has earned it, clear?" The armor continues its turn away from the groups, though they all clearly heard: "Fucking ZAFT pukes, even in death they think themselves superior to everyone..."

"We're headed out, Heine," Nicol declares. He was deliberately ignoring the fact that the theoretical pilot of the armor was right, ZAFT was elitist and had problems seeing past it.

"We'll follow," Heine says immediately. "I want to know what the hell is going on here. This whole thing is bad, but these Crusaders are something totally different."

-x-x-x-

(10 minutes earlier: 9 June CE 71, 0725 hours)

(Maius 2 PLANT colony)

The sound of a scream immediately caused Athrun, Kira and Hikaru to move in the direction even more quickly. The trail of dead and violated bodies was evidence enough that the few remaining persons in this colony were getting a very raw deal, and the trio of Red Team had come to the unstated conclusion that this depravity needed to end. How it had lasted this long, though, Athrun was not sure. He would have figured that the insane people would have killed each other off already, leaving just the raw survivors, but he also reminded himself that being a survivor caused problems like this...the cycle ended up feeding itself.

The trio moved separate from each other, ensuring they never approached close enough for a grenade to kill more than one of them at a time. As they cleared every piece of demolished building, they stopped to cover and observe their surroundings, a quick check to make sure they were not walking into a trap. When satisfied, the next of them would leapfrog forward, cover, and when assured clear would signal for the next to move.

For two minutes they pushed forward, until: "There!" Hikaru makes the mistake of half-shouting, immediately drawing attention to herself. "EEP!" she shouts in extreme fright as more than six assault rifles were leveled at her and the enemies started shooting. Behind a broken slab of wall concrete she was not going to take a hit, but the sound and feeling of being shot at was less than pleasant to her.

Hikaru immediately recognized the off-timbre bark of Kira's AKM, firing short bursts of three rounds at the Blue Cosmos terrorists. She was not sure who got hits, if anyone, but she could see Kira drop back down below the level of cover he was firing over, a gash on the side of his face and no shortage of muttering visible if not audible.

Most of the fire had shifted away from her position, so she ducked around the cover quickly and loosed a pair of quick bursts herself. One missed high and wide, another clipped a guy in the body-armored shoulder and chest. The Tungsten-core armor piercing rounds did the trick beyond standard ammo, however, where normal military 'ball' (full metal jacket) ammo would have stopped on the body armor and only caused impact trauma, the TCAP punched right through the Kevlar / ballistic nylon combination material, punched through his body, and was finally stopped in the back layers of his body armor. Hikaru quickly ducked back to make sure she was out of the line of fire when the enraged teammates of the newly deceased dwelled in on her with short bursts.

Their constant switching of targets from Hikaru (in the center) to Kira (on the left) gave Athrun a perfect opportunity on the right. Whereas Hikaru and Kira both had limiting terrain to deal with between the shooters and themselves, meaning that one of them could not rip a long burst and kill them all, Athrun had just exactly luxury. And he had opted for the perfect weapon for just such a task.

Kira had glanced out to determine how likely he was to get shot if he tried leap-frogging forward, just in time to see one of the most horrid things he had seen since the invasion of the Southern Continent. Athrun had positioned himself and let loose a braced twenty-round burst of M60 into the enemy's left flank. What was so horrid about it was how simple killing the five remaining enemies was: they had bunched up behind cover, never realizing Athrun was out there, and the .308-caliber TCAP ammo he was using literally chopped through several of them with each round. Of the five remaining enemies, only one survived. If one would consider having an arm and part of your chest mulched by armor-piercing ammunition 'survived' in the slightest.

All three of the Red Team stood up and swept forward as one, weapons trained and ready to eliminate any other opposition in the area. The last of the terrorists had dropped his weapon and bolted away, toward the center of the colony area. Kira immediately dropped to one knee and put sights on, but stopped shy of pulling the trigger himself. His sights hovered just over what looked like an Elemental, but it looked _severely_ different from the Elementals that the _Archangel_ had in its possession. Namely, it lacked missile launchers and the primary weapon was larger than the standard Small Laser.

"What the fuck is that thing?" Athrun puts words to Kira's fears as the monstrosity steps forward, toward the running enemy who had fallen forward and busted his leg on some oddly-shaped debris. As Kira watched on in veritable horror, the 'Elemental', that lacked missile packs and replaced them with some kind of large machine cannon over its left shoulder stopped in front of the downed enemy. The left arm flexed the wicked battle claw it mounted, then the weapon underneath the wrist let loose a spray of needler flechettes (Kira had seen a needler rifle in action on Twycross, and it was not pleasant in the least) to and penetrate the body armor of the victim. Even worse, these flechettes were burning in the same manner as white phosphorous, lending him an excruciating amount of pain for a few moments before the trauma overtook him and knocked him unconscious from shock. As the 'Elemental' walked past it, the body itself was consumed in a small fire as an incendiary chemical in the flechettes was released to begin burning all over the impact area.

"Jesus H. Christ, what the—" Kira begins but is cut off by Athrun:

"Is that thing on our side?"

"Are _they_ on our side?" Hikaru was referring to the infantry dressed in white who were stacked (5) on the armor's rear, using it as cover as the armor marched forward.

A machine gun answered the question, though not one of the infantry or the battle armor that was approaching. A squad of Earth Alliance remnants had flanked the armor and the infantry to the right, firing on it from about thirty meters from behind marginal cover. The armor drew the bulk of the fire, but the infantry behind it were not completely spared the enemy's ministrations. Two of the five went down, though one got back up with what appeared to be little if any injury, the other was bleeding messily from a shot to the jaw.

Kira, immediately assuming the soldiers in white were not enemies, took aim at the Earth Alliance remnant and let loose with what was left of his magazine. Athrun, despite being unsure what the hell was going on, did the same with his M-60, though he could not rip a heavy burst as he did earlier due to nothing to brace on. Hikaru was the last to join in on expedient of having to reload from her prior actions. The infantry who were not affected by the gunfire chimed in as Athrun did, the Rorynex sub-machine guns accompanied by the three anachronistic weapons of Red Team and what appeared to be a rapid-fire coilgun and a heavy railgun in their ranks.

The crowning achievement of the return fire, though, had to be the battle armor. Kira had deduced it carried three weapons, a machine cannon of some kind, the needler it had used earlier, and the primary weapon on its right arm being a laser weapon unrecognized prior. He was not disappointed in any of the above, though in the end he was more impressed than his initial guesses. The Needler let fly ten rounds every five seconds, nothing spectacular, though as each flechette impacted on the solid debris in the area it broke apart and spread the flammable material inside far and wide; in ten seconds, the whole area the Earth Alliance occupied was on fire, lending flames to their deaths. The machine cannon also turned out to be a magnetic weapon, a railgun with sufficient power to tear arms and heads off as well as rapid-fire capability to fire eight rounds in ten seconds. The final nail in the coffin was the main weapon, which put out a cobalt blue multi-section beam that practically vaporized the head, shoulders, arms and breasts of an Earth Alliance Lieutenant Commander in one shot. What was left of her body joined the rest of her squad in the chemically-induced inferno, with not one survivor to their name, and not one kill among the white-garbed troops to justify their deaths.

_Check for survivors among the civilians! Move it up!_ The fact that Kira, Athrun, and Hikaru heard it inside their minds was creepy: not only were they very well armed, they were also telepathic.

"You kids all right?" One of the infantry in white asks. His Rorynex was still combat-slung, but his hands were off it; he was kneading the place on his arm where the bullet struck the sleeve of the ballistic armor jacket, which was probably still sore from just the impact.

"Yeah, we're all right, but who are you?" Kira asks. The symbol on their uniform, what appeared to be a four-pointed shuriken, did not strike him as something that made sense for...well, none of it made sense to him, much less the symbol.

"We are Crusaders, we're trying to save what few civilians are left here. You?"

"We're...lost, severely lost," Kira replies after a moment.

"Well, behind the sights of that antique assault rifle you are not lost at all. Thanks for the assist," the trooper inside the Battle Armor notes. "Command, Hellraiser 7 reporting sector cleared of all Earth Alliance terrorist scumdogs. Requesting vector to the front," the three hear over the external speakers on the armor.

"Stand by," their command element replies. "Hellraiser 7, Command, there is no front. Colony is secured at this time, 'Miko' reports no Earth Alliance survivors that have not been captured. You are authorized RTB at this time, and 'Miko' requests—"

"Red Team from Green Team, did you Copy Blue Team's last?"

"Green, Red, negative copy from Blue, we've been in and out of gunfights for the past three minutes. No casualties our side, civilians down and dead. Not much we can do for them, sad to say," Athrun replies to the first thing he had heard from the radio in a while.

"Roger that," Nicol acknowledges, pausing for a few moments. "At the park at intersection 62 and Harmony there is possible personnel that may know W-T-F is going on with the ship. Blue Team advises possible good intel, not likely jerking us around. We'll get the cliff notes regardless, your call as to whether or not you hear it firsthand."

"Roger that, Red is out," Athrun replies.

"62 and Harmony is the direction we are headed." Hikaru gasps when she sees that the speaker in question was obviously nonhuman: the long, pointy ears gave it away. "Follow close, I will explain some of what is going on in transit."

-x-x-x-

(9 June CE 71, 0755 hours)

(Maius 2 PLANT colony)

(62nd street and Harmony Court, Harmony Memorial Park)

For Murrue, the whole experience had been surreal in and of itself. Apparently she had wandered into area already secured by these Crusaders, who were seeing to the civilians and trying to pick through the rubble to collect a few possession of the rescued, so they would not be leaving their homes empty-handed. Not all the structures had been laid to waste, though, and for some finding was not the problem, but collecting was. The PLANTs had never really worked on a possible evacuation plan and drilling, thus the civilians were not very well prepared for these events. Finding ways to carry the necessities was quickly becoming a learn-as-you-go skill for most of them.

The Crusaders simply waved Murrue, Mu, and Tolle onward, occasionally redirecting them around a hazardous area or giving them more specific directions to get closer to the command center. They arrived just ahead of Green team, but behind Blue and Red, both of which were still shaking off jitters from their combat encounters.

"Archangel team, right?" a rather harried staff officer asks.

"Yeah," Murrue replies.

"Over there, at the memorial site," he gestures them on before beginning to direct a gaggle of civilians toward their respective destinations.

"Best we move," Mu says quietly, suiting his walk to his words and moving toward the towering Gundam ahead of them.

Where the Crusaders were not seeing to injured persons or directing family members to each other for sometimes tearful reunions, they were doing the more mundane things one would associate with military personnel on the ground of a disaster area. In one direction, Murrue could see several battle armor units that were wildly different (and quite a bit larger) than Elementals sifting through debris carefully, so as to try and rescue anyone trapped underneath. In another direction, a smallish tank-transport vehicle had unfolded itself into a full medical MASH unit with what she could guess was six different medical wards and a central facility all its own. In yet a third direction, an older soldier (gauging by his beard and physical appearance) was instructing a group of kids ranging from five years old to fifteen on how to open and heat the food contained in an MRE pack using a bottle of water and the included heater pack.

There were five Gundams total stationed on the road overlooking the park. four of them were normal-size machines, including one Strike Gundam that was colored far different from normal (who would use a pink Gundam, Mu wanted to know) but four unrecognizable machines. The fifth machine was also of a type that Mu did not recognize, a fact compounded by the size of it: the machine in question was easily sixty meters tall, compared to the 18 to 20 meters of its company. The scale of the machine was absolutely awesome to him; the four barrels of Vulcan cannon on the machine had to be at least half a meter in barrel caliber, all the way to the feet that had to be large enough in footprint to flatten the torso of a GINN if it stepped on one, just as one example of the sheer size of it.

"Commander," Yzak greets them.

"I take it you're wondering what that big machine is for, right?" Athrun asks as the Commander continues to stare.

"Yeah," Mu replies hurriedly after looking back to ground level.

"It's hers," and Athrun points to a lady in an officer's uniform similar to the Earth Alliance uniforms, except for the unusual symbol and the obvious armaments that did not match anything Earth Alliance. Despite the uniform, Murrue figured the said person smaller and likely younger than she was. Other than the shoulder-length mouse-brown hair and lighter set of body armor, there was nothing really notable about her.

"Captain, you all right?" Nicol asks from behind.

"Yeah, it's just...this is getting...is this really our home?"

"I don't know, but given what I've heard, I don't think so. There is just too much different about it, even given what happened supposedly after we disappeared," Nicol says.

_It is done_, the mental voice of the lady in front of them speaks telepathically. _Soldiers of ZAFT, pilots and Magic Knights of the Archangel Team, please come close. I have much to tell you of what has happened, and what shall happen_.

"No arguing with that," Yzak says. The group clusters closer to better hear her.

"There is a tale in some areas of Existence, a tale of a ship that defeated the odds and stopped a war," the lady officer begins. Much as Murrue guessed, she was both smaller and younger than she was, but Murrue knew this was no gauge of competency. "Yet, as with all tales in Existence, there are an infinite amount of paths and outcomes to this tale, and what happens in one place changes in another, sometimes with improved outcomes, sometimes with disastrous consequences."

"You're either speaking about the fleet of Odysseus or something else. Which is it?" Heine asks.

The lady smiles back, almost serenely. "You can rest assured, this story is not relegated to the Mediterranean Sea, pilot," she replies. "I speak of the _Archangel_, its journey and trials, its defection in one history and its destruction in another. Listen, today, for I tell you what happened to the _Archangel_ here, not what happened to the _Archangel_ there," and her indication was to Captain Ramius, whom had joined the front rank of listeners along with Commander La Flaga.

"What do you mean by 'here' and 'there'? Need you be so cryptic?" Heine asks a little more forcefully.

"For such a skilled and bright ZAFT elite pilot, you lack the conception to step past the narrow history that you know, especially when failing to consider that when crossing parallel dimensions any quirk and alteration of history is possible," the tallest of her escort pilots answers a bit sharply to Heine. Again, Hikaru was rather shocked that the speaker in question was not human, he had to be Elven or something due to the pointy ears.

"If you will bear with me for a moment, pilot, 'here' and 'there' shall be adequately explained. We all know enough of the transit of the _Archangel_: Heliopolis, Artemis, Junius Seven, the Eighth Fleet, the deserts of North Africa, the Indian Ocean, Orb, hounded from one end of the Earth Sphere to the other, and yet you never gave up hope, you kept moving and fighting. When you left Orb, you knew that Athrun Zala was waiting for you, Kira Yamato, and you knew there would be one or more battles, did you not?"

"I did," Kira replies. Such seemed so far away as to have been nothing more than a dream in those years past, yet he knew better.

"And this is where the 'here' and 'there' diverge. I shall tell you a tale that could have been, Captain Ramius, were it not for the events just north of Orb that drew you into an elsewhere even we Crusaders tread lightly."

"Is that, er," Murrue's sentence trails off, unsure what she wanted to ask for the most part.

"Proper?" Murrue nods to the lady. "Were you to cross dimension with an aimpoint before your departure of Orb, parked it in the ocean and watched the events develop, you would learn the same thing and there are few beings in Existence who can stop you from doing it. There are even less beings in Existence who actively care if you learn what could be, and those who do are under severe threat of dismemberment, dishonor, exile, or even annihilation should they interfere. You are safe on that account, as am I," she declares calmly.

"That's good to know," Yzak grumbles. "Wouldn't do to have a God or something stomp on us for being in the way of their master plans or something."

"The paths of the two _Archangels_ diverge on this linchpin point, the first battle above the Pacific. In your path, you were summoned to Cephiro to do, well, for lack of an artful phrase, what had to be done. The _Archangel_ of here, however, had nothing to interrupt the battle. On an uncharted, unnamed atoll north and slightly east of Orb, Athrun's Gundam Aegis was downed, drained of power and only barely able to move, unable to defend itself meaningfully. In the chaos of the battle, the Duel and the Buster were defeated and deep-sixed, as was the Blitz, but the last was not completely downed. In a desperation move to save the Aegis, Nicol Amalfi charged the Strike down with only a lancer dart held in hand. Kira reacted, cutting down the Blitz with the anti-ship sword. Nicol Amalfi was killed in action that day."

Nicol said nothing, simply clenching his jaw hard enough to grate teeth; it was Fuu, Hikaru, Athrun, Yzak, Mu, and Kira that gasped at such a revelation, as horrid and unthinkable as it was now.

"Such is the breaks of war, the pendulum that swings one direction today will swing back the other way tomorrow. Days later, the Archangel would again be caught in battle, this time by an infuriated Zala Team who held nothing back. The _Archangel_ was knocked down onto another island, the Duel defeated, the Buster captured intact, and a raging battle between the Aegis and Strike. And here the pendulum crests: in the final desperate attempt to stop Kira from killing any more of his friends, Athrun Zala strikes down the Skygrasper piloted by Tolle Koenig, entraps the Strike with his Aegis, sets a ten-second timer on the self-destruct and evacuates his Gundam. Athrun escaped only barely. Kira was rendered unconscious by the blast. In the ensuing minutes after the battle, the reserve oxygen supply in the cockpit of the Strike vents and ignites by a spark from the damaged consoles. Kira Yamato, killed in action, Tolle Koenig, killed in action."

Kira simply looked aside and away, as had Athrun, but there was no shortage of muttering from the other Archangel Team personnel present.

"With the Buster recovered and on board the ship, its pilot in medical treatment, the _Archangel_ trudged onward after having technically failed its mission, still determined to arrive at JOSH-A. The reception was cold at best; a practical court-martial was held by Blue Cosmos sympathizers for the crew, and in the end the only thing that changes is Flay Allster, Natarle Badgiruel and Mu La Flaga are transferred off the ship."

"And then Operation Spitbreak," Heine grouses.

"Yes," the lady officer answers. "The battle for Alaska. A setup; a bloody trap set by a complicit Earth Alliance on the cadging of the psychopath Le Creuset," she says calmly, which engendered jeers from the ZAFT personnel, some of whom considered him something of a hero even still. "Creuset set the invasion up for failure, by feeding the Earth Alliance details on the attack. When the main gate of the base was sundered and ZAFT units poured into the facility, JOSH-A was destroyed by a massive Cyclops Array Bomb set under the base. The Earth Alliance made it more inviting by stationing the _Archangel_ as guard to the main gate. I doubt it takes much imagination to understand what happened next."

"Set up...all the garrison, killed off like that," Mu mutters. "The _Archangel_?"

A shake of her head was enough of an answer. "The _Archangel_ was downed by a stray GINN who braved the Igelstellung batteries, closed on the ship, and sprayed the bridge down with 76mm machine gun rounds from point-blank range. What was not destroyed of the ship in that attack, and subsequent passes by heavier-armed units, was cooked off by the Cyclops. There were no survivors."

"And..." Yzak begins.

"You were included in that as well, Yzak Joule. After JOSH-A, the only surviving member of the Zala Team was Athrun himself, and only Badgiruel and Allster from the _Archangel_, as La Flaga was also caught in the blast."

"Sunday, bloody Sunday," Tolle says reverently though in a disgusted tone.

"More along the lines of 'The Price of a Mile' in my estimation," 'Miko' says. "And, it gets worse."

"How is that—oh, wait, I know, sorry," Yzak begins heatedly, then rescinds his own complaining.

"Much happened between the fall of JOSH-A and the blatant end, though. Panama, days later, ZAFT exacted their vengeance and caused a lot of casualties as well as destroyed the mass driver there. The Earth Alliance countered by assaulting Orb to take their mass driver, but did not succeed in taking it intact. A renewed offensive in Victoria succeeded in netting them a way to space, and from there things spiraled downhill. Ayers Rock in Australia was followed closely by Operation Elvis in space, where again Creuset knifed his own side in the kidney, this time by giving the Earth Alliance a device to counter the neutron jammer. Boaz was slagged down by a nuclear assault, followed by a direct attack on the PLANTs. ZAFT then retaliated with their own superweapon, the gamma-ray particle cannon called GENESIS. First one attack against the Earth Alliance fleet. A second, more powerful blast was fired against the Ptolemaeus Lunar Base, wiping it out and making the initial crater half deeper. At that time, more than half the PLANTs had been destroyed by nuclear attack, and Chairman Zala determined there was no recourse left but to turn Genesis on the planet below us."

"Good God," Yzak swears.

"A shot at full power centered on Japan instantly annihilated over 80 percent of the Eurasian Federation as well as a sizable portion of Oceania—including the Carpentaria base. No man alive believes Patrick Zala was a sane man when he dropped the hammer the last time. The spall kicked up has caused a low-grade nuclear winter effect, planet-wide the temperatures are up a degree on average just from the superheating caused by the GENESIS weapon. Worst of all, the radiation that had been injected into the ecosystem has caused widespread casualties. What few who survived that merciless ZAFT genocide strike are now being bombed by the leftovers of colonies dropping upon them from orbit. It is my estimate that by mid-day tomorrow there will be no meaningful life left on Terra."

"Nobody wins if everyone loses," Mu replies dejectedly.

"And...did Lacus Clyne make it out alive?" Athrun asks.

"No. The warship _Eternal_ was sunk by the Providence, including several direct hits to the bridge. Nobody survived from that ship."

"Why tell us this? It's not like we can do anything about it now, we're already here," Tolle asks fairly.

"True," the lady replies. "I don't expect you to do anything about it, nor do I expect you to think you are required to do anything about it—certainly not by my request, much less by the request of anyone else. If there is any lesson here, it is that both sides are horrid, yet when the nukes fly, options are very limited at best, if any at all."

"So, you say that the best course would be to prevent it from going that far?" Nicol asks in reply.

"Again, that is your option. If, on your way home, you can stomach avoiding involvement, nobody would fault you in the slightest—such matters are literally a case of 'one mistake and you are dead'. Few Crusaders will try to prevent a rapidly-accelerating nuclear war from going critical mass, even less would expect you to try. Such choice is yours and yours alone. If, however, you do want to get involved, I wholeheartedly suggest you do so before the nuclear weapons fly. With your mobile compliment and literally unmatched ship, stopping a small unit of stripped-down nuclear-missile-carrying Moebius units should be of little difficulty to you. We tried. By the Gods we tried, but six units operating all over the battlefield are not enough to stop these things, and the way the Crusaders are stretched thin or worse, I was doing good to get the help of these support infantry in clearing and evacuating the last remaining bastions of humanity—and that completely without transport or support."

"Okay, one thing that keeps bothering me," Murrue begins, then hesitates a moment. "You keep implying we will be moving on, no questions asked. You do know that the first chance we had to control where we go in crossing dimensions was in taking several years to modify a teleporter to cross dimensions, right?"

"This I know," the lady declares. "The Strike Freedom Mass-Pro L-type you salvaged in the debris belt was the last part of my escort team, and, unfortunately, a rookie at that. Generally, when I tell people to get out of the way of the ZAFT superweapon, I say so for a reason, yet Tinae did not listen. A little late now to fix that problem, but it appears that the final protective measures on the EVPS-equipped Gundams work as advertised. She never got clear of the beam that struck Japan, but the Gundam was able to save itself at the cost of the pilot. I don't think I fully understand how it works, and I won't say to avoid misquoting, but it should be in the manual."

"Wait, wait a second, the machine saved itself over the life of the pilot?" Kira asks. "Why?"

The fact that Kira even asked caused a rather pained expression on all the present Crusaders' faces. After a quick sigh, she answered: "I won't go into the detail work, but for every machine we put in the field, we have nine pilot candidates waiting for a machine of their own. We manufacture our own, our patrons supply a huge amount of machines, yet it is not enough. We need all the machines we can get, and as much as I don't want to sound cold about it, the pilot can be replaced easier than the Gundam. It is the cold reality we Crusaders live, fighting a war nobody wants that few acknowledge even exists, underpaid, poorly equipped, and living day by day for the most part."

"Oh," that made a creepy sort of sense to Kira in that case.

"Back to the Captain's question, there was a box being carried by the Strike Freedom MP. Fairly nondescript except for two hemispherical external plates on it. Nothing big about it, that box is just a Gate Generator in a small box, used by small teams like mine to cross dimensions or move reinforcements around or something similar. Normally, I would ask for it back, but in the end I need it less than you do. Technically, I am required to ask for the Gundam itself back, but I think I can leave it in your hands and not get in too serious of trouble. Still, you feed that box enough power, say connect it to a Warship's engine, and the jump coils can move a Warship through dimensions, space and time. Follow?"

"Ah," Murrue acknowledges, realizing now she had in her possession a real way home, one that she could carry with and hopefully use as many times as needed to make sure she got there. "How do we thank you for such a gift? If you're that hard-up for equipment, isn't someone going to ask?"

"You don't, in point of fact we never really had this segment of the conversation. Officially, I will list it as being unaware you had possession of the Strike Freedom and its carried Gate Generator. I will also list the Strike Freedom as MIA, presumed destroyed in the blast from GENESIS. That defensive measure only works properly, say, two times of five? If you feel you must repay us somehow, please give the pilot a proper ZAFT burial in space; honor from her home nation in the end. The rest is in your hands."

"Unreal. Why are you doing this?" Heine asks.

"Because I face the odds, pilot, day, after day, after day. They have faced worse odds. The Archangel Team challenged a near-God on her own terms and won. They stifled the Jade Falcon Clan on Dustball, Romulus, Twycross, and even tore a chunk out of Clan Wolf's navy, either Clan of which could turn the entire Earth sphere at the height of this war to mulch. They crippled an Empire five times larger than themselves and their allies combined, on long-ball insane odds hinging on nothing more than the help of beings believed wanting to destroy all humanity. And let us not forget the swath they burned through some of ZAFT's best, all in attempt to simply get home. They have done far more in their short time together than should be rightfully asked of anyone in Existence. I would prefer to help others caught in same, or worse, situations than I whenever possible."

She centers back on the _Archangel_ side of the people listening. "You have my thanks, Captain, for the assistance in rescuing the last few survivors. I only wish I could offer you a more assured and immediate way home, but..."

"It is more than I ever expected," Captain Ramius replies in kind.

"Do what you must. Safe journey home, Captain." her formal bow was reciprocated by the _Archangel_ team to a man, and the crowd began moving toward their machines to leave the colony.

Except one. "Something wrong, Pilot Joule?" the lady asks.

"There are a couple things that just don't make sense to me," he begins.

"Ask, please," she replies.

"If you've never met us, how can you know what happened to us?"

"Your history follows you, much like your shadow; one of my enchanted relics can interpret that history, given enough time," she replies warily. "Next question?" she asks after Yzak hesitates.

"Why are you loading us that equipment, really? Especially when it will probably get you a court-martial?"

"Old habit of mine," she replies. "Bad old habit. Just can't stand to see good people being screwed by circumstance. So, whenever I get the chance, I fix it."

"Oh," Yzak replies. He figured that not all kindness was dead, but finding it was going to be in short supply.

...A thought she picked up on. "No, not all kindness is dead, just suppressed in the collectivist beliefs of progressive hate-mongers who cannot tolerate seeing people standing on their own and accomplishing more than said group. You will find kindness wherever you go, just in small amounts few and far between, drowned in seas of apathy and hatred. You have already seen this, the Jade Falcons in particular are guilty of doing the drowning."

"Wow, that was the last thing I expected to hear from anyone," Yzak says.

"As to court-martials for 'losing' 'precious equipment', rest easy. The amount of people who would challenge the judgment of a Transcendent Gundam and its pilot on these matters are practically zero. Others?" she asks, referring to questions.

"One last. Do you know where I messed up when setting up the jump from our last location to here?"

"Not you, Yzak. You had everything correct to the letter. Something else interfered with the transit. I do not know what, but I keep sensing a presence about your history, beings that are there and are not there, distorting time and space in ways hard to define. Hopefully, this Gate Pack can bypass that and get you home."

"Thank you. I'm not sure whose side you're on, or sure if I want to know, but the gesture of honor is welcomed." Figuring some gesture of respect was in order, he gave her the traditional ZAFT salute, which she returned in proper fashion. "You...know ZAFT's salute?"

"I work with the ZAFT from my base dimension frequently. Best you get moving before your comrades leave you behind, pilot," she replies.

Yzak spared her machine one last glance. Easily fifty meters tall, he estimated, maybe pushing sixty. Extremely large-framed, as a bodybuilder would be to a more leaned runner like the Gundams built by the Earth Alliance; something in the way it was structured made him feel as if the machine was built for hand-to-hand combat without weapons. If so, the large yellow studs on its upper body seemed more like something of beam weapons, counter to that engineered purpose, though the deep blue body sported more conventional weapons clusters like rotary machine cannons and missile silos. The shield it carried was obviously similar to the Trikeros shield of the Blitz, though the Lancer Darts it carried were not to scale for something three, four times the size of the Blitz—and far more numerous. All in all, Yzak knew just by quick appraisal that such a machine could turn even the _Archangel_ from Hell into a smoking hulk easily. _Transcendent Gundam_, he thinks the name through, wondering why a machine would be considered 'transcendent' and how it would be beyond the normal definition of Existence, which is what the name implied.

Without further word, he was on the way.

-x-x-x-

(9 June CE 71, 1100 hours)

(Archangel, Hangar Area)

"Murdoch, can I have a moment?" Murrue begins.

"Sure, what's goin' on?" he asks in reply.

"We encountered the owner of the Strike Freedom. Two things: one, we give the pilot a ZAFT burial in space. Two, the box that it came in with, where did you put it?"

"One, can do, I think Athrun was planning on that anyway. Two, I moved it to my workshop, why?" he asks almost defensively.

"Well, supposedly that box is our ticket out of here and really home," Murrue replies.

"Whoa," Murdoch replies. "I think we need to get on it, then," he says, gesturing to the Captain to follow. As they approached the cargo bay Murdoch had converted to a workshop, Gomer was coming out of the room. "Hey, Gomer, how goes?"

"Weird crap, boss-man. That box you had me 'n' the boys drop in there, well, it looks like the ship ate half of it and fused it into the wall or something," he says. "Overnight, at that," he adds before wandering toward the Aegis with a repaired wiring harness.

"Oh, man," Murdoch groans before thumbing himself into the room. "Oh, yeah, that's what it looks like it did, even added a device status panel to the wall next to it," Murdoch weaves his way between the various benches and up to the half-of-a-box in the wall. "I'm guessing the rest of the box is on the other side of this bulkhead, which is...another cargo area, I think."

"Yeah, I think so," Murrue replies. "Panel says 'integrating control systems at 88 percent, rebuilding jump destination array at 64 percent, charging system at 100 percent, synchronizing to ship at 19 percent, synchronizing to environment at 41 percent. Jump capable, not advised at this time,' " she reads off the panel.

"Whoa, intelligent system," Murdoch says, looking over her shoulder at the panel in question. "Wonder what other tricks it has up its sleeve."

"Or the Strike Freedom, for that matter," Murrue replies. "Okay, we know its trying to work, so we'll let it do its thing. So, what else is going on down here?"

"C'mon, speaking of our new Gundam, I have something to show you that you'll probably like." Murdoch lets her out first, then follows her toward the Strike Freedom. "Huh? What the hell is this?"

"What is what?" Murrue asks, then realizes what he was looking at. "Whoa, what **is** that?"

"Looks like our good friend Strike Freedom is up to something," Murdoch says. "Look here—this is part of the armor plate off the left foot, a hexagonal section," Murdoch says, pointing to a 6-centimeter hex cavity on the outside of the armor plate of the nearby foot.

"What are these? It looks like some living gray goo of some kind." In point of fact, the hex plate was 'crawling' its way up the cascade of 'goo' to the top of the object—pile—whatever. When it got there, the layer of 'goo' began receding into the plate, as it expanded bit by bit until all that was left was a small pile underneath it, a process that took five minutes, with Murrue and Murdoch watching in dread fascination the whole time. With the 'plate' having taken in the whole mess of 'goo', it began sliding away from the object underneath it—what appeared to be a large stack of books. After landing on the ground, it began inching its way back to the Gundam in question.

"Reading material," Murdoch says, picking the books up. "Whoa, these are manuals about the Strike Freedom, instruction manuals, IPCs (6), schematics, FIMs (7), the works."

"Something's up, unless Kira asked for that," Murrue says, before pulling a radio. "Conn, Captain, please page Kira to he hangar."

"Roger that," Mu declares. Three seconds later: "Kira Yamato, please report to the hangar at first available," comes across the intercom.

"What was that, Murdoch?" Murrue asks, waving to the pile of books.

"It was a pile of junk leftover from the 105 Dagger rebuild, nothing spectacular. Burned-out wires and harnesses."

"I wonder what else we'd get if we piled junk in front of this thing," Murrue asks.

"Oh, did it finish up my books?" Kira asks.

"You knew about this?" Murrue asks.

"Yeah, it's a chatty thing," Kira says, looking up and down the Gundam in question. "One of the first things it told me was the material mass of junk we just accumulate can be recycled by this thing's 'internal repair systems' to make other materials and objects."

"We noticed," Murdoch says. "I take it the IPC, FIM and AMM are for the mechanics?"

"Yeah, the rest of the stuff is supplemental stuff for me to get used to the things this thing can do. And it's got a lot more to it than it says on the packaging, trust me," Kira declares.

"Makes me wonder exactly what we just got for the price of salvage time," Murrue comments drolly.

"A Swiss Army knife in a Gundam package," Kira says as he begins absentmindedly walking toward the lift up to the cockpit platform while reading through a manual.

"How much you know about the Gate Drive?" Murrue asks his still-walking-away form.

"Not enough, I'm reading up on it right now," Kira answers before activating the lift up to his cockpit.

"How much can this thing rebuild?" she asks, indicating the plate on the foot of the machine.

"Supposedly, a ton of material every 100 hours or so," Kira replies, still reading one of the books.

"Get him started on something, there is no distracting him," Murrue declares. "Him and Athrun."

"It could be worse," Murdoch says.

"How?" Murrue asks.

"At least they're on our side."

"Oh shit, don't say that, Murdoch, you'll jinx it and then we're really crap out of luck." She was silent for a moment. "I wonder what else he can make with that new-found capability of his..."

-x-x-x-

(9 June CE 71, 1900 hours)

(Archangel, Hot Springs)

"Hey, Mir," Umi greets the Combat Controller as said officer pushes through the bead curtains into the springs.

"Hey," she replies, nodding to the Magic Knights in the springs.

"How are you feeling, Miss Miriallia?" Fuu asks after she settles into the springs.

"Not good, not bad," Mir replies after a few moments. "I was too far away from the colony most of the time to hear the last...the last of their deaths. Thank whatever God is out there the Crusaders were mostly done cleaning up by the time we arrived."

"From what I heard, we missed most of the action in Januarius 10, the one remaining survivor over that way. They apparently showed up right in the middle of an Earth Alliance Battalion that was trying to, erm, 'purify' the colony was how he said it." Hikaru shudders at the thought of what that entailed, given the relatively 'low-intensity' operations they came across in Maius.

"This is what...the war at your home entailed?" Umi asks.

"It wasn't this bad, but like the Transcendent Pilot said, the only thing standing between life and widespread death in the end would be the _Archangel_ and a handful of others."

"I'll never doubt other people's problems again, after having stepped over more dead bodies than a national fencing match would have in spectators _and_ competitors," Umi declares sadly, having come to the realization whereby her apathy was not helping other people—it was allowing less than honorable people kill innocents wholesale.

"The problem isn't with you, Umi, it's with others," Miriallia says calmly. "If everyone got along, this would never have happened. Blue Cosmos is the worst-ever case of green with envy: they hate Coordinators, hate what they can be, and then they decide that other people—Coordinators—don't have the right to live because of that. I just don't know how to stop it."

"I don't think it can be stopped," Hikaru says. "Not without killing them all and counting the bodies, right?" Everything she was hearing on the subject of 'killing them all' (mostly from the mechanics, but also from Yzak) mentioned 'counting the bodies' was a critical step in the process: involved parties wanted to make sure there were no leftovers, after all.

"The longer we let you stay with the mechanics, the more you start acting like them," Umi gripes.

"It could be worse," Miriallia declares.

"What?" she asks in clear shock.

"At least she isn't saying the F-bomb without reserve, like some of the mechanics," a revelation that drew groans from everyone in the room.

"No, that's just pointless," Hikaru counters. "Save that for _really_ bad things, I think."

"How about _never_?" Umi asks in response.

"Well, maybe, I dunno," Hikaru replies, deliberately hedging her position on the subject. She was learning such concepts as 'flexibility of invective' and 'multi-use words' and 'triple entendre' very well, as a lot of the mechanics would admit. Such was practically a requirement of being a technician.

"Anyway, what's next for the ship?" Fuu asks of Miriallia as some sounds out in the robing room indicate someone was about to join them.

"Next? We're heading to the moon, some of the bases that hopefully were not wiped out, like Arzachel and Lorentz—maybe there are survivors there we can recover—and the Copernicus City, which we hope remained neutral." There wasn't much hope in her voice, and everyone else caught on.

"Is this—is this rape and pillage really what people want?" Fuu asks after a moment of silence.

"I think the few who survive these things are just driven to it, except the really good ones. They knew the end was here for them, they wouldn't live long, so they started taking it out on others; doing what they could to feel good and forget the problems until it finally took them. The Crusaders put a hole in most of that, though. People thought it was the end, and here come the white knights to break up the end-of-the-world party."

"And those guys don't take 'F-O' for an answer," Hikaru says. "I'd hate to have to face them, but I just wish I knew what they were up to, really."

"Yeah, I don't think they told us the whole story," Fuu grumps.

"They didn't tell us more than a third of it. Yzak says he heard some pretty rough stuff from them, overheard it, about a massive 'Darkness' offensive tying them up or something."

"Sounds conspiratorial," Miriallia says.

"Probably doesn't have anything to do with us, and if that's the case, I don't want to know," Terra says as she pushes through the bead curtain. "One thing I learned the hard way after the fall of the Empire, borrowing trouble hurts if you aren't good enough to do it right the first time," to which any of the room occupants did not begrudge her the lesson. Her upper left arm still bore the scar of the flame saber that was used against her, and though she won, she spent a week in the hospital, on the edge the whole time after taking on those hoods. On the other hand, the Commando Team had 'disposed' of their criminal order in one bloody night, so they were not a threat to anyone any more. It also went a long way to cementing the Archangel Team's position as the baddest soldiers on planet, especially as far as the criminal elements were concerned.

"True, but..." Umi begins, then falters as Terra slips into the springs and settles in. She was the oldest in the room by a margin, but being 21 did not make her as old as the Captain or Commander Badgiruel had been.

"We're not super-soldiers," Miriallia confirms. "We have severe limits, and once you hit that limit, people start dying. And I hear every one of them," the last she barely muttered, but everyone still heard it.

"I keep forgetting that, sorry," Umi apologizes.

"While we're on the subject of hearing thoughts, erm, well, er..." Hikaru falters, clearly embarrassed by whatever she couldn't spit out.

"Let me guess," Miriallia begins; "Tolle and myself?"

"Uh, yeah," Hikaru replies.

"Yeah," Miriallia replies. "I've heard more than a few times what happens. It's just, well, addictive."

"Addictive," Umi echoes, slightly disgusted at such a thought.

"Yeah, and it's great relaxation, and Tolle likes it, and—why do you all look like you're about to skewer me?"

"It's incredibly difficult to sleep while feeling you and Tolle, erm, sleeping together," Fuu notes artfully, but without any trace of anger on the matter.

"But, well, you're probably under the most stress of us all, and as you just said you get to hear it when the worst happens, so some of us can look the other way." That Hikaru said it was no surprise to anyone when someone decided to derail the frustration-venting.

"And you, Umi?" Miriallia asks calmly. She knew this was coming, just not how bad.

"I guess I don't care, but I would like to ask you to tone it back a little, like once or twice a week max, please?"

Miriallia looks to Terra. "No comment, it doesn't affect me," she replies, and for good measure: her quarters were in with the enlisted, and had nothing to do with the officers and pilots.

"It's times like these I'm glad this isn't a normal hot spring," Umi says, reaching behind her to the bulkhead between the male side and the female side.

"The Captain specifically ordered the engineers that put the springs in to do a ten-centimeter armor plate between the two sides. They could only do a four-centimeter hull plate, but it still works. No 'modesty screens' here so peeping toms can get in," Miriallia says with a clear dose of approval. Everyone present knew that bamboo fences, artsy screens, duck blinds, or similar were not an effective way to keep peepers out, but four centimeters of battleship-grade armor would.

"So, who's over there, and are they trying to listen?" Umi asks after a moment.

"Hold on," Miriallia concentrates. "Oh, just Tolle."

"_Just_ Tolle?" Umi asks in response.

"Oh, give me a break, Umi," Mir gripes. "What do you expect me to say?"

"C'mon, dish some details," Umi prods her ribcage with a finger.

"That's wrong!" Hikaru bemoans. "If she don't want to, she don't have to! Leave off, Umi," she concludes.

"No fun," Umi replies. "C'mon, Mir..."

"What about you?" Hikaru asks fairly. "Have you decided if you want to kill or date Yzak yet?"

Fuu and Terra start giggling at Umi's instant furious blushing, though it was Miriallia's comment that got the whole sauna laughing: "The truth hurts, doesn't it?"

"I surrender," Umi declares. "I'm still undecided, but leaning more toward kill him by strangulation, especially with his renewed foul mouth. You?"

"We haven't decided what we want to do yet," Miriallia replies. "We want to go home, any way you cut it, but the greatest problem is between then and now. Nobody knows what tomorrow holds. Nobody knows if we'll even survive tomorrow. It wouldn't be fair to him to ask him to do anything serious, but..."

Her comment brought a creepy silence to the room. "She's right. She's incredibly right," Fuu acknowledges.

"Then we have to make our own future," Umi says determinedly. "Regardless how long it takes us to get home."

-x-x-x-

(9 June CE 71, 1900 hours)

(Copernicus City)

"Is it legal to call this a city?" Tolle asks sardonically. The why was fairly obvious: through the dome of Copernicus, they could see the battle damage of fighting Mobile Suits.

"In about the same way it is legal to call a tortoise a 'speed demon'," Yzak replies sharply.

"I don't trust this place," Mu says. He was out and about on the ground with the Timber Wolf, which handled surprisingly well on the lunar surface. "We enter and clear in MS, and if it isn't too bad we go it on foot from there."

"It will be urban terrain. Make sure you don't get flanked, or this could end very very badly," Athrun reminds them. "Aegis has point."

"Roger, Aegis point, Timber Wolf, Duel, Strike Freedom. Buster at the back," Mu orders immediately.

"Roger that," Tolle replies stoically; he was getting used to be assigned the rearguard detail.

The lift into town was designed for fairly large freight shuttles, meaning the Mobile Suits easily fit on it without issue. Headed down below, the customary four locks were passed into the lower reaches of the starport for Copernicus. Once inside the starport cargo terminals, they were technically inside the city with only token barriers between—the kind that Worker MS opened without reserve.

The facility opened up to Battery Park—a landmark and monument to the city and to one of the first stable, permanent colonies of man beyond the atmosphere of Earth. Immediately, the Gundams spread out so that one well-placed shot could not kill them all, and began looking around. "Unsurprising. Mostly dead," Yzak quips.

"Be that as it may, the Captain wants us to look around. Shall we get to it?"

"Warhawk is following your lead," Nicol replies. The Warhawk was actually usable on the Moon, but not in the zero-G environs of space.

"Strike Freedom moving out with Aegis; I have point."

"Duel and 105 Dagger moving to right flank; Duel has point," Yzak says.

"Buster moving with Omnimechs; I have the rearguard."

Yzak moved five blocks south of the entry point, then turned west and headed toward the center of town where the amphitheater and the government buildings were. It was illogical that people would still look to government for the answers when it was government that caused this shit to happen, but he knew people would be congregating in that area. If there was anyone left, that is.

"Strike Freedom reporting. I'm not finding any signs of life in the colony."

"Timber Wolf acknowledges. I'm not finding anything, either."

"105 reporting, clear scope. Nothing in here, I think, except shadows and dust."

"Creepy, how the dead pile like that," Tolle bemoans the fate of a bunch of civilians ranging from age four to well past sixty.

"It always happens like this," Athrun declares. "All this, predicted by minds both more sane and darker than we ever will be, and we fulfill their prophecies with our insane, depraved nature. We built our own destruction, and we have nobody to blame but our own arrogant, megalomaniac selves."

"How do you figure?" Colonel Morgan asks after a moment.

"We build ways to kill each other wholesale, Mobile Suits, Omnimechs, nuclear and chemical weapons, and in such there is nobody but ourselves to blame for our own failings. We could stand around and bemoan the tragedy of their deaths, yet it would not change the fact that we are our own Grim Reapers here. If there is a Hell in Existence, without a doubt we are the gatekeepers, the reapers, _and_ the primary residents thereof."

Morgan Chevalier chuckles grimly after a moment of silence. "You're right. Sadly, you are right. Are you sure you're only 18? You hold wisdom that most people I've ever known would never fully understand."

"Last I added it up, yeah, only eighteen," Athrun replies.

"So now what?" Mu asks. "It's a little late to abolish human nature."

"Is it?" Athrun asks. "Is this really what we are?"

"At our core, yes," Kira replies. "By nature's programming, humans are selfish, violent, desperate and depraved beings. It takes a lot to overcome those tendencies, and this just proves we're only one catastrophe from reverting back to our intended programming."

"Then what's the fix?" Nicol asks.

"Simple. Kill the people that generate catastrophes like GENESIS and the nuclear assault on colonies. Or anything else that could wipe out whole planets of people." If Yzak could sound any colder, how was lost on the rest of the group.

"Oh good God," Mu groans.

"What?" Kira asks.

"I'm at the government buildings, people. It does not look like there is anything left here."

"Oh," Nicol moans. "Yzak, we need you up here."

Yzak's Gundam enters the area from farther south, yet he could still see the same thing. "This...this is fucking sick."

"Killed them all and violated the bodies. You are vindicated, Athrun," Mad Dog Morgan says.

In the small park in front of the capital building, hundreds of people had been lined up in rows, stripped naked, and shot fatally, their bodies left in grotesque positions. There were the odd bodies here and there that were out of alignment, though the fact that they were still clothed told enough tale that they were the executioners. The deceased were strung up and down the stairs into the capital, filled the roads nearby, even parts of bodies could be seen from the ground.

"I don't know if there are any Gods in existence any more; after seeing this." Yzak had his head in his hands, staring at the floor of his Gundam as his heart sundered itself from pure trauma of seeing people stripped and executed so callously. "If there is one, please please protect these deceased, see to their souls in safety and life anew. Please, if there is any God out there, just...just help them as you can."

_It is done, Soldier. It is done_. The mental voice was non-directional, coming from everywhere and nowhere all at once. It sounded nothing like the three Rune Gods or anyone that Yzak had ever heard before.

"Did...you just hear that?" Kira asks.

"Yeah," Mu says. "There is nothing for us here. Return to the ship."

-x-x-x-

(12 June CE 71, 1000 hours)

(Maius 2 PLANT)

(62nd street and Harmony Court, Harmony Memorial Park)

In the distance, seen barely through the shell of the colony, a flare of green heralded the departure of the _Archangel_ from this dimension, headed only on its own course. Ever would it move toward whatever fate it had been handed at the conception of its history, and for the Executor standing at the memorial, he knew not that fate. He only knew what his subordinate had told him: that fate would be brutal, uncompromising, bloody, lengthy, and dire, yet far from impossible. Coming from said subordinate, that was a better proclamation than most, who were just plain doomed.

Nobody remained. The last of the civilians were aboard the converted transport colony, headed to Mars to build a new life way from the cursed lands of Terra. The Crusaders had returned to their home, to their war with the 'Darkness' that could never be defined, nor defeated. As the Transcendant Gundam pilot had said, all meaningful life had indeed been squelched on the planet below. Nobody remained in the earth sphere, except one trans-dimensional soldier.

The invisibility faded, revealing the heavy armor of a dedicated close-quarters fighter. The pure white coloring schema was itself almost offensive in the bleak remnants of a shattered civilization, yet he did not flinch nor change its color. Instead, he removed his helmet, to see the memorial the Crusaders had fashioned for the deceased and the damned.

The memorial itself was a large onyx slab, with a simple turn of phrase to commemorate those who died here. "Herein lies the damned of the hatred of others, slaughtered senselessly for purity unattainable, left to rot for all eternity in the sins of the arrogant few. June, year 71 of the Cosmic Era." And on a line below, he read further: "May Existence keep and protect their souls forever." Below that were engraved two symbols: one, the four-point dagger-star of the Crusaders; the other, the symbol of the Archangel Team, the silhouette of the _Archangel_ viewed from above, with the six feathered wings of an Archangel surrounding it.

The Executor held his hand to his face, to observe a moment of respectful silence for the deceased.

"I am no God. Never have I encountered a Christian, Muslim, or Hebrew God, and I have tried to find them like no other being in Existence. I have killed Gods, I have become more than the Gods to prevent their mistakes forevermore, in deference to the masses they would crush on a whim. Yet fool am I to believe that humanity can itself survive its own failings every time. The best I can do is to redirect the souls of the deceased to another dimension, another life where they would never experience this horror again."

The Executor reaches out to the monument, but stops mere centimeters from touching it, fighting back his own sobs at having witnessed what he had seen, what he had done, and especially the accumulated deaths of this one dimension. After a few moments his helmet clatters to the ground; he gave up fighting it and collapsed to his knees, never touching the monument. "DAMN IT! DAMN IT ALL!" He shouts at the ground below his arms and face. "Nothing changes. Nothing. Ever. Changes. If not the same place, the same result. And the innocent are always damned by it all."

It was an hour before he moved any more than his sobbing, the emotions of the billions of dead overcoming what defense and hardening he had from hundreds of thousands of years of being a soldier like no other. Billions killed, without any real cause except two groups hated each other. Some days the matter really came out to be just that simple but no less bloody.

Eventually, he did fight it off, and stood up. "It is done, Yzak Joule. It is done. And, someday long from now, someday we shall all congregate on the fields of Elysium as is fated us all, and we shall never have to see, know, or do these kinds of horrors unto ourselves ever again. Some day, Yzak. Some day long from now."

With that final sentiment, the Will Transendent Executor put on his helmet, locked the seals down, and disappeared into another dimension and yet another battlefield. Never did his duty change, just the location.

* * *

Author's Chapter Afterword:

This is itself the sum of my theories on the end of the world, scaled down by about 70 percent. The real deal would look a lot bloodier, but thankfully we won't have to see that in our lifetimes...hopefully. I tried to present this section is as realistic and level a fashion as I could, but a lot of it turned out rougher than I intended. This was the first 'linchpin' chapter I had planned out for the story, and there will be several more all the way up to the end of the story. It continues, long and hard does it continue, and you can expect that before the shooting is over everyone will bleed long and hard for it.

That being said, the Archangel has new people and new equipment along for the ride. A good thing, as the Archangel can't seem to keep its hands on pilots from day to day. The Strike Freedom, though, it's got some issues that will come up in chapters to come, it will turn out to be quite the mixed blessing. Hey, I don't give anyone anything for free, and that includes the Jump Gate system. Oh yes, expect more problems from there.

The Crusaders, well, they're hard to explain. I think I'll save that for their other appearances in other stories; any of you whom are native readers of some of the remainder of my stories might see some similarities, but I advise you not to read too far into those quirks. There are reasons I do everything, but keep in mind that everything has deeper significance unless you can demonstrate otherwise. I'll leave it at that for now. Any of you who are native Gundam fans can probably guess what the base unit of the Transcendent Gundam was long ago, though :P

The last part, the Executor visiting the memorial of a dead world, and the reference made by the Transcendent Gundam pilot, leaves you to wonder who or what is interfering with the Archangel moving around, is it not?

I leave the answers of these mysteries to you.

Next up: The Archangel goes from one lost war to a possibly losing one, but one no less violent than any other they have been subject to. Who will God allow to survive?

* * *

Review Replies:

Oh, helluva reviews for this one, helluva reviews! Much thank you to all whom have dropped me a line!

**FraserMage**: I hope this clears up the confusion.

**Deathzealot**: So close, but not quite there. Excellent guess, however. As to Natarle, she will be up next in a side story of the AAA, but that is a bit of a ways off. Her replacement, though, I have not settled on one.

**Strata-Assassin**: Continuing from your Beta notes, I'm going to leave whether or not Heine stayed with the Archangel Team as a guess for you for now. Sorry for the drama, but it is standard policy here. One thing I would like to mention, though: as I left them above, the use of God, Gods, and similar is considered a proper name (especially in the case of the non-pluralized God), and warrants the capitalization. Especially given the backstory of the Executors, it is definitely a proper name, though often as derogatory as the F-bomb.

**One-Village-Idiot**: How badly screwed? NEVER ask me that, comrade, I will find ways to make it worse when challenged like that :) Hope this one comes up to your expectations.

**Barricade**: Oh, my, where to start? Well, let me begin by saying that the Kira 'Jesus' Yamato that we all know from late GS and GSD died aborning, killed off in the skies above Cephiro when he couldn't find a way to settle Princess Emeraude without killing her. He may have the Strike Freedom now, but he is not doing a stand-in for Jesus. And you can rest assured that turn of phrase has more than one meaning. As to the Queen that had been petrified, this goes back to my backstory and continuing theories on magic. Petrification like that can be undone, but there is a timeframe based on how long the subject has been stoned and how powerful the caster is; exceed that timeframe, and it will not work. Given the length of time, not even the Master Executor / Will Transcendant that showed up in this chapter could have undone her petrification, and that Executor well exceeds the power of all three Rune Gods combined.

**Akasui**: Okay, you're the third that has assumed this was the beginning of GSD. Seriously, am I the only one that thinks of such problems as the Earth Alliance unchecked being able to convert more colonies into dangerous falling objects? Regardless, Terra will find herself a place in the story in a very unusual niche in time to come. Actually, the _Archangel_ physically is large enough to put a jump core in it, in terms of sheer mass, but the ship was never engineered for one. Jumpships can be below 200,000 tons, the Archangel as of right now is 380,000 tons, and the largest Jumpships possible are 1,000,000 tons. It just was never engineered for the job you ask of it :P The Rune Gods normally hang around in their own little corner of Existence (nobody knows where) until needed by events surrounding the Magic Knights.

**EtienneOfTheWestWind**: I think it is a combination of both your stated tacks that really applies. Not much in the way of picked up extras, but then again most of the notables died and the bulk of the remaining are on their way to Mars right now (putting that in writing just felt weird). Details left to your imagination at the moment.

**Knives91**: I just didn't properly illustrate that point in prose, my bad. It still happened, for what it was worth.

**Nim Maj**: That idea is just mind-blowing. 2 Cagalli in the same location....erm, holy shit. The raw tomboy power of such an ocurrence might cause the whole of Existence to implode, which would not do well for my other stories...

**al103**: You are the only one who guessed the happenstance of this chapter right off the bat. I can only hope the prose matches your expectations.

**Knightwolf1875**: Now you're asking for flat freaking crazy with Negima or Nanoha. I like that. Still and all, I must say that all possibles are considered classified TS/SAR, because I like dragging out the suspense and indetermination on where they'll end up screwed next. The dice are my friend and all that...

**THANK YOU ALL** for the assistance and the reviews. Every review is another drop of Unleaded Nightmare Fuel for the Archangel, even if they don't know what's going to happen to them in the long run. Keep 'em coming!

* * *

The Gripe Sheet:

Hey, this is what the Beta work is for :P Sorry for the cliffhanger at the end of the last chapter, I couldn't help but do it that way.

Once more, props due to **Strata-Assassin** for doing the beta work and cleaning up my precarious butchering of the English language.

* * *

Footnotes:

(1): **Strings** in this case refers to blocks or lines of characters.

(2): **G-2** refers to Military Intelligence, but is also usable as slang for stories, trivia, or quick facts.

(3): Flat chested.

(4): **Transient** in this use refers to a wanderer or traveler.

(5): **Stacked** means to line up behind or nearby an object, usually in preparation to enter a door, but also to cover behind an object so you don't get your arse shot off.

(6): **I**llustrated **P**arts **C**atalog, used (normally) for ordering replacement parts, but since the machine is cut off from Crusader supply lines it will just have to serve as schematics for the parts.

(7): **F**ault **I**solation **M**anual, used primarily to track down pesky bugs that seem to keep cropping up with no obvious cause or reason to crop up.


	30. Welcome To A Different Earth

(Archangel's Amazing Adventures, Set 4 (!!!), Chapter 1: Welcome to a Different Earth)

"Conn, Sensors, ship is ready for jump. Present stats show jump destination array at 100 percent, charging system 100 percent, ship synchronization at 84 percent, environment synchronization at 96 percent. Equation verified as valid target for jump. We are ready."

"Mu, sound jump," Murrue orders.

"All hands, all hands, prepare for interdimensional jump, repeat, all hands prepare for interdimensional jump. And cross your fingers."

"Oh God, please let this work out," Kuzzey grumbles to nobody in particular.

"Sensors, initiate jump on my mark. Jump, now, now, now." On the third iteration, Sai tripped the Gate Engine.

The world flashed green to everyone on the bridge, as a 600-meter sphere centered around the bridge of the _Archangel_ was replaced by an exact-sized sphere of the area where the _Archangel_ arrived. In this sphere existed a large amount of seawater, a school of fish, and three and a half sharks. The half of the shark outside the sphere collapsed in on the bridge of the ship as the vacuum that came along with the ship sucked in the ocean around it. For a brief moment, Murrue was scared stiff as a wall of green-white foam collapsed in on the ship so fast there was no chance of evading it. The whole ship shook to the impact of sea crashing in on them, and more to the point, the whole primary hull of the ship groaned from the abuse of going from no external pressure to undersea pressures immediately.

"Are we gonna make it?" Sai asks.

"We'll make it," Mu replies immediately.

"It'll be close," Murrue admits as the sound of the automatic pressure venting devices move to quickly compensate for the changing pressures in the ship's atmosphere. The change was minimal, due to the double-hull design of the ship, but any change could be noticed if one paid enough attention. "We'll make it, but that shark is a goner," and she indicates the tail of a shark that had been flattened against the front windshield.

"Along with anything else in the area, if that is any evidence of what happened," Mu replies nonchalantly. "Ship's board shows it is in one piece, Captain."

"Whew," she replies cautiously. "All right, Helm, take us up to Conning Tower breach depth, no higher."

"Conning tower depth, roger that," Newman replies.

"Conn, Sensors, no sonar contacts within 30,000 meters of the ship," Sai says.

"Sensors, aye," Murrue replies. "Anything on ESM?"

"Negative, nothing yet," Sai was still dialing in the controls for the ESM. "Okay, I'm showing a couple naval search radars, nothing major, below detection values at this time. One radar bearing 2-2-5, another bearing 2-5-2."

"Conn, helm, show 100 meters to surface breach."

100 meters was not a long distance to the surface, nor did it take long to get there. Murrue marveled at the changing colors of the seawater on the front windows in the moments before the Conning Tower breached the surface and came into a clear, sunny day. _Some things just make this nightmare worth it_, Murrue thinks aloud.

"Yeah, it's worth it," Mu replies. "After all, this is world number six for us, and we're still alive and trying to get home. Better than the odds I was thinking we had when we found out what was happening in Cephiro."

"That...was out loud?" Murrue asks. Kuzzey replies silently by nodding. "I gotta get used to this..."

"It could be worse," Sai grumps. It was fairly obvious to anyone on the bridge what he meant.

"Thanks, Sai, see if I send you a Christmas card this year," Miriallia replies sharply.

"Don't dig your rut any deeper, man," Kuzzey tells Sai. "Hey Cap'n, I'm showing signals on short-wave naval radio, in the clear. Give me a moment and I'll see what's going on around us."

"Conn, Sensors, I have clear cuts to naval positioning beacons," Sai says cheerfully immediately thereafter.

"Amazing," Murrue says. "Can you triangulate our location and program it into the inertial nav system?"

"Given what stations I am seeing, our present location is somewhere in the Baltic Sea between Latvia and Sweden. Computer is chewing on it now, Captain." The bridge was silent until he came back with his results. "Bingo, good cut! Ventspils, Latvia, course 1-1-0 at 67 kilometers. INS has a good position fix, we are ready to go."

"Thank you, Petty Officer Argyle. We shall watch and listen for now," Murrue fronts as their present tasking and motivation. "Sai, any...no, we'd know if we were home, neutron jammers."

"Yeah," Mu grumps. "Wonder if we can figure out a way to wipe 'em out, get the nuclear power stations going again," he asks idly of nobody in particular.

"Easier to circumvent it; use another form of power, I'd think," Murrue replies. "Commander, please announce stand-down."

The speakers throughout the ship crackle for a moment. "All hands, go to condition 3, repeat, condition 3. We are now at standard crew rotation. All hands be advised we have not arrived in CE 71 Earth, we are in an unknown alternate dimension at this time. Further information to follow when we have more understanding of our present location." Mu was silent for a moment after turning the 1MC intercom off. "I wonder what went wrong."

"Page Kira, Yzak, Athrun, and Nicol, I think we need to talk," Murrue requests.

"Kira Yamato, Athrun Zala, Yzak Joule, Nicol Amalfi, please report to the bridge."

-x-

"All right, I'm going to preface this by saying I am not being accusatory. I just want to know what went wrong, and, if possible, why we are not home yet," Murrue asks.

Nicol sighs. "Tell her, Yzak."

Yzak nods, a grim expression to his mien. "The logs say we jumped clean. For all intents and purposes, it did exactly what it was designed to do."

"Then what was the malfunction?" Murrue asks.

"I can only think of two possible problems," Kira says. "First, the ship synchronization was not 100 percent, second, the environment synchronization was also not 100 percent. Everything else worked as advertised and was within operating expectations." His report came off almost matter-of-fact, as if he was reporting on the weather outside the hull of the ship, or the conditions inside the ship.

"I went back over my equations after the jump, since Kira could tell we weren't back home but somewhere else, and everything adds up 100 percent. We should be home, unless those synch numbers really do add up to a failed jump," Yzak explains.

"Close, not quite," Athrun says. "Given our numbers were that close, we should be somewhere similar to home, but not it."

"Recommendations?" Murrue figured she would conceal her mounting frustrations on the matter.

"Next time, we may want to jump with synch ratios above 95 percent, though we may want to go as high as possible," Kira opines. "I don't think those numbers are tallied for fun and games, they are there for a purpose."

"All right, we'll do that. Also, if I remember correctly, 'Miko' said she thought there was some kind of presence about the ship that may be interfering. If we are not getting shot at, can you look into what she might have meant?"

"Can do, Cap'n," Athrun replies immediately. "Nicol, Fuu, and I shall begin immediately, unless something else needs to be done?"

"No, not right now," Murrue says. "Please see to it. Thank you, all of you, for the try."

Murrue was looking down at the noteputer she had purchased in the mall on Twycross, not at the persons leaving. Thus, she didn't realize all but one had left on the semi-clear dismissal from her.

"Captain, if I may say something?"

Murrue looks up to see Yzak still standing, though nearer to the door to the conference room than he was prior. "Something the matter, Yzak?"

"Yeah. I think you're taking this a bit rough, judging by the vibe I know I felt, and I think Athrun and Kira could sense it as well. No guess at Nicol, though, but one confirmed and possibly three out of four."

Murrue sighs, since she knew there was no hiding it. Something drastic had changed about the ship, and it was wildly manifest in the increasing psionic talents of the ship's crew and the ability to use more and more powerful spellcraft in the hands of some. It went without saying that a hint of psionic sensitivity was not out of the realm of possibility, so... "You are right, Yzak. I am taking this hard. I have been away from home for approaching four years now, and in several different shooting and spellcraft wars during that time. Honestly, I believe we have broken records all across Existence, at least for the 'ship least likely to have survived anything and is still journeying home' category. And the fact that we're not home after our first and second real chances to get there, it is starting to hurt in more places than one." A brief pause. "How's the rest of the crew taking this setback?"

"Mostly shrugs, a guy or two here and there seemed frustrated enough to kick lockers hard, but that's it. The contingent of our crew from Vector, the ZAFT survivors, they're still too new to this to hold a solid opinion, or they don't care so long as they're anywhere but dead. It's too soon to see how Kira, Nicol, or Athrun feel about it, but they'll probably just shrug it off and keep going."

"And you?" Murrue asks in the silence thereafter.

"I am resigned to it," Yzak replies after a moment's reflection. "I, personally, am convinced we are doomed to forever wander, just because Fate itself is taking his bloody vengeance out on us for killing his colleague Emeraude. If I could find him and wring his neck, I would, the sorry bastard."

"Is it...is it wrong to try and push everyone forward on the completely unlikely chance of ever seeing home again?" Murrue asks, the grating question that had been haunting her since prior to the jump from Vector to the burnt-out remains of their home. It was a doubt, not so much in her cause as in how her crew wanted it, and she thought the crew didn't want it, but she could never tell for sure who wanted to continue or who wanted to stay.

"You are not the only one who wants to go home, Captain. Athrun still pines for his fiancée, I'm not sure what Commander La Flaga wants, Nicol has only once said he wants to stay anywhere but home, half the surviving mechanics definitely want to go home, if for no other reason than to beat the Earth Alliance to death, the list goes on. If people don't want to go, they'll jump ship. Most of us are along for the ride and pick your reason. So no, you are not doing anything unusually cruel or reprehensible, since we're all in it and some of us are even enjoying it."

"Thanks, Yzak. I owe you a drink for that."

"I'll collect after I figure out what went wrong for sure." With a ZAFT-style salute, he was out the door.

-x-x-x-

(Same day, 1145 hours)

Silent, silent.

Kira and Athrun stood on balcony three in the hangar, watching the ministrations of the journeyman mechanics (recruits from Vector, Figaro, and Doma) and the senior mechanics (the leftovers of the EA forces, ZAFT specialists that joined the ship).

"Remember back when we were starting to run out of mechanics?" Athrun asks.

"Yeah, for a while there I was wondering if we would ever get our machines fixed after some of those battles," Kira replies. "Now, we have mechanics, and almost no machines to fix."

The once-empty cubicles told enough of the tale. Kristen Redmond's Mad Dog Omnimech had lost more than could be rightfully replaced, so it had been scrapped down for parts usable on other machines, the rest used as salvage in Vector. The Stormcrow fared worse. One of the rail gun slugs had chopped through the engine and gyro the long way, so it also was scrapped down and recycled, what the _Archangel_ could not use was being used in Vector now. Some relief had come in the way of the Timber Wolf and Warhawk being repairable, and those two machines were being fawned over by the techs, but the glowing achievements of the _Archangel_'s scavenger mentality were in the cubes once occupied by Clan Omnimechs.

"That's the pinnacle of the Earth Alliance mass-pro units?" Athrun asks idly, looking over the Dagger with the Gunbarrel pack.

"Supposedly," Kira replies. "Not too much different from the Strike, really. Uses all the same striker packs and can handle the same weapons without issue, including ZAFT's latest arsenal."

"I do like the design aesthetic and capabilities of the GuAIZ, but your new one takes the cake by a wide margin." More than a few GuAIZ had been picked up from the various debris fields and were now being rebuilt with the intention of giving something to Nicol for a semi-replacement MS until further notice.

"Strike Freedom. I wonder how they get that name," Kira wonders aloud. His noteputer beeps twice, a signal that his machine had something to add to the conversation. "Ah, my system says the name was derived from the original Freedom Gundam, but was given the title Strike Freedom because it was envisioned as a rapid assault, siege, and interceptor Gundam for dealing with masses of equivalent machines."

"Masses of equivalent machines?" Athrun asks in clear shock. "What insane society would have more than a handful of machines like ours?"

"I don't think any of us want to know, or ever meet them," Kira replies deadpan.

Silence again for a few moments. "I hate it when you say that, or something like it, things usually end very badly for us."

"Huh?" Kira asks, not sure what Athrun meant.

"That phrase should be banned from use on the ship, at least, maybe even in all _Archangel_ crew dialog. As well as variants of 'what could possibly go wrong' and similar. Pissing off the Fates seems to be the number one cause of major problems for the ship..."

"Okay, now you're not making sense. You all right, Athrun?"

"No, Kira, I am not all right," Athrun says. "Vector was supposed to be the ticket home, yet we landed in some god-awful grim reality alternate of our home. Try again, we end up wherever-the-fuck we are. I want to go home, but this is getting OLD really FAST."

"Oh boy," Kira bemoans. "This...this—"

"—This is not what any of us asked for," Umi completes Kira's hanging thought. "Not one of us wants to be the modern-day equivalent of Odysseus, not one of us. Yet here we are, going from place to place to place, trying to get home, possibly cursed never to get there. That's how Odysseus was screwed, Poseidon cursed him to never be able to get home."

"I know this!" Athrun was not the first and certainly not the last to have read through Homer's Odyssey. "What would you have me do? Every time we change locations, it only gets worse."

"Nothing, I guess," Umi replies before pushing away from the rail. She was gone moments later, inside the labyrinthine corridors of the still-growing _Archangel_.

"Did...yeah, I did see that right," Athrun says, referring to what he saw of Umi as she pushed away from the rails. "What...what am I? I don't know what I am any more."

"What you are, what you want to be, what you need to be, three totally different things," Kira answers calmly.

"Then what am I? Some kind of horrid bloodied monster?" Athrun asks at his most cynical.

Kira did not react to the open-ended taunt, instead aiming for the 'sage wisdom' answer he thought was needed. "What you want to be: home, in Lacus's arms, never to leave her again. What you need to be: the ruthless soldier who can drive through all the resistance in multiple worlds, basically what it takes to get home, get home alive, and get there in one piece. What you are: just another guy exceptionally trained in mobile warfare, caught far away from home and probably under the realization who you won't be the same person that left Lacus as you will be the person that arrives to her. Never the same, but never different. Make sense?"

Again, Athrun was silent for a good minute. _Never the same, never different, what I am versus what I want to be, and...I can't figure it out, except..._ After a fashion, Kira's logic made more sense than it initially came across as, and he had an idea where he had gone wrong. "I needed that. Thanks, Kira. I've become so focused on what I want that I have forgotten what I have and what I must do. Just, how do you cope with this?"

"I be what I am, and let what I want to be follow suit. And this," Kira brought forth a camera purchased on Twycross. Before Athrun could even say anything, a picture had been taken. "It'll make a helluva story if I ever have children. All the better that I have photos to back it up."

"And I thought I didn't get it," Athrun replies drolly. "You act almost as if this is a game."

"It's not," Kira replies immediately. "It's real, and that's where your problem is. You focus too much on the reality, not letting yourself just be in the moment. Try it, man, you'll feel more human by the time this is said and done."

"Right," Athrun grumps after Kira had left him to his own devices. It did not take Athrun long to realize what the quandary really was that Kira had presented to him.

-x-x-x-

(Same day as arrival, 1715 hours)

"Where were we?" Murrue asks.

"I believe you were explaining the shootout at the bar with the gang-bangers and an APC," Colonel Chevalier replies as he was shuffling the cards for another hand. Without any clear apropos of a threat to the ship, the Conn had been left to Chandratta while the three officers played a match of poker in the ship's stateroom

"Oh yeah, that was a hairy one for the ground team. It started at the Bar and Grill when Miriallia and Fuu were almost molested by a pervert who had entered the bathroom behind them. Miriallia shot him dead center in the chest, and almost ended up shooting her boyfriend in the process through a heavy door and a stone wall."

"Huh? I don't know many personal weapons with that kind of power," 'Mad Dog' Morgan questions.

"Miriallia's bow can do that, and pretty much all of the Knight's weapons can punch through stone and metal with ease. Anyways, taking out the molester was only the beginning of that fiasco," Murrue pauses to pick up her cards and arrange them logically. A pair of sixes to begin, nothing noteworthy in the rest of her hand. "Anyway, the pervert was DOA, and the police thought that might be a good time to get themselves a high-profile kill. So, once we heard about the incident, we went to rescue our operator from the pain-in-the-neck prosecutor."

"Natarle did that job," Mu says. "We stood outside with the rest of the team involved, and got to listen to her chew the poor prosecutor up one side and down the other. He called off any investigation of our team immediately and released the teams. Bet this," and Mu drops in a Vector gold piece. "And then it gets crazier."

"I think we're already off the deep end, and you think it gets worse?" Morgan asks in clear dismay.

"Oh, no, this is still logical. Wait until we get up to the part with the Espers."

"Oh my," he replies in shock.

"I'm in," and Murrue drops an equivalent Figaro gold piece. "Anyways, after we got out of the police department, we went looking for some eats. Our guide and liaison, Major Adam Steiner, AFFC, led us to a hole-in-the-wall bar-and-grill place. Just so happens it was the same bar-and-grill that our team had almost been molested at."

"That went over well, I can guess," Colonel Chevalier drops in his own denomination of money.

"With the staff? Yes. With the gang the molester came from? Hell no. A half-dozen of them came by to exact their monthly protection money and a little vengeance on the bar. We decided otherwise."

"Highlight of that forty-second fracas was watching Natarle start off by whopping some guy off halfway up his legs. Then as his body collapsed down and forward, she chopped his head and neck off," Mu notes.

"Actually, I would say the highlight was something else," Murrue replies before she set two cards face down on the table. "A pair, please." The two cards come her way. "Mu got shot three times by a small-caliber pistol during the engagement—a .25 automatic or something similar, not a heavy combat round. Knee, waist, shoulder, bloody as hell but not all that damaging. Part of the same incident, I took out the guy that shot him and his girlfriend. The girl was getting ready to shoot me with a forty-caliber, so by shooting the guy and the rounds traveling through him and into her, I stopped them both. That was messy."

"Oh man, the police probably loved that," Morgan says. "I'm gonna stay," he says of his hand.

"The inspector for that incident had some choice words for us, and Major Steiner thought we should be commended, but that wasn't the worst of it by far," Murrue decides that the hand she was holding would be enough for this match, and signaled she would stay as well.

"It gets worse? How? They're gang-bangers, nothing major, right?"

"Gang-bangers financed and backed by the nastiest mob boss on Twycross. Less than pleasant. Anyways, we had two trucks and an APC attack the _Archangel_ in the spaceport. That assault lasted long enough for us to 'calibrate' the point defense grid on their vehicles."

"Messy," both Mu and Morgan note.

"And then there was the infamous assault on the bar itself, another APC this time around with twin machine guns and nobody who could aim them." She sets her hand down. "Two pair, kings and tens."

"Damn," Mu mutters.

"Two pair, queens and sevens." Morgan drops his cards down, resigned to the defeat.

Murrue raked in her small pile of winnings silently. "Anyways, an APC and about a dozen and change assault the bar and grill where all this crap is going down. The bar had hired us out as security detail, though, so they met with some unexpected resistance when they attacked. Several people with nasty sub-machine guns are an unpleasant wall of fire to walk into, and those gangers found it out the hard way. The downside was the APC gunner was able to put a lot of hurting down on the bar and the people in it."

"What was he using? Twin fifties?" By which he meant twin 12.7x99 machine guns, a fearsome sniper and heavy machine gun round that was over four centuries old by the times of CE 71 and still going strong.

"Nope, fifteen millimeters. Still, the only thing he managed to do was kick up a lot of spall and practically annihilate the restaurant before he ran out of ammo. The dismounted gang-bangers did better, a couple of wounds on the entry team and absorbed a helluva lot of ammo." A brief pause as the cards for the next hand came her way. "Just when everyone was down to their last magazine or empty, the remaining gang-bangers charged the place, stopped dead in the middle of the road, due to being caught in the open under gunfire, and then got strafed by the Blitz and its 75mm CIWS."

"Yzak and Athrun both reported watching body parts doing lazy circles in the sky before coming back down with a messy result," Mu adds for an extra bit of shock factor.

"Messy? I'd call that a massacre," Morgan comments with a grimace to the effect. "The APC?"

"Oh, it tried driving off, but it didn't get too far," Murrue says. "Nicol snared it with the rocket anchor on the Blitz, hauled back, and flung it sling-style about twelve blocks down the road. When it hit, there wasn't much left of it."

"The power of a Gundam, absolutely amazing," Colonel Chevalier says. "I'm in." He dropped two of the Doma gold pieces into the pot area.

"Oh, but that's not all," Mu says as he drops an equivalent in. "Fast forward a couple weeks, after we had beaten the piss out of the Jade Falcons. We were looking forward to getting off-planet and to the next theater of battle, when we decided the mob boss needed to be flattened and run through the courts. So, the TPD and the Archangel Team got together, worked out a plan, and executed it. We thought we had everything under control until the mob boss showed up to the battle with a company of 'mechs and two companies of tanks."

"No shit? An armored battalion?"

"Oh yeah," Murrue replies. "And they did quite a bit of damage to us. Only problem is, they underestimated us, believing that everyone else was overestimating how good we were for kicking the Clanners from one side of creation to the next. Oops." Murrue dropped three cards on the table. "Need some replacements, please," to which she was given her due cards.

"How bad?"

"Duel got the mad-end. Blitz lost a leg and took a couple peripheral hits. Rayearth had his knee broken. The ship took some minor damage from triple-A threats, and the Buster spent a week in overhaul. On the other hand, twelve enemy 'mechs destroyed, over fifteen tanks destroyed, and seven vehicles captured kinda skewed the odds in our favor. We own Tony P's mansion and lease the adjacent hangars to the Twycross militia and any other military units needing repairs or parking. All in all, we won and came off like bandits."

"Here," and Mu drops two gold pieces in the pile. "Before we left, we took the time to raid the stores again, haul in some more salvage for the ship and units, and party one hard night before we left."

"And forever will the Archangel Team be synonymous with, oh, how did that one guy say it?" Murrue asks Mu.

"I believe he said 'epic ass beatings and name-takings'."

"Which fits very well on the field of battle, but not so well at the table of cards;" the hand Morgan dropped was a full house of three queens and two nines.

"I'd say my luck is a bit uneven today," Mu replied artfully. "At least she's doing a bit better." The jerk of his thumb at Murrue was pro forma in this case, but done regardless.

"Not by much. How does an Eurasian tank commander turned MS ace get so good at cards?"

"Trade secret," Morgan Chevalier replies with a bit of a Cheshire grin to effect. They knew they weren't going to get any more info out of the guy on that note, so they resigned themselves to hearing a tale from him as to what happened in the EA after they disappeared. "Well, there I was in Victoria..." his tale began, and would last eight more hands, proving him as much of a storyteller as a cardsharp.

-x-x-x-

(Next day, 0535 hours Lima (local) time)

"Conn, sensors, I show no contacts bearing 2-0-5," Kira said. He had relieved Sai to go to sleep about four hours prior, as he was the pilot least in need of sleep himself and qualified to operate the ship's sensors and EWO (1) panel. He was also doubling as the maintenance controller and MS operator, allowing Miriallia to sleep as well.

"Sesnors, Conn, aye," Mu replies. Murrue was still asleep and he intended on letting her remain asleep for now. "Helm, bring her about to 2-1-0 real easy, recalculate to avoid shipping. If necessary, plan for going underwater to the conning tower or complete submerge."

"2-1-0, aye Commander," Newman replies. "Shipping sparse in new traverse area, we may have to go under once and that is it."

"Conn, aye," Mu replies.

The bridge was silent for several minutes before anything else happened. "Conn, sensors, I'm getting something to port," Kira says. "Transport planes, minimum gross mass estimate 2-5-0 tons, turbofan or turboprop type. Intercept course our ship, ETA line of sight visual in 1-0 minutes."

"Helm, prepare to submerge the ship. Chief of the watch, signal dive," Mu orders calmly. This was not the first time they had gone under to avoid planes in the past two hours, and it was grossly simple to do for the _Archangel_.

"All hands, prepare for dive at this time," Chandratta orders over the 1MC so everyone on the ship knew what was happening.

"Conn, Helm, descent rate one meter per five seconds, two minutes to splash-down."

"Conn, sensors, I've lost track on the transports; they dropped altitude below the radar horizon," Kira sounded a bit worried about it.

"I don't like this. Newman, take us down fast, level out and ease into the waves. I think we're about to get hammered."

"Roger that, fifteen seconds to water entry," Newman says as he noses the ship down toward the waves faster while hauling back on the levitator. He leveled out at the necessary time then gave the ship a bit of a pitch up to land properly. The whole ship shuddered as it glanced across the waves before it settled down into the water and began slowly sinking, the mass of the ship greater than its volume in terms of buoyancy. "Conn, Helm, depth to keel (2) is 2-0 meters and increasing."

"Huh?" Kira switches modes on the sensors for a moment after an alert came up on the sonar cross-warning system. "Shit! Conn, sensors, sonar contact close aboard! Large submarine, twin-screw (3) contact estimate three thousand meters to starboard! Not classified!"

"What?" Mu half-shouts. "Oh man, we've been trapped from two directions! Damn it!"

"Warning!" Kira shouts immediately thereafter. "Launch transients, high speed screws! Four torpedoes in the water to starboard!"

"Battle stations," Mu simply orders.

The sound of the battle klaxon reverberates throughout the ship, waking more than half the crew from some much-needed rest. "General quarters, general quarters, all hands to your battle stations on the double! Ship is under fire!"

"Chandratta, unlock and ready all weapons systems but do not deploy. Kira, launch noisemaker countermeasures for anti-sub warfare," Mu instructs rapidly. With the shift from evasion to combat tactics, the procedure from here became infinitely clear to the Commander: send them all to whatever hell they believed in. Since they would shoot first before asking questions he would return the favor, and he had every intention of adequately protecting the crew and Captain in that respect.

"Status report!" Murrue shouts as she enters the bridge.

"Captain!" Mu replies, clearly relieved she had arrived. "Unidentified transport craft closing from port, ETA seven minutes, one submarine to starboard has fired torpedoes at us when we tried going under. Countermeasures are in the water, weapons are arming now."

"I have the Conn," Murrue says. "Thanks, Mu. Get to the Skygrasper and get ready to sortie. Kira, you as well."

"Yes, ma'am," Kira replies as he jumps out of the sensor seat to turn it over to Sai, who had come with Miriallia and Kuzzey.

"Conn, sensors, I have ships, helicopters dead ahead, definite military tracking radar sets course 2-0-0 to 2-2-0. I have active sonar course 2-9-0, and aircraft radar sets course 0-8-5 and course 2-7-0 to 3-0-0 closing rapidly. We're boxed in on three sides, Captain!" Sai rattles off, showing the gap in training and skill between himself and Kira rather adroitly: Kira could blow all the crap in the world up, but Sai could use a small whiff of sensor data to type an enemy and divine force correlations and positions far faster than said pilot.

Murrue settled into her seat and fastened her seat belt. "Status of the weapons grid?"

"All weapons spun up, awaiting orders on munitions, Captain," Chandra replies.

"Load missile tubes 25 to 32 with anti-shipping torpedoes, tubes 1 to 8 with Corinthos missiles, and tubes 9 to 24 with Sledgehammers. CIWS to special auto. Deploy Gottfrieds, Valiants, all point defense weapons. We wait until we are fired upon, then we let them have it. Sensors, torpedo range?"

"Torpedoes have reached countermeasures!" Sai says. "Torpedoes have lost contact with our stern...torpedoes reacquired! Estimate thirty seconds until they fly up our tail-pipes, Captain!"

"Understood," Murrue replies. "Rear laser assemblies, can you track and eliminate those torpedoes?"

"Will do, Captain." Chandratta immediately began tapping the commands in. "Solid track, firing now." The only sound that traveled far enough forward to be heard by the bridge was the sound of the paired Clan ER Particle Cannons firing, though the weapons status board showed the four Medium Pulse Lasers and singular Large Pulse Laser had fired as well. The medium and large lasers were recharging with six and eight seconds respectively to fire readiness, the PPCs with nine seconds. The shockwave of two of the torpedoes cooking off did not shake the ship, but the sound of the destruction echoed throughout the hull without a person in the crew mistaking what they heard.

"Scratch two! Going for two more!"

"Ten seconds to impact!"

The laser turrets dump again, though this time around only one of the thunderous explosions buffeted the ship. "Got another! Last one!" The sound of the particle cannons unleashing was not followed by the sound of the fourth torpedo detonating.

"Imminent hit!" Sai shouts with a second to spare. The ship jarred significantly from the hit, but not to the extent the Clan Warships had beat on the ship with their naval autocannons years ago.

"Damage report!"

"Surface damage only, Captain!" Miriallia replies immediately. "No systems damage at this time!"

"Ready status on Mobile suits, please," Murrue requests a bit calmer this time around.

"All Rune Gods, all MS ready. Skygrasper is preflighting with Launcher pack at this time. Dagger is armed with Gunbarrel pack. Ready to go at this time."

"Weps, target enemy submarine with starboard lateral sonar dome. Prepare firing solution for torpedoes. Sensors—"

"Captain, we've got transports port and starboard, dropping out forty-ton objects that show to be aerial Mobile Suits, not classified, and I have contacts approaching fast from the rear, also possibly transports. Enemy submarine has deployed underwater MS, count two smaller contacts broke off from the main target," Sai says.

Murrue sighs. "Boxed in on all sides, leaving us to sink down and scoot or go ballistic and clear the atmosphere," Murrue opines. "Or we can fight our way out of this. Count on enemy MS?"

"Two companies to port, one company to starboard, and at least two companies taking off from the shipping dead ahead, Captain. Numerous smaller assets detected intermittently. Unknown if the enemies to our rear are large combat units or transports, or both."

"Control, Aegis, Strike Freedom to catapults, Buster and Gunbarrel Dagger on the foredeck and aft-deck respectively, stage Windam and Rayearth for launch forward, Celeste to rear deck for unassisted launch if necessary." Miriallia began moving units on the simulated 'Ouija board' that gave orders to each pilot where to go and prevented collisions inside the hangar deck or on the way out to the reardeck. "ECM on standby at full power; prepare to blast them when the shooting begins, Sai. Stand by Chaff, flares, smoke. Weapons, stand by to fire on my mark only, except for CIWS on special auto."

"Ready and waiting, Captain."

"Conn, sensors, cruise missiles launched from enemy shipping, estimate time until impact, thirty seconds!"

"Helm, put us down below the waves, spoof those missiles. As soon as they pass overhead, bring the ship back up to fifty meters depth to keel." As the ship begins sinking again, Murrue muttered, "And now it gets bloody."

"Not by our choice, Captain," Newman replies immediately. "They shot first."

"So did Han Solo," Kuzzey retorts crassly.

"What the hell does that mean?" Newman asks as the bridge of the ship ducks below the waves.

"Later, both of you," Murrue replies.

"Submarine still closing, more torpedoes in the water! The enemy MS are firing torpedoes!"

"Take the hits, those missiles are going to hurt a lot worse," Murrue orders. "Deploy Selesce to counter the enemy underwater MS."

"Selesce, Control, launch from the rear hangar platform and engage the enemy underwater MS."

"Roger that, Miri," Umi replies immediately. "Why are they shooting at us? We have done nothing to them!"

"Beats me, girl," Miriallia replies offhand.

-x-

One of the few modifications the ship had received when parked in Vector was an elevator in the back of the hangar deck that allowed a MS or Battlemech to enter and exit the hangar from the rear deck of the ship, behind the conning tower and between the tail fins of the ship. It was a strange feeling to Umi to see the water rush into the locks as the outside doors opened, though it only lasted a few moments before the Rune God of Water was immersed in the seas of a new and very hostile world.

"Selesce, deploying now!" the Rune God jumped off the rear deck of the ship, gliding through the waters effortlessly toward the oncoming pair of enemy machines. "Do you know why they shot first?" Umi asks her Rune God.

_They believe the ship is some sort of rebel vessel, and believe it to be fair game for their forces to sink into the abyss below us_, Selesce replies calmly.

"Can we win?"

_I do not have the measure of thine foes, Magic Knight. Best we take it now_.

The enemy machines knew there was a new threat in the water, though they were more concerned about the volley of eight torpedoes launched from the _Archangel_ that were otherwise not targeting the small enemy units but their much-larger submarine mothership. Umi consciously tuned out the big target, instead focusing on the small ones that were harassing the _Archangel_ from the starboard quarter. After a moment's contemplation, she singled out the farther of the two for her ministrations, figuring that killing it off first would leave her a shorter distance to return to the ship or close on the enemy submarine, which was now starting to drift more aft than starboard of the ship.

"C'mon, you freaking pirates! I won't let you shoot at my ship!" The sword deployed, she charged down the farther of the two, dodging under a pair of poorly-aimed torpedoes from his partner as she continued her set-blade charge on the enemy. He was wise to her attempt and tried dodging, but the clumsy Mobile Suit could not match the grace or maneuver of Selesce in his element. The screech of metal ripped through the seas when her sword punched into the body of the enemy unit and straight through the other side. A horrendous groan of armor composite ensued as she drew her sword out of the deceased sideways, enlarging the wound extremely and venting the innards of the machine to the seas it was meant to protect from.

"Why would they paint their machines red when they are under the waves? They are easier to spot and target visually in this environ," Umi asks nobody in particular, though the question fell back on Selesce.

_Paint would help against the corrosion of the seas, though even that tenuous. Why the coloring, I do not know, unless line-of-sight battle is common under the waves in these lands. Be wary, the other enemy machine approaches from dead to port_.

The Umi of years past would not have known what Selesce was referring to; the Umi of today was versed excellently in both what the Rune God meant and how to deal with it. One enemy torpedo went wide, the other actually targeted the Rune God properly, though it did not hit as Umi speared it with her sword and rendered it unable to move or contact to detonate. The Rune God looked to the enemy machine, followed almost immediately by the sound of detonating torpedoes against the hull of the enemy submarine, and there was hesitation in the movements of the enemy.

Umi could tell the enemy knew he wasn't going to walk away from this one. It wasn't comforting, per se, but it was an improvement over her feeling that way.

-x-

"Launch Strike Freedom, launch Aegis," Murrue orders just after the water level cleared the launch catapults. "Point defense grid, open fire on anything that approaches us too closely."

"Roger that," Chandratta switches over from manual weapons control to target designation control, where the ship's powerful onboard computers would determine what weapon to use on the targets Chandratta sentenced to death. Yzak and Athrun had written the revised targeting system after the assault on Vector, then had Kira debug it, so the _Archangel_ would be less likely to be overwhelmed by sheer numbers while Chandratta issued fire orders to the weapons.

"Kira Yamato, Strike Freedom, launching!"

"Athrun Zala, Aegis, launching!"

"Windam, Rayearth moving up to the catapults now. Buster is up on the foredeck, Duel and Gunbarrel Dagger are on the rear," Miriallia informs the Captain.

"Conn, Sensors, enemy tracking radar from the rear! Those fast craft are combatant ships!"

"Chandratta, open fire," Murrue orders simply. She was not going to give them the pleasure of taking the first shot when she was surrounded on all four sides, and, technically, they had already fired on her multiple times.

"Roger that," the weapons officer says grimly.

The enemy aerial MS were still slightly out of range to engage, meaning the only fire from the _Archangel_ was capital-grade weapons aimed at the transports and shipping dead ahead. The Gottfrieds were the first to fire at the enemy ships, one pair missing, the other pair striking an escort destroyer and slicing through the hull almost without resistance. The ship cooked off from a combination of vaporized petrol bunker and a 5" gun magazine blowing out. The other fire from the ship was the pair of Valiants targeted at enemy transport planes, both of which hit the craft unable to maneuver with any kind of aplomb. One lost a pair of engines and started descending rapidly while the other took the hit dead on and broke up in mid-air, headed to the ground in pieces.

"We're on the scoreboard now," Sai says, "and they are pissed off about it, Captain. Every sensor system in the field just lit off and is dwelling on us!"

"Jam 'em solid, Sensors. Weps, fire all missiles and reload with anti-air warheads."

The ship shuddered almost violently as the catapults ejected Rayearth and Windam into the winds, the two Magic Knights and their Rune Gods ready and willing to defend the ship against the oncoming unidentified and clearly hostile enemies. With two more in the air, and three on the decks, things were already heating up and the enemy knew it clearly, given their maneuvering in an attempt to get good positions against the Rune Gods just launched.

"Roger that, Captain," Chandratta answers to Captain Ramius's orders, and with a few clicks of the light pen against the screen the missiles had their targets and were on the way, reloading with straight anti-air munitions to sweep the skies clear of enemy threats.

"Captain, enemy fire from the rear! Dagger reports those transports are dropping out more aerial MS while firing on us with beam cannons!"

"Point grid is opening up now, Captain," Chandratta cautions before the ship is rocked by several impacts of beam cannon. "Were those MS-scaled weapons, or ship scale?"

"Apparently, not ship weapons; they didn't cause any notable damage to our stern," Miriallia replies.

"Enough midget weapons will take the ship down with enough time," Murrue replies.

"Enemy missiles from the aerial units! Holy shit, over 200 missiles in the air!" Sai says.

"Too late to go under," Murrue replies. "Take her up fast, Newman!"

Newman fired the dorsal thrusters and maxed out the levitator output, while firing the main engines hard to try and spoof the missiles if they were unguided. The CIWS went to work valiantly, yet the storm of ordinance was more than a mere 24 CIWS guns could handle and more than half the missiles blitzed through the hail of gunfire onward toward the ship. The combination of dodging and super-smart CIWS grid was enough to prevent most of the missiles hitting, with a mere 47 striking the hull across both sides of the ship and the tail binders.

More than one of the enemy was given pause, seeing the graceful form of the _Archangel_ now completely above the waves and spitting furious weapons fire in every direction.

-x-

"What the hell are these things? Bricks with bigass engines? A GINN can outmaneuver these things!" Athrun half-shouts as the Skygrasper clears under his flight level, having been freshly launched from the _Archangel_. With the Launcher Strike pack equipped, there was little doubt that Mu was intent on going ship-hunting.

"Doesn't matter, Athrun, they puttin' a hurtin' on the ship, we gotta scratch 'em!"

Kira had some minor time to try out the Strike Freedom MP in combat nearby the survivor's transport colony, but now was the first time he had to fight in atmosphere and the first real numerically superior foe he had to face off against. He considered it trial by fire for both himself and the machine, though the semi-AI in the suit listed the threat to both his suit and the whole unit as only 'moderate, leaning light'.

Thankfully, his Gundam was designed expressly for that purpose. He let two pass by unharassed, as he believed them fated to a death by the _Archangel_'s numerous close-quarters weapons, and focused on two that looked to strike and fade before the ship could get them. The nearer of the two he gave a ten-meter lead and dropped a pair of rail gun slugs into, one shearing the legs off the bottom of the machine, the other penetrating the port-side upper engine assembly and blowing through to the other engine. Both engines began flaming almost immediately and the craft started sinking down toward the waves. Without main engine power to sustain flight, it was dead. The other craft was on the receiving end of four beam rifle shots—two to the body of the craft, one to the port-side engine, and one to the hips—causing it to begin spiraling toward the ground of a small island below the battle ground.

"Damn good shooting, Kira! Lot more to go, though, keep the pressure on!"

"Skygrasper, redirect and prioritize enemy shipping assets at this time. Aegis, Strike Freedom, you have the left flank guard and attack positions, Rayearth and Windam on the right flank," Miriallia orders.

"Roger that, command," Athrun says as the Aegis transforms into the Mobile Armor cruising mode that allowed it to outpace the Skygrasper in level flight.

"Wait, my suit has a type match on the enemy!" Kira half-shouts. "OZ-07AMS Aries, six-engine ground and air mobile suit. Very light armor, high speed, moderate mobility, light armaments consisting of 50mm machine cannons and medium-range guided or unguided missiles. Principle manufacturer and user is the Organization of Zodiac."

"How the hell?" Athrun asks. "Never mind, later." Aegis transforms from cruising to attack MA, lines up on one of the said units, and fires a single shot of Scylla into it at close range. The beam must have transited the enemy machine's reactor, for Athrun found himself cruising through the rapidly-cooked-off machine and out the other side. "Holy crap, lightly armored is right!" he shouts before reorienting on another enemy machine and transforming Aegis out of Mobile Armor mode and to the much-dreaded Gundam that destroyed the Earth Alliance naval forces categorically in years past.

"No way!" Kira shouts angrily, firing both beam rifles and the chest-mounted Callidus beam cannon at one of the midnight-blue painted high speed transports as it passed under the battle area. One beam rifle missed, the Callidus and other beam rifle struck off-center and behind the two beam weapon turrets. The craft listed to starboard, lost altitude, and struck the surface of the Baltic Sea, skipping once, twice, then digging in and pinwheeling across the waves until it broke up into seven odd-sized chunks.

"Got your six!" Tolle says as a yellow beam lances out and 'touches' an Aries that was trying to flank the Strike Freedom.

"Thanks, Tolle," Kira used his left arm beam shield to stop a burst of machine gun slugs headed at him, then slammed the enemy machine twice in the rear as it blew by with his right hand beam rifle. Having lost an engine and probably some critical systems, the pilot wisely decided to duck down below the engagement envelope and try to nurse his Aries to dry land.

Athrun took advantage of a small formation of enemy machines and his superior maneuvering capabilities, bisecting their turning radius even as they fired on him with 50mm machine cannon before closing in on them from the inside of their turn with beam sabers deployed. The nearer of the trio lost both engines and the head of the unit as he cleared by, the middle machine was speared in the side and possibly through the cockpit as the Aegis crashed into its side, and for the third Athrun used the 75mm CIWS to tear off its right-side canard and put several large and smoking holes in the two main engine units on that side of the machine. All inside of three seconds.

Kira noticed something he thought he would never have to see in his lifetime: an attempted repeat of the World Trade Center ramming incident that he had researched when he was a tech college student, only this plane was aimed at the Aegis, not a building. "Go to hell, do not pass go, do not collect two hundred bucks!" Kira shouts in clear fury at seeing a plane try to ram something in his purview. With his beam rifles combined, Kira took one heavy shot through the plane at an angle from low on the starboard side through to high on the port side, and apparently he did it just right. Immediately, the plane's port-side engines began flaming wildly and the craft began losing altitude, followed by the left wing starting to fold in over top of the rest of the craft. Within moments the wing sheared from the rest of the body and the plane began spiraling in toward the seas below.

"Holy shit, Strike, who pissed in your Wheaties today?" Yzak asks in clear shock at hearing Kira say anything remotely like that.

"I **hate** it when people attack us for no damned reason whatsoever!" Kira shouts in response, both being accurate and covering for his real reasons.

-x-

"_Bow down before the one you serve; you're going to get what you deserve_!" Tolle sings in a horridly off-key fashion along with the music of Nine Inch Nails playing at full blast in his cockpit.

"Tolle, Yzak, Morgan, we've got a lance of 'em coming in on the starboard, snaked low past Hikaru. Intercept priority!"

"YOU SHALL NOT PASS!" Tolle shouts as he sights up the lead enemy machine and fires a single shot of long-range beam rifle at the target. It struck off-center, blowing the port-side canard off the machine and causing it to spiral into the waves and begin flipping grotesquely as it hit the surface and skidded.

"Command, no shot, repeat, no shot," Morgan shouts. "It's point def only right now!"

"Roger that, no weapons available at this time," Chandratta replies. "Skygrasper, _Archangel_ Weps, clear altitude, I'm going to fire Gottfrieds again," he appends.

"Come and get it, you wussies!" Tolle shouts, and just like his last taunt it went out on every frequency known, including civilian radios on the nearby shores and islands. With his weapon broke down into component arms, he fired two rounds of beam cannon into the rearward enemy and one tap of gun launcher into the other; the gun launcher severely damaged four of the engines on the enemy craft as well as stripped off a lot of armor, but the beam cannon struck dead center and killed the pilot, evidencing the loss of control of the aircraft. "Oh, shit!"

The Aries MS slammed into the starboard side of the ship just below the Valiant, the inertia of the impact carrying it up through the Valiant assembly and roughly up and forward to slam into the side of the conning tower below the bridge. The wild impact sprawled Duel and Dagger out on the ground, but more notably managed to dislodge the Buster to skid down the beveled side of the foredeck. "Tolle!"

"Oh man, I'm goin' down! Gravity sucks!" He ripped out a rather guttural screech as the Buster plummeted to the waves without him being able to do a nything about it.

"Command, Strike Freedom, Buster is down, he skidded off the side of the foredeck and is below water!"

"Duel reporting, no eyes on the Buster, repeat, no visual on the Buster!"

"I've got 'em!" Moments later, Selesce erupted from the dark blue seas shoulder-supporting the Buster, with both wing and jump jets carrying both up to the ship. "Man, these Gundams aren't light!"

"Thanks, Umi, I would've sunk like a rock without the assist," Tolle says meekly.

"Save the theatrics for after we kick their butts," Umi tells him as the two land on the foredeck. "Command, I got the last of their underwater units, there was another wave of them behind that submarine. Where do you want me?"

"Forward, join Commander La Flaga in attacking those ships," Miriallia orders.

A burst of machine cannon fire walks across the foredeck between the Buster and Selesce, though before Umi could even draw her sword the offending party had been swatted out of the sky by three salvos of LRM 20 from the starboard-fore missile batteries.

"Ensign Koenig, Captain Ramius, are you all right?" Murrue asks after Selesce clears the foredeck.

"I'll be all right, Captain, I busted my head on the way down but nothing major. Resuming guard without the cheesy movie one-liners."

-x-

"Command, Skygrasper, enemy air forces remaining are bugging out, though the ships are making steam toward the ship at full power. Please advise," Commander La Flaga requests.

"All forces, enemy air compliment is retreating. Focus on remaining enemy combatants in the water," Captain Ramius orders.

"Roger that," Kira replies.

For the ships, the few anti-air missile launchers and AAA guns were not enough to slow the Rune Gods and Mobile Suits coming in at them, much less stop them in any meaningful way. Kira was the first in on the enemy shipping with both beam rifles and rail guns blazing, focused on the leading edge of the escort ships. One he rendered disabled by blowing the bridge in, another began flaming as a beam transited a fuel bunker on its way through the ship, and the middle of the escorts he landed on was also rendered disabled as he put the fist of the Strike Freedom through the bridge without reserve.

Athrun moved left of the center, toward more of the escorts, and with more purpose to his shots than Kira. The Scylla beam cannon tore through a destroyer at an angle and immediately caused it to catch on fire as well as begin taking on water. The cruiser he landed on became an excellent platform to fire on the main carrier of the fleet after he kicked the 5" gun turret off the front of the ship and slammed the end of his shield through the bridge to disorient the rest of the ship.

Rayearth collapsed in on the right flank of the enemy force, the massive sword of the Rune God extremely frightening to the crews of the ships it came after. For good purpose were those crewmen who saw it scared, as Rayearth landed on the first of three Frigates it stomped flat the single-barrel 6" naval gun turret, then brought around the sword through the ship's conning tower and completely severed it from the rest of the ship. To add insult to injury, Rayearth kicked the severed conning tower segment toward the stern of the ship, where it came to rest on the helicopter deck. A quick jump to the nearest of the destroyers, Rayearth used his inertia to drive the sword down through the deck of the ship and clear through the keel, then sliced violently outward to render the stroke fatal to the ship.

Windam also struck in on the right flank, but with only one ship to clear (a large missile cruiser), Fuu's ministrations were direct and to the point. She overflew the ship with her sword just barely over the waves, set forward and low, so that the sword impaled the ship just above the water line, and her inertia versus the ship's material resistance did the dirty work for her. As the sword penetrated, it did so at a slower rate than Windam was moving, and the variance in inertia caused the sword to rotate to vertical and sink lower into the bowels of the cruiser. It did eventually clear out the other side of the ship, but in so doing it had rotated clear around and caused massive trauma to the heaviest non-battleship in the Oz fleet.

Bereft of escorts to shoot him down, Mu made the final stroke of the battle against the carrier. The Agni hyper-impulse cannon spat fury at the carrier that had entrapped them without so much as an order to surrender, and in one lucky shot, ended the battle. The beam blew through a land-based MS standing on the deck, through the deck itself, and down into the innards of the ship where it penetrated the ship's main engines. The fusion reactor's main containment spire was completely annihilated by the beam's transit in less than a hundredth of a second, venting the plasma contained within the reactor into the rest of the ship and outward from there. The naval reactor gave off a hellish fireball that consumed most of the midsection of the ship and eliminated the crew compliment to a man. The forward and rear of the ship began taking on water immediately, and within seconds were below the waves with only a froth of bubbles to mark the grave of the foolhardy fleet Admiral and his subordinates.

"Skygrasper reports no surviving enemy forces in the area; this one appears done."

"All forces return to ship for refit and repair, this battle is over," Murrue confirms.

* * *

Author's Chapter Afterword:

Silent, silent, no longer. I now have a clear idea on what I want to do with this fic, and shall resume the frequent assbeatings applied to all sides, and even throw in a trademark 'helluva big shocker event' or two in the chapters of this section. I think it is due for not getting on this much sooner.

I would say most of my inspiration for this chapter and the next came in a burst of inspiration generated by some pure, 100 percent grade 'A' angst. Now, let me preface this by saying that I am no wuss, but losing the job you have been working at for over 3 years, you enjoy working at immensely, you planned on working for at least 30 years (maybe longer), and losing it to a foreign contract's complete incompetence (that effectively dismantled the company you work for) is not a pleasant feeling at all. That being said, I have plenty of these strange things called 'feelings' to vent. You can probably guess where this is going to go for the Archangel, given that set of details. All things considered, though, I have a lot of good opportunities to pick up work within 2 hours drive from where I live, so it is not all that bad.

All angst aside, I hope most of you are versed in pretty much where we are at this time, because the crap has well and truly hit the fan for the Archangel, and next chapter is only going to get far worse for the team, up to and including the introduction of some very badass soldiers that may be more than the venerable Archangel Team can handle. This was just an opening blow by the Oz teams, they thought it was a poorly-defended ship making its way to certain parties and would be a fairly easy kill for an otherwise overkill force structure. They will not make the same mistake twice. Expect to see heavier forces and more coordinated assault next time, and then a glimmer of hope...crushed.

As of this update, chapter 30, I now have 25,100 hits on the story, 234 reviews (7.2 reviews per chapter on average), with this story featured in 8 C2 archives, 52 persons calling it a favorite and 33 people with specific alerts to this work. And this is less than a third through the story, people :) That is absolutely amazing, I never thought an epic like this would take off in such a hearty fashion. Much thank you all to the reads and reviews, the favs and the archives, this is plenty motivation to keep the twisted tale going !!!

And that is all I have to say of this chapter. NEXT UP: The Baltic is normally a very cold or frozen sea scape. Not this week, people, it will get very hot and bothered in very short order, as the ship is attacked again in rapid succession by more of these unidentified and less-than-talkative forces.

* * *

Review Replies: FIFTEEN REVIEWS! HOLY CRAP! My best chapter yet on fan feedback, much thanks to you all!

**Nim Maj**: I have been toying with the idea of a ship-based AI, and the thought of a female-influenced Inouva would be practically hilarious and very practical. Of course, though, the dice must speak favorably on this one before it becomes reality, so...

**Deathzealot**: I hope this answers where they are now, and your opine on the 'team' part of the Archangel Team is heard and may be implemented, should the dice say so.

**Strata-Assassin**: The Crusaders will get plenty of exercise in some of my other stories, if you care to read of them.

Morgan Chevalier is an Astray character, some people don't consider Astray to be canon, but I do.

Here, the crew is hardened, having seen the worst of three alternate dimensions and taking part in those wars. As this chapter demonstrates, that here is the grim reality, not the wide-eyed idealism that marks SEED. The Archangel Team know that reality is a stone-cold bitch and kills without remorse he who ignores that fact or tries to sugar-coat it. And this is only the beginning, I have a whole slough of 'tough shit' for them to wade through.

Yzak has his moments, but yeah, I think he has mellowed out quite a bit with age. Strange how a few years can do that to someone, no?

Well, the Strike Freedom technicality is a long way from being explained, but again it loops back in on the history of the Crusaders. It may also be worth more trouble than salvation, given the propensity of the dice to roll wicked.

I think Heine sits this one out for a story, but he will get his just props in the Jokers Wild timeline.

God, Gods and Existence are very hard ones. God is almost always capitalized, except when referring to the concept of a god and not one actual God. Same thing with Gods, though in this case you are referring not to one God but to a group of beings, as in 'All the Gods of Asgard'. Under the proper group name clause, Gods would be capitalized in that case, and that is how most Magi speak of Gods (usually with a negative or insulting connotation). Existence falls under the location clause: existence can be Existence as referring to a specific place (all of Existence) in lieu of considering existence an abstract concept. Example: "I exist (at least I hope I exist), but I live as one small grain of dust in Existence itself." I hope that clears it up somewhat.

**Knives91**: Your expo on the nature of humanity is short, to the point and quite brutal. I like it. Thanks :0

**one-village-idiot**: Of course, pineapples will get a literary (and imaginative) workout in the next chapter of Jokers Wild, since you mentioned them and it gave me a pretty good idea for a vitriolic turn of phrase...

As to the Gundams, you will get to see them thoroughly, but under the guise of a different story. Trust me on this if none else, there is clear reason they exist and exist in the hands of the Crusaders. As to your guessing of the Crusaders and Darkness, close on both counts but not quite on either.

That experience would be mind-blowing, though cruel to both Kira and the rest of the crew for obvious reasons. As for rest, it may be a while, but definitely not that long. That would be brutally inhumane.

I think Nim Maj threw an excellent thought for the AI and avatar, I could see a fem Inouva and Cortana having it out in cyberspace after the first real argument...

Answer to question: If neither the Spartan nor the Marine were armored, the Spartan would win far more often than lose. In armor, the Spartan armor and trooper is good but is no match for either the defensive or offensive capabilities of the Armored Marines. Fighting an Armored Marine is about par with fighting a tank that has more than a few main guns and disposable stores (missiles, grenades, etc), with the added benefit of close-quarters skills well in excess of Covenant elites.

**Barricade**: Transcendant Gundam is over twice the height of any contemporary UC or CE mobile suit, and is actually larger than the Destroy by a margin. In the Gundam metaverse, there aren't all that many bigger machines than that...

The Executor, I must admit, is a bit of author tract here. You saw him (at least being invisible) when he presided over the fate of Dearka, having told the Valkyrie that said pilot is off limits forevermore. The Multimage Chronicles is where said Executor got his start, and if you want to learn what kind of hard-asses write the rules that Existence lives and dies by, that is where to start reading. It will be long, bloody, and winding, I can guarantee that, but these stories are not one-bangs. They have purpose, and they tie much of Existence together in following that purpose.

There has been some salvage, but it is not ready for deploy yet. Murdoch is still working on duct-taping a GuAIZ together for Nicol to use.

Come on, you should have guessed this location based on the God reference, this universe is replete with references to God throughout the 50-episode series.

That Strike Rouge was a Crusader Strike Rouge. I regret to inform you that Cagalli was ganged up on by Earth Alliance Strike Daggers and did not survive the battle. Sorry, man.

A fleet is an interesting proposition, but such things must be measured carefully. Be on the lookout at this time.

**Drakensis**: On that note, I have some brutal reality to dispense with, but I will save that for another day. It is long in the future.

**Arthur Hansen**: Indeed, not a Final Fantasy now, more like a 'grim reality' if you will excuse me playing with the English language :P

**Knightwolf1875**: Where did you get Warhammer 40K out of that? The Battletech / CBT Mechwarrior 3rd overtones should have been fairly obvious...

**al103**: I don't remember him actually shooting the Mobile Armors themselves, but I do remember him intercepting a whole helluva lot of missiles. Still and all, I am not calling Kira Jesus Yamato that based on one shred of fact. I call him that because of his combination of plot armor plus his insane skills plus his unwillingness to directly kill plus the unreality of such a whole scenario. If you take into account that my writing style is far closer to 'real war' than it is Gundam, the logic of disparaging such a munchie / marty stu combination of traits is manifest.

**Evil Manic X**:

1: I hope I have answered his gunbarrel question now.

2: The SF MP LR (alphabet soup, har har har) can make its own packs, but right now neither the materials nor machining time is available for that.

3: Classified

4: Classified. Also, keep in mind that, as in my reply to al103, I write closer to real war than I do to Gundam logic (which, in certain things lacks logic). IRL, the F-15 Eagle was on the drawing board in the 1970s. It is only now being supplanted by the F-22, and may be a match for the JSF with some revisions and upgrades. Just because a machine is 'old' (and 4 years **is far from old** in terms of weapons of war) does not mean that machine lacks the ability to kick insane amounts of ass.

**CHM01**: There was no divine purpose to it (or even an Executor's purpose). Many people don't believe in chance, but the dice say otherwise.

**Etienne**: Thanks for busting my chops in a couple reviews back in JW, I think I earned that for obvious reasons.

I actually screwed up the dates in the headings, it all took place in September as per the nominal timeline. And then the _Archangel_ shows up. Hilarity does not ensue at all.

Psionic abilities are on the rise, the ship magically grows and transforms for some reason, they are subject to some weird crap. What can I say? The dice don't play favorites.

There was some additional crew from ZAFT, people who wanted to walk away from it all. Morgan was the only big-name to survive and come along, Heine went along with the refugees. You are right about his motivations, as per the dice roll in this case.

**Tankk**: As in EvilManicX's review above, this is what a mass-pro project would look like in real life application. The prototypes are just that, prototypes used by the engineering staff to figure out where they screwed up on the design and what could be changed or _improved_. Gundam blows that logic by a wide margin, cost savings notwithstanding.

Specifically, they made the DRAGOON wings modular so it could accept Striker, Wizard, and Silhouette packs (with appropriate adapters) or a host of other equipment (such as the Jump Pack the Archangel seems to have absorbed). On the LRR model (the machine Kira picked up), it has an extended cockpit for increased pilot comfort on long patrol routes (up to several months or years), has storage for a literal ton of material in various locations around the frame and in the cockpit, and is standard equipped with a high-output fusion reactor for extended duration battles and patrols.

**Akasui**: I think I answered this one in prose, he will be using a GuAIZ UFN.

Morgan will give and get his dues, rest assured of that.

Duel with Strike Packs? Holy crap, man, don't give Murdoch ideas like that :)

The jumping is not in-system, it is cross-planetary, cross-galaxy, or cross-dimensional (or a combination of the above). Doing small jumps is pretty much out of the question.

THANK YOU ALL FOR THE REVIEWS! It is such a pleasure to receive this kind of feedback. Keep the fuel for this nightmare coming, and I shall keep their worst phantasms coming real :)

* * *

The Gripe Sheet:

To just give you an idea on how much help I get from **Strata-Assassin**, in this chapter of 12000 words, she found 163 correction points for me to make. That is more than 11 corrections per 1000 words. I can easily understand that I stank that bad, and Strata has my eternal thanks for keeping it cleaned up.

* * *

Footnotes:

(1): **E**lectronic **W**arfare **O**fficer, the member of a ship or aircraft's crew responsible for controlling electronic countermeasures and electronic counter-countermeasures. Unlike normal EWO officers, this position on the Archangel also covers other combat countermeasures such as chaff, flares, or smoke screens for decoying missiles and dumbfounding foes.

(2): **Keel** refers to the bottom of the ship, typically the spine of the ship's hull in the case of surface vessels.

(3): **Screw** or **Screws** refers to propellers, which can be the drive props of a surface ship, a submarine, or torpedoes.


	31. The Hammer Falls

(Archangel's Amazing Adventures, Set 4, Chapter 2: The Hammer Falls)

The Strike Freedom was the last of the Gundams to land after ordered, as Kira's machine had the most ammunition remaining and the least damage from the battle. As it had been reported, the enemy was smart enough to bug out when they realized they weren't winning, but they were dumb enough to try blitzing the ship with their surface fleet after having their mobile forces shot down or scared off. The dichotomy of such actions worried Kira.

"Murdoch, how's the ship?" Kira asks while taxiing into his hangar cubicle.

"Surface damage, starboard-side Valiant is down, a couple of point defense weapons here and there are out. We kicked ass, but if they're smart, two or three more attacks like that and we're toast."

"Well, put another one on the _Archangel_'s tally for cheating death," Yzak comments on the radio.

"Anybody got a clue how long before our luck runs out?" Tolle asks a few moments later.

"No, why?" Yzak asks.

"I got a few stunts I'd like to try, but not if we're running thin on karma."

"If it's illegal, you're not allowed," Miriallia informs him directly.

"But—"

"I will enforce it if necessary," she overrides the Buster pilot's protest.

"I never said it was illegal! I said **stunts**, not **crimes**! Jeez Laweez, where did you get that from, Mir?" Tolle asks in clear and rather loud frustration.

"Eep, did I really push that kinda hot button?" Miriallia asks quietly after a moment.

"No, he's just frustrated," Kira counters.

"We all are," Yzak grumps as the Strike Freedom comes to a stop and is locked down for transport. "We all are."

"All right, everyone, get some rest, and consider it an order if necessary," Mu overrode the comm channel to tell them. "Hit the hot-springs, watch a holo-vid, take a nap, run a small concert, I don't care what. Just get out of the battle mindset for a few hours, before you blow up and do something I'll have to file paperwork on, clear?"

"Yes, sir," Kira, Tolle, and Yzak all reply in sync.

Kira was the last to exit his cockpit. "Hey, Kira, anything I need to fix on your machine?" Murdoch asks while looking the Strike Freedom up and down.

"Nope, just feed it some trash and the internal repair systems will do the rest," Kira replies. "All I took damage on was the left arm power conduits, nothing major."

"Gotcha," Murdoch says, nodding. "One less machine to worry about." With that said, he looked over the side of the second-level balcony. "Gomer, no go for the Strike Freedom, get your team back on that GuAIZ! I want it live for Nicol to use by the next battle!"

"Yes, sir!" Gomer shouts back at Murdoch. Kira could hear him issuing orders to his subordinates to continue the process of turning the GuAIZ into a live, functional, and deadly machine, but he could not hear the individual orders themselves.

_Next battle_, Kira's mind echoes the haunting phrasing of the chief mechanic. _It must be the nature of our lives that we now come to expect battles to come several at a time_, he grumps mentally.

"Which way you headed?" Tolle asks.

"My bunk," Kira replies honestly. "Shower and sleep, I've been up almost a full day straight."

" 'Kay, man," Tolle replies. "I'm hittin' the hot springs, you sure you don't want to take some heat before you..." Tolle recoils at the strange look from Kira, then realized what was at hand in an instant of clarity. "Man, chill, that was not deliberate on my part," he corrected himself in an attempt to cover his ass.

"Yeah, sorry, I'm too exhausted to see through things like that. I'm outta here."

"Later," Tolle replies as they part ways at a junction. Tolle headed toward the rear of the ship, Kira towards his quarters on the starboard side of the ship.

"Hey, Kira, you all right, man?" Athrun asks as he passes the Aegis pilot's quarters.

"Just exhausted, Athrun, thanks," Kira replies wearily.

"All right, I won't delay you," Athrun says as he stands aside so Kira could pass unhindered. "If you wake up sometime before tomorrow, I'll be in the theater, watching either Immortal Warrior or some other mindless movie."

"Thanks," Kira waves Athrun off before punching the unlock code for his room and entering.

Kira was not the first nor the last to forgo all other considerations for a ration of sleep, though Tolle and Athrun were not alone in remaining awake to take their minds off the battle.

For all, it would be a long afternoon.

-x-x-x-

"This is the best picture we have of the ship, isolated from the battle recorder of a salvaged Aries MS."

"Graceful thing," Duke Dermail comments. "And big. What do we know of its firepower?"

"So far, this is what our analysts have been able to piece together." A folder was handed to the Duke.

"Two warship-grade dual beam cannons. Two warship-grade rail guns. Four MS-grade rail guns. Five unknown-type energy weapons, blue beam. Sixteen, possibly as many as twenty multiple-launch missile silos for small missiles. Sixteen-silo mid-size missile block. Estimated thirty-two capital-scale missile silos in the twin tail assembly. Four heavy machine cannons; eighteen confirmed, twenty-four estimated rotary medium machine cannons. Minimum eight, estimated twenty MS-grade laser weapons. Possible other weapon systems in the rear and front weapons arcs," the Duke reads off the list contained within. "Good God, this thing isn't so much a Warship as it is a flying fortress."

"We think it is a bit of both, sir," the chief analyst for the project reports. "Of what we can tell of its design ethic and confirmed mobile forces, this is a high-maneuver high-speed high-survivable assault warship, crewed by a veteran and very competent crew, commanded by a very savvy command officer, with an independent mobile force comprised of Gundams, three units we cannot classify, and a high-power strike fighter."

"Purpose?"

"Naval domination, mobile first-strike assaults, securing beachheads, destruction of high-value targets, and special operations assaults. Additionally, it can perform the tasks of missile cruisers and destroyers, AAA destroyers, battleships, and carriers given its large deck and arsenal."

"Wonderful," Dermail sounded far less than pleased. "This is the exact kind of chaotic element I do not need in the Baltic Sea when we are trying to pacify the Sanc Kingdom. What do we know about how much damage the ship itself can take?"

"Well, sir, the flight recorders we could salvage showed that the ship took repeated strikes from all forces involved in the battle and did not slow down signifcantly. Additionally, we believe that an accidental ramming attack struck the starboard side of the ship and may have disabled or destroyed one of the naval rail guns, but we cannot confirm this from battle footage. We can confirm the mobile forces are capable of taking severe abuse from Aries and Cancer units while continuing the battle, and at least one of the carried units can fight underwater."

"Very well," Duke Dermail replies calmly. "We will assume they cannot make repairs underway at this time, and, with being unidentified, may not be able to put into a port for repairs. Intel, do we have a current location on the ship?"

"Yes, sir, the ship is presently north of old Germany, headed towards the North Sea at a brisk pace. It will be passing nearby two of our naval bases in thirty-six hours."

"This is how we will attack them. They should be smart enough to tell they are approaching or passing those bases, but we will play dumb and complacent instead of attacking on sight. When they are optimally positioned, we will attack them from three directions and from the bases, using Taurus mobile suits and Mobile Dolls against the enemy mobile compliment, and use Leo units with jump packs to close up on the ship and attack it from point-blank range."

"Should we use the Virgo Mobile Dolls?"

"Few, only those stationed at the Copenhagen base. Those Mobile Dolls will be needed more for the operations in the Sanc Kingdom than they will be to sink one ship."

"Understood, sir, I'll get right on it." The Chief Analyst and the two Oz Majors left the room immediately, headed for the secondary command facilities to begin preparations for the attack.

"Colonel, I want you to modify the plans for the Sanc Kingdom assault, given that we keep having trouble operating in that area without interference from Gundams. Increase the force correlations and request additional Mobile Dolls to be sent to our bases in Germany and Poland. We still have to deal with Treize in Luxembourg, but we do need to ensure that when we take down the Sanc Kingdom, it is done right and the rest of the world gets the message."

"Will do, sir," the Colonel in question also left.

Duke Dermail looked at the map of the Baltic disapprovingly. "They just will not realize that the era has changed, it is now the time for the Romafeller foundation to lead the way."

-x-x-x-

Commander's Log

Commander Mu La Flaga, formerly 8 Fleet, Earth Alliance Navy, now Archangel Team

7 November AC195 (local date), 1000 hours

_It has been long since I even kept my own log entry, mainly because Commander Badgiruel was doing it until just recently, and thereafter Captain Ramius until she passed the mantle to me._

_I will not bother rehashing the past events already covered in the log, those entries speak for themselves, and, as it happens, are better written than I could hope to do. We have been through rough ones, we have been through massively bloody ones, we have skated easily past some issues. To an extent, I consider it something of luck that we have made it as far as we have without matters being much worse than already are, though we are by no means in a secured position right now. Of course, 'luck' presupposes that things could have been far worse for us in several of the places we have been, yet it must also be said that we have not been unscathed. Simply walking past the memorial boxes outside the ship's hot springs is ample evidence that we have lost personnel, almost to the point of crippling the ship in several cases._

_More to the point, the ship is once again astray, stuck in a land that apparently wants us dead and there is little we can do about it except resist. The forces outside the ship's hull have a mastery of Mobile Suit warfare and mass production, though the technology they operate under is significantly different from Cosmic Era or Inner Sphere technology, and wildly different from Crusader and Rune God weapon systems. For now, we are making underway repairs, Murdoch and his merry band of madmen are fast at work undoing all the surface damage to the ship's hull the enemy inflicted on us, with estimates ranging from 1400 hours to 1900 hours completion time. Additionally, with the crew personnel infusions we received from ZAFT and Vector, we have more than enough personnel to repair the Gundams and other units that are actually repaired (instead of repairing or healing themselves), so all machines will be combat ready by 1600 hours tonight. Never before has the ship been in such good status with crew and readiness, despite the losses we have taken._

_The scare we got from the CE lands – what we thought was our homes – well, it still hasn't subsided. I can see it in Kira's eyes every time I pass him in the halls, he saw a lot of dead people in that colony. He saw a lot of dead people in the PLANT, a lot of dead people in the transfer colony that was headed to Mars, the parts of the colonies falling to Earth, and it is tearing him apart inside. Everyone is still feeling torn apart, despite it not being our homeland (Kira and Nicol died on Earth; the Archangel was destroyed at Alaska, which means what happened to us caused a diverted history parallel), we still feel responsible, in part, for what happened there. Despite the renewed hope we got from the salvage of a very powerful Gundam and its phase-transfer jump pack, few in the crew really feel like they have any more purpose to return home to ZAFT or the Earth Alliance. Even Captain Ramius has all but handed in her commission after seeing the smashed colonies and the craters on the surface of Terra caused by the falling colonies. Such suicidal tendencies as turning stationary objects into falling instruments of doom are an instant turnoff to the crew, and none of us want to see such actions repeated again. _

_There is open talk of ways to prevent such atrocities from happening, involving most or all of the crew in such plans. Few would hesitate to drop the hammer on the madmen that did this the first time, if it would prevent it happening again. Athrun, normally more restrained than all but Nicol, has been the loudest in speaking out against both the depredations of the Earth Alliance and the massacre caused by the ZAFT nuclear laser. His plans for destroying the laser, of which we have schematics courtesy of the Strike Freedom MP Gundam, are direct and efficient, making use of the whole force structure to prevent the GENESIS laser from being used once the location is known and the force closes. If we have to go in and prevent a repeat of that disaster, I think we can do it._

_As it stands, we are all hoping this does not turn out anywhere near as bloody as what we found in the alternate copy of our homeland. It is all we can hope._

"A new log entry?" Murrue asks the Commander. Mu's eyes snap up from the viewscreen to the Captain, who he had not noticed enter the room.

"Yeah, someone's gotta keep the log going, even if it doesn't amount to much." Mu saved the new entry and closed down the terminal. "Coffee?"

"Definitely." Without further ado, Murrue received her mug full of the all-important beverage.

"The fuel of Armies, Businesses, and Civilians everywhere," Mu notes as he refilled his mug. "Thank God one of Doma's chief exports is coffee. How many tons of it did we stock up on?"

"Oh, six and a half." Murrue had made sure they were not at risk of running out of coffee for some time.

-x-x-x-

(7 November AC195, 1415 hours)

"All right, Ai, what other units are used by this OZ organization?" Kira asks the main battle computer of the Strike Freedom.

"On your right-side monitor, Kira," the system replies. The listing was a nested chart broken down by classification and threat level, with each entry color-coded. "The color bands for each entry represent the estimated likelihood that OZ will have these weapon systems, though you may not encounter any of these forces in battle. Given detected radio traffic and present location, the three entries highlighted in the mobile forces bracket are extremely likely to be encountered, as well as the entries in the air forces and naval forces bracket have already been encountered, therefore their likelihood of repeat encounter is near 100 percent."

"Aries, Taurus, Virgo," Kira reads off the mobile forces names. "Which of these is the most threatening?"

"Against the mobile forces, the greatest threat would be posed by Virgo, which is a completely automated mobile suit with firepower in excess of all mobile forces on this ship excepting the Warhawk, the Dagger with the Launcher Strike pack, and this Gundam. Additionally, the completely automated nature of the Mobile Doll units prevents any form of morale victory by routing their forces and breaking their will to fight. If they are launched against this ship with orders to sink the ship, they will continue executing those orders until the ship is destroyed or no Mobile Dolls remain."

"Ouch," Kira grumps. Fighting people usually meant that after killing off a nebulous percentage of the enemy, the rest surrendered or fled. A completely automated machine with no soul and no fear would not be so easily defeated. The technical requirements of such a system were not grossly dissimilar from what he was working on at Morgenroete, but the possible penultimate purpose of such a machine (wholesale slaughter) disgusted him. "And threat against the ship?"

"In an attack against the ship itself, completely ignoring the mobile forces, the greatest threat is likely to be the Taurus manned mobile suits, when armed with a Space Laser Cannon. The Taurus machine itself, with standard beam rifle, is actually less of a threat than the Dagger without a Strike Pack. With the Space Laser, the Taurus is capable of crippling the ship in as little as ten seconds so long as the pilot is competent and fires on certain critical locations on the ship." A diagram of the _Archangel_ appeared on the main screen, highlighting the locations of the levitator, bridge, power plant and engine feeds, and the main missile magazines for the anti-ship launchers. As Kira saw it, such strikes were possible but wildly unlikely in a fluid, mobile engagement, especially when there is a huge amount of ship to shoot at, with such critical locations being extremely small by comparison. Just as one example, the bridge windows themselves were only a meter tall and ten meters wide, whereas the ship was over 175 meters tall and 299 meters wide (including wings). "In expected practice, five Taurus machines with the Space Laser, if unopposed, can cause severe hull and weapon systems damage but will not be likely to sink the ship."

"All right," Kira sighs. "Prepare simulations for final protective fire scenarios, incorporating the rest of the team as bots at 85 percent expected skill," Kira requests. The fact that he was toning down the skills of his allies in the scenario would force him to fight harder for an equivalent victory, which was by far the best training he could take on short of actual battle. "I'll run the training scenarios while I am on standby later today."

"Understood, first scenario will be ready in 47 minutes, with successive scenarios ready every fifteen minutes afterward."

"All right, I think that is enough for now. Can you begin preparation of spare parts for the Dagger, Buster, Duel, and Aegis? We're running critical low on field replaceables for all all four."

"It shall be done, Kira." Said pilot was not going to ask how, but the CBC (1) of the Strike Freedom knew pretty much exactly what the ship had in inventory, through the inventory database used by the crew chiefs, and Kira did not want to know what method it used to gain access to that data. On the other hand, the SF also knew that the ship was its own irregular formation, and parts resupply was a dicey proposition at best. So, keeping the other machines active and fully capable fit into its mission parameters in a way Kira had not received an explanation for as of yet.

Kira exited the cockpit of his machine, but before heading in the planned direction of the hot springs, he stopped and took quick stock of what was happening in the hangar bay. To starboard, of four cubicles, the Dagger was installed in the first cubicle and presently undergoing an engine transplant, a power plant that had been salvaged out of the remains of one of the Aries units used to attack the ship. The other three cubicles held three GuAIZ units recovered from the dead space around their not-so-homeworld, two machines being rebuilt and a third being disassembled for parts to fix the first two. Six more such machines had been recovered by the _Archangel._ All six were in storage at this time awaiting determination for fix or disassembly, though Kira would bet that only two of those machines were fit for repair.

On the back wall, the Aegis was the hot spot of the hour, having been cracked open at every external access hatch for a quick 'A-Check' maintenance routine. Tolle was using the power-washer to clean the grime, hydraulic fluid, and blast residue off the Buster, while Sai and a crew of the Vector expatriates worked on reloading the missiles and vulcan guns of said machine. Kira's machine, the Strike Freedom, comparatively did not require much in the way of maintenance, the internal autorepair systems kept it going at or near peak efficiency so long as he fed it 'high quality scrap materials' (An Aries MS counted as 38 tons of high-quality scrap, so there was little concern of running out of material for his Gundam). The only thing the Strike Freedom would not normally do if ready replacements were at hand was the fluids, as it justified that six hours repair time is better spent doing repairs while the maintenance crew filled a fifty-gallon hydraulic reservoir in six minutes. Kira had been careful when choosing his words to tell Murdoch that, who simply shrugged it off as a common (and relatively easy) task for the maintenance staff. Only the Duel stood undisturbed, the maintenance on the 105-ton machine having been performed already to satisfaction. At this time, the Duel stood with a new disposable missile pack over its left shoulder, salvaged from the missile pods carried by the Aries MS (eight barrels, with each barrel having four reloads), and in the right hand it held the EM Rifle from the Lightning Striker, giving it veritable sniper capability as well.

In times past, the port-side cubicles would have held four Omnimechs, though now the ship was down to two: the Timber Wolf and the Warhawk. Neither machine was being seen to at this time, as neither machine had seen any actual action requiring repairs since the last of the Imperial Remnant's attack on Vector. Of the Rune Gods, they were as they always were, ready to do battle at the call of the Magic Knights, though as always they needed no maintenance space inside the ship. Kira always wondered what the Rune Gods did when they were not around the ship, though after a fashion he had to admit that being ancient Gods they probably had a lot of stories to tell about past exploits. Kira had little trouble envisioning a cadre of Gods hanging out in some lonely corner of Existence, swapping tales about days long past. A strange fraternity that would necessarily have to be.

It was the central area that drew his attention most adroitly before he could migrate toward the hot springs. Though unseen or unheard in a long time, the sound of clashing blades immediately caused Kira to look over the edge at the participants of the battle, being a pair of mechanics and Yzak, the latter with his massive magic sword out and at the ready. "That sounds like a plan," Kira mumbles, realizing he had not practiced his bladecraft in so long that he needed the training more than he needed time in a hot spring. Getting down onto the hangar deck was a simple task, he simply took a parts elevator down to the ground floor as it was descending to pick up more missiles and 75mm ammunition for the Buster, and once on the ground he joined more crew headed toward the impromptu melee training session.

"Strike, fancy seeing you here," Yzak says as Kira takes up position opposite the Duel pilot across the ring. Someone had put a duck tape circle down to represent the combat area for the two contestants, which was a step in a more organized direction than the practice sessions of days long past.

"Been a while since we met in this circle," Kira notes pensively. "Same routine as last?"

"Yeah, winner goes until he or she's busted."

Kira looked around the crowd, and noticed something he was never really expecting to see. Of the people watching, almost all had swords and the bulk were ready to join the practice session. Of the usual suspects, only himself and Yzak were at the standby, the rest were the mechanics and logistics personnel assigned to the hangar.

Kira drew his dual-blade sword and braced it, ready to enter the fray when he was challenged. It would be a while before anyone called him, but the practice would be worth it.

-x-x-x-

(8 November AC195, 1630 hours)

The Captain had not objected in the slightest to Nicol's major acquisition for the _Archangel_, nor the location he had it installed and secured. Though not as rich as a full Grand or Baby Grand, the upright piano was well suited to the inside of the ship, as it was small enough to not take up a large amount of otherwise valuable space and two people could move it around easily as needed. Securely mounting it in the pilot's ready room was a simple task, once the vending machines for the all-important coffee had been shifted around to accommodate the newcomer. And, much as Nicol had been pining for years, the piano was welcomed by both himself and anyone with the stomach to listen to longer concert pieces (which had turned out to be Umi, Fuu, Murrue on occasion, Natarle (once, prior to her resignation), Athrun, Yzak (though Nicol figured coercion on someone's part in his case), Mu (the snoring wasn't all that loud), Sai, Tolle (who claimed to have always respected piano and keyboard players), and Miriallia). Most of all, it helped pass the tedium of the standby rotations as well as kept him alert.

He had been on standby for the 1000 to 1600 rotation as was typical of the ship's new operating schedule, since he now had one of the marvelous GuAIZ units to use, he was back in the saddle. Murdoch's Madmen had pulled a massive coup de main in logistics by modifying the engine from Kristen Redmond's long-dead Mad Dog Omnimech to fit the new machine. Shakedown trials gave it a good rating, at the least equal to the 105 Dagger piloted by Morgan, but like most machines, it lacked modular weapons. Nicol was beginning to wonder if machines like the Omnimechs were the screaming exception to the trends of warfare, though he had to remind himself that modular weapon systems made for increased cost and logistical nightmares, and both factors increased geometrically the more variable units put into service. On the other hand, the flexibility of the unit was also a high priority, since the most flexible of units could respond rapidly and lethally to a wider array of threats than would be expected of a 'static' unit.

The other person on duty rotation at this time, Fuu, was leaning against the side of the piano. Nicol could see at least part of her face from where he was sitting, and he could tell she was listening with intent, not just as a way to pass the time. The Magic Knights operated on a different rotation schedule than the main pilots (Nicol, Kira, Athrun, Yzak), who, in turn, operated on wildly different schedules from the ground forces pilots (Tolle, Mu, Pytor). Fuu's duty rotation ran from 1100 to 1900, a longer shift but something that lent itself to her other duty on the ship, being that she also served as one of the hot springs operators (along with Fuu and Terra). On the _Archangel_, it was not uncommon for any one member of the crew or officers to have double or triple qualifications and at least a shift and a half operating schedule, since casualties in years past had almost crippled the ship by loss of experienced personnel.

Despite the misinformed comments on the subject, Nicol always welcomed the company of the Magic Knight. After two, almost three years of having served on the ship, Nicol found he related well to most of the crew, though still got along best with the pilots and Magic Knights. Fuu had told him more than once she found him to be the person she easiest got along with. Of course, the months of treasure hunting and 'dungeon delving' they had done around their prior world of residence had cemented that bond, and it was usually Nicol that Fuu went to when she had some talking to do or a request to float. The fact that he was professional military, ZAFT, and a Coordinator did not occur to him much anymore; the years and campaigns that had lapsed between that one fateful day and the here-and-now affected any relations he had with anyone on the ship more than his days in ZAFT.

The music of the day was Tchaikovsky, a selection from his piano concerto works, with Schumann thrown in to break up the single-artist routine. Nicol had written his own works, though they were left on the carrier sub before the fateful assault on the _Archangel_ and so far he had not managed to put together something new of his own. On the other hand, Doma and Figaro had their own piano maestros and Nicol had little challenge acquiring copies of their music for experimentation and play-through.

"I wish I could play like that," Fuu comments at the end of the song.

"I thought you said you had a piano at home," Nicol notes.

"I did," Fuu says almost wistfully. "My elder sister could play, but I spent too much time on console RPGs to properly learn the piano," she admits almost sheepishly. "I'll never look at a video game the same way again." This slant was saddened, almost painful.

Nicol chuckles. "Interdimensional perversity at its finest," Nicol says, which immediately caused Fuu to look straight at him instead of at the aft bulkhead. "Think about it, Fuu. How could the video game designers know that somewhere, somehow, what they imagine is someone else's cold, hard reality?" She blinks, clearly understanding what Nicol said but not quite registering the thought. "Before I joined ZAFT, I read a long list of science fiction authors, Heinlen, Asimov, Clarke, Piper, Ringo, Flint, Clancy, Brown, the list goes on. I would never have assumed that the barest fraction of what my hyperactive imagination conjured up from those stories could be possible. Yet here we are, bouncing between dimensions in an attempt to get home, with who-knows-what still to be seen before we actually get there." Unlike Yzak, Nicol still took the tack that they would get home, eventually. Yzak firmly stated he was along for the ride on the complete off-chance they ever got home.

"You are right, but—" The ship's battle alarm cut her reply off midway. "Shall we?"

"After you," Nicol says a moment thereafter, having picked up his thin leather gloves. Since he was fighting on earth, there was no advantage to wearing a normal suit, but the ship had picked up flight suits from the FedCom quartermasters years ago, in a wide variety of sizes to allow for the changing pilots. Due to the drilling of late, he had become used to putting the last few vestiges of gear on before a mission, and, as expected, he was walking out as the other pilots were coming in to suit up themselves.

"What do we have, Chief?" Nicol asks of Murdoch as he approaches the cockpit of his new machine.

"Mobile Suits and aircraft confirmed, possibly naval again, maybe ground as well," Murdoch replies. "Helmet," Nicol hands it over so he could climb into the machine before receiving it again. Unlike the ZAFT helmets, the ones they purchased from the Federated Commonwealth were a bit bulkier but provided almost double impact protection for the pilot's head. "You'll need to get an updated tac picture from Miriallia when you go live."

"Roger that," Nicol replies. "Pin count?" he asks before starting his machine up. On the GuAIZ, much as on older fighter aircraft and helicopters, certain systems were locked out from operating until the safety releases were pulled. These were usually a series of linchpins that were also used by the mechanics to lock out systems until they were properly maintained (2).

Murdoch signaled Gomer, who held up a finger count. "Pin count is eight, you are good to go," he says. "Good luck, kid," he concludes before tripping the cockpit actuator and standing clear so it could be closed.

Hot-starting his machine from the ship's accumulator took only ten seconds, most of which was spent on the various cockpit systems and weaponry. The engine was relatively fast to start from being externally powered at startup. "GuAIZ is online, what is our status?" Nicol asks after his radio boots clean.

"Nicol, it's not looking good," Miriallia immediately replies. "For all intents and purposes, we just blundered into the territorial waters of an enemy base, and they ain't happy about it. You can guess what their reaction was." The sound of missile impacts against the side of the ship was answer enough. "The Magic Knights will be deploying first, to give the other pilots a chance to suit up before you have to launch. We still have not tested the GuAIZ in battle, so we don't know how effective it will be alone and unsupported."

"Understood," Nicol replies. "GuAIZ is awaiting launch orders at this time," he concludes officially.

"Strike Freedom is active, how bad is it Mir?" Kira asks in the silence thereafter.

"Wait one, Kira," Mir orders. "Windam, Rayearth, please move to catapults at this time for priority launch."

"Rayearth taxiing to right cat, stand by," Hikaru replies.

"Windam going left," Fuu adds immediately thereafter.

"Kira, we have several dozen in the air at this time, and more appear to be preflighting on the ramp to join in. It's not going to be pretty," Mir tells all the active units.

"I hear ya," Yzak replies. "Duel reporting ready for action."

"Buster, armed and ready!" Tolle says.

"Aegis, hot-charging now, ready in fifteen seconds," Athrun sounded the most groggy of all, as Nicol figured he was likely asleep at the time the alarms went off.

"Selesce, Aegis, you two are next," Miriallia orders after the ship shudders to the impact of the two catapults discharging the first two Rune Gods.

"Ready," Umi says calmly.

"Aegis going right," Athriun comments before the mechanic-moonlighting-as-marshaller (3) begins walking him out of the bay.

"105 Dagger reporting, what pack you want me to deploy with?" Morgan asks in the radio silence of the Rune God and Aegis moving to the catapults.

"105, Command, please deploy with Launcher Strike for heavy interdiction and long-range strike. We have a lot of contacts, and we need to start taking them down by the numbers," Miriallia orders.

"Roger that," Morgan replies stoically. He knew the Launcher Strike would cut down on his maneuverability, but when connected to the ship's power grid, he could charge the cannon up on a Sunday and shoot the thing all week without a problem.

"Strike Freedom, GuAIZ, prepare to launch."

-x-

Outside the ship, things were indeed looking rough for the _Archangel_ and her mobile forces.

The battle had started with a very rude shock to the _Archangel_, as a bunch of underwater lights the Captain thought were the lights for a clearing through the narrows turned out to be the search lights of underwater Mobile Suits. They had not fired initially, just relayed the position of the _Archangel_ to the base above the waves, though after the first enemy aerial MS were off the ground the order to loose torpedoes had been carried out.

"Newman, take us up above the waves," Murrue ordered as her opening position. "Sai, where is the enemy the thinnest?"

"Directly behind us, but not for long. Looks like they're bringing in more air-only MS from another base south-west of our location. Count ten carrier planes, probably loaded the same as they were two days ago."

"Other options?" Murrue asks immediately thereafter. "Chandratta, go live on all weapon systems, including the Lohengrins," she orders in the silence of Sai trying to find a way out for the ship.

"Aye, Captain," Chandratta had already activated the point-defense grid, but with the order to go live, the weapons began training outward in anticipation of further fire orders. The only thing he did not deploy was the Lohengrins, but the weapons began their pre-charge cycle in anticipation of use.

"Captain, this is going to sound practically suicidal, but our best option right now is directly over the base to our east. Any other direction is nothing but a wall of enemy mobile suits," Sai concludes after almost a minute of analyzing various inputs and displays. The enemy was holding position outside the expected weapons range of the ship, waiting for their own orders to commence attack, or perchance waiting for someone brave enough to lead off and sacrifice himself to begin the melee.

"Captain, there's a helluva lot of anti-air weapons in that direction," Chandratta replied immediately thereafter. "But he's right, the other directions are less welcoming."

Murrue hesitated a moment, thinking things over. "Miriallia, have Mu mount up in his Timber Wolf. Re-task the GuAIZ, Duel and Buster to go in on the ground and clean out those anti-air weapons and cause as much general destruction as possible. Maybe we can shellshock them into inactivity," she hopes without much in the way of conviction. "Newman, plot us a course through the lightest concentrations of AA weapons, then plan on swinging southbound and back into the Baltic."

"Aye, Captain." Newman was already deriving the necessary course for the ship to get out of harm's way as quickly as possible.

"Mir, it's starting, here they come!" Kira half-shouts over the radio band.

"Conn, sensors, incoming from every direction!" Sai says immediately thereafter to confirm Kira's forewarning.

"Newman, up hard!" Murrue ordered immediately, remembering that the missiles used by their primary aerial MS were mostly rockets and could be dodged under the right circumstances. "Sai, jam them up, Chandratta, open fire!"

"And the _Archangel_ dances with the Devil once more," Yzak sighed mightily after his comment.

"Point being?" Athrun asks in retort.

"None," Yzak replied immediately. "I knew this was coming."

"Time to get ready for it," Kira says to nobody in particular.

-x-

"He was right, this may be the easy way out, as counter-intuitive as it seems," Yzak noted with a professional eye toward static defenses. As of yet, he was still out of range of any of the heavy AA emplacements, but the advance march was intended to get him there in good order.

There were some things Sun Tzu had said "don't do it, dipshit", and thousands of years of proceeding history had only reinforced. One of the big ones was: never lay siege to a city or fortress that can be bypassed, and equally important was never assault a defensive fortification unless it could not be bypassed. In this case, the _Archangel_ had to assault a base because the other ways out were swarming with weak but incredibly hostile enemies. It was also becoming clear the 'plugs' on the trap, being the north and south waterway inlets, were now guarded by mixed naval forces, and to head due west meant trying to out-fly several hundred aerial MS and oh, by the way, you had to get over the craggy mountains in that direction while under severe fire.

_The base it had to be_, Yzak thought crassly. Silently he pulled out the long-range scope panel for his fire control system and locked it in place, as he would benefit most from it with the Electromagnetic Rifle he had 'borrowed' from the Lightning Strike. Per shot, it was not the best weapon he could carry (That distinction went to the Agni cannon for the Launcher Strike), but the extreme range it brought to the battle was his best friend, especially when challenging anti-aircraft batteries and low-flying MS.

_Those pukes may see what we are doing_, Yzak thought of the various somewhat-nearby Mobile Suits. "Nicol, keep an eye up and about while Tolle, Mu and I bust a hole for the _Archangel._"

"Got it," Nicol replied immediately.

"I'll handle the ground-mobile forces, Yzak, you and Tolle do their air defense batteries," Commander La Flaga ordered.

"Yeah," Yzak replied immediately.

"I have lock, time to start playing rough," Tolle declared as he linked the two weapons of the Buster into the long-range sniper rifle.

Yzak dropped the Duel to a kneeling position to stabilize his aim, and with the sights just slightly over the nearest of the radar direction centers, opened fire. After the first slug left the barrel, gravity did the rest for him, dragging the composite slug downward at a constant and increasing rate until the 125-kilogram nickel-ferrous-coated depleted uranium slug slammed nose-first into the building. What happened next was a different part of physics from the flight to the structure, this one a case of Newton's laws in action. The nose of the projectile, a full meter forward of the tail and fins of the slug, began decelerating and shifting direction faster than the tail did, resulting in what is commonly called 'tumbling' in ballistic sciences. The rapid shift in direction caused the slug to turn a quarter of a spin while inside the structure, and the slug slammed broadside into a structural column on the far side of the building; the shockwave and spall kicked up by the entry of the slug into the cinder-block building had already killed or wounded all the persons in the room.

On the far side, the structural column that was supporting the roof twisted in two directions, wrenching the upper-level support beams for the massive air-search radar on top of the building out of alignment. The ten tons of antenna, motors, and radio transmitters sealed the structure's fate without reserve, collapsing down through the suddenly-unsupported roof of the building. With one blow, Yzak had completed the destruction of the radar tracking and communications for the first line of anti-aircraft weapons arrayed against the _Archangel_.

"Radar is down," Yzak commented almost mechanically before he shifted aimpoint to a missile battery just in range. Left of his position a hundred meters, Tolle fired a precision shot into what appeared to be an ammo dump for the forward radar-controlled guns, and, much as he expected, the explosion of that ammo resulted in four guns and thirty-some-odd people obliterated in a miniature mushroom cloud. The Timber Wolf and GuAIZ surged forward before Yzak popped off his second shot, this one not quite as destructive as the first – it only resulted in the six-cell missile launcher being sheared off the base it was attached to.

"If we're going to be on stage today, a little fireworks are in order," Colonel Chevalier commented dryly after seeing the mushroom cloud kicked up by Tolle's shot.

"C'mon guys, move it up, we gotta get out of here!" Commander La Flaga ordered hurriedly, his omnimech moving forward of the rest of the team now, the torso twisting back and forth as he sighted up emplacements one after the next and fired on them individually. Mu had rebuilt his weapons pods in a non-standard configuration, giving himself foremost the jump jets necessary to vault into the _Archangel_'s launch bays from the ground, and second giving him the firepower to handle a wide threat array without overheating his 'mech constantly. With an ER Large Laser in the left arm, two LRM-10 launchers in the left missile rack, a single SRM-6 launcher in the right rack, and three ER Medium lasers in the right arm, his machine was truly the equal of the Gundams in net firepower and at least a match for them in survivability. More to the point, the wide array of weapons was perfect for the task, given that it did not take much in the way of damage to destroy or render inoperable most of the anti-aircraft arsenal in the area.

"Commander, Mobile Suits on the left! Unknown type, appear ground only!" Tolle cautioned his direct commanding officer before switching around his weapons

"Well, these are new, but not all that impressive," Mu declared as the unit in question began firing on him rather sloppily. Of all the shots headed in his direction, few were landing or passing by within twenty meters. "Tolle, Yzak, stay on those air-def sites, I have these pukes."

"Already on it," Yzak replied tersely. He had foregone the sniper detail for his beam rifle and disposable missile rack, since without the radar station the guns and missiles weren't able to track even his machine with reliability.

Mu tracked left, toward the oncoming land-model MS, while the other three continued forward. Much as he surmised, there were a few of the enemy aerial MS trying to prevent destruction of the base AA grid, but not enough to amount to anything. Right now, the main threat hailed from the company of ground-model MS, what looked to be even more basic (and less capable) machines than ZAFT's GINN units. The foremost of the enemy machines carried a simple machine gun with drum magazine, an appropriate combination in Mu's estimate, but the shoulder shield was well out of place to provide any decent defense. A single shot of ER Large Laser proved that adroitly, the center-mass shot crippled the enemy machine in one stroke, much to Mu's surprise.

The result was almost comical, had Mu been watching a holo-record of the fight and was not actually conducting the battle. The first of the enemy platoons stopped dead, followed by the second platoon, then the fourth platoon. The problem with the instant brakes, however, was that the third platoon of the unit did not stop fast enough, and careened face-first into the back of fourth platoon. The whole exercise in stupidity could not have been scripted better by a comedian, Mu thought sardonically as half the remaining enemy force ended up in a twisted pile of entangled Mobile Suits.

"Dude, did I just see that right?" Newman asked.

"You did," Mu replied before firing his laser into one of the remaining standing enemy machines, then unleashing his LRM racks at two separate MS with what appeared to be anti-armor bazookas.

-x-

"If they weren't trying to kill us, I'd call this Keystone Kops material," Tolle declared with a small hint of reverence. A single shot from his cannons in sniper rifle configuration was ample to disable four of the piled MS and destroy outright a fifth. Murrue could naught but gape in how pathetic the enemy appeared to be, having disabled half a company of MS by an idiot collision.

"Kira, Athrun, aerial Mobile Suits appear to be massing at the ship's seven o'clock position, 5-K up. Break 'em down," Miriallia ordered curtly.

"Roger that," Kira replied immediately.

"Aegis moving in now," Athrun's voice was beginning to sound the toll of the battle. So far, none of the enemy had managed to apply any serious hits to the machines, but that would change fast enough.

"Magic Knights, spread out from the starboard rear of the ship in five hundred meter intervals and try to thin out the crowds," Miriallia followed up her orders by shifting the Magic Knights down from the forward areas to the rear, where the enemy was naturally bunching up.

"Got it," Fuu replied immediately for the three Knights. The Rune Gods began moving west, toward the rear of the engagement zone as requested, and as they went, Mobile Suits dropped off the sensor plot.

"Chandratta, spin up tubes one through eight and twenty-five through thirty-two with Sledgehammers, rear tubes with six Anti-Air cluster warheads and ten Wombats."

"Fire pattern?" Chandratta requested even while inputting the load commands.

"Sledgehammers downrange to the heavier AA batteries, prioritize guided missile systems. Wombats on the rear-starboard, AA shrapnel on the rear-port. Make 'em count, our guys ain't going to last forever out there!"

"The rat-bastards are playing smart," Chandratta grumped. "Staying out of range of the bulk of our point defense grid is saving a lot of lives...and making ours miserable."

"We can't accuse them of being totally inept, despite their showing on the ground," Murrue commented. It had taken Mu and Tolle no more than twenty seconds to finish mopping up that company of ground MS, then return to the necessary evil of eliminating the AA belts. Nicol had a significant collection of shoot-downs on the ground in front of the ship, enemy MS lucky enough to get close without getting mulched by the point defense grid but dumb enough to fly too low and thus subject themselves to his tender ministrations. Yzak had not turned away from the task at hand, and was now closing on the radar control center for the second belt of AA weapons, all the while eliminating various nearby weapons platforms and the occasional main battle tank that ventured close.

"Strike Freedom reporting intercept complete, beginning close-quarters battle."

It pained Murrue to hear such a mechanical phrasing from Kira, who in the past had made himself famous for not wanting to fight, much less learn about normal flight operations procedures. _We do what we have to_, Murrue thought after a moment.

"It never is pretty," Morgan Chevalier commented in the radio traffic silence thereafter. "I just don't see another way through this." His comment was accented by the launch of the forward missile tubes, each missile headed to separate targets in the base interior.

-x-

"You won't find one," Kira replied coldly, dodging under the flight path of a Valiant linear gun slug as it tore through the skies in an attempt to smash the Aries MS around him to bits. "They want us dead. We object, naturally. Conflict ensues." He flew through a burst of 50mm chaingun deliberately, preventing it from getting to the _Archangel_ beyond him, since the Phase Shift system on his Gundam made his machine more or less immune to kinetic weapons. The offending party received two pairs of beams from his beam rifles, two to the upper engine intakes, one to the upper chest, and one to the head With that, another Aries began the plummet to the ground. His wingmate suffered a similar fate, but only from the Callidus beam cannon in the chest of the Strike Freedom.

"Kira, cover right, I have these on the left to dead astern of the ship," Athrun requested.

"On it," Kira replied tersely, now focused almost completely on the blossoming battle. As much as his personal results and extended training was beginning to pay off, the _Archangel_ was still taking a frightful beating, and most of it in the most vulnerable part of the ship - the rear. As the Strike Freedom began to shift more toward the 8 o'clock position on the _Archangel_, a blossoming fireball from the direction of the ship drew his attention in that direction; something had exploded on the ship. "_Archangel_, Kira, you all right?"

"We're alive," Miriallia replied wearily. "That was the feed system for the port-side missile tubes, we can't load or launch from tubes one to sixteen. Unless you can suck 'em in close, you and Athrun are on your own."

_Can't shift the Knights over here, they're busy on the right flank, and Morgan's machine doesn't have extended flight ability_, Kira thought drolly. "Athrun, fall back three hundred meters and reengage," Kira said quickly, suiting his own actions to his request.

"I'm in," Athrun replied immediately, shifting his Gundam from MS form to MA cruising form, then cleared back toward the ship.

"Priority target identified, priority target identified," the Strike Freedom's battle computer reported. "Targets identified, Taurus Mobile Suits with Support Laser cannons. Four contacts on the _Archangel_'s ten o'clock." The four contacts were immediately highlighted on Kira's sensor panel, as well as shaded to show relative altitude against his machine's location and altitude.

"Are they tracking?" Kira asked before twisting around and hammering his thrusters to close on them.

"Kira, where are you going?" Athrun asked in severe shock.

"Major threat on the left, Athrun, I'll be right back," Kira declared.

"Make it fast, damn it, I'm dancing with a freaking battalion of 'em up here!"

"I'll cover Athrun, do what you have to, Kira," Hikaru replied immediately. On his sensor uplink, the whole rearguard had shifted around to cover his immediate departure, with Umi on the far right and Aegis on the far left to keep stragglers from getting around the ad-hoc guard.

"Kira, what the hell are those things?" Miriallia asked immediately.

"Bad news walking," Kira replied half-sardonically. "High-power MS with support lasers, they'll punch holes in the ship if left unchecked."

"Warning, lead Taurus is tracking the _Archangel_," the BC reported. "Valid lock, thermal bloom from that support laser, he's firing!" And Kira knew he was still out of range by several hundred meters and couldn't do a damned thing to stop it.

The support laser put out a blue-white beam, and a very high-power one at that (4). Thankfully, the pilot was not thinking strategically and had deliberately tracked in on the port-side Gottfried cannon, instead of a more critical system such as the levitator. Even despite this, the sight of the Gottfried turret with a half-meter scorch in both sides of the turret and the venting smoke turned Kira's stomach.

"Kira," Miriallia began, but faltered.

"Let me guess, Gottfried two is down," Kira grumped.

"Make sure they don't get a second shot," Miriallia intoned clearly.

"Roger that," Kira did not speed up, instead he slowed down and deployed the Xiphas III Rail Guns attached to the hips of his Gundam. Four shots lent two wounded machines and one killed to their ranks, the two wounded he finished with beam rifle shots as the first shooter dropped aside its Support Laser. "Why did he drop that support weapon?" Kira asked nobody in particular as he closed on said enemy, his left beam shield up and active to block the beam gun shots coming in his direction. In close, the battle was a forelorn hope for the Taurus, as the Strike Freedom collided with the smaller machine and drove it into the ground roughly. On standing up, Kira fired a single shot into the center of the chest, which severed the cooling circuits for his engine and depowered the enemy machine in less than five seconds.

"These Support Lasers are usable only for one shot in atmosphere. Their cooling systems are designed to work in vacuum, not down here," the Battle Computer reported.

"Well, three still live," Kira noted while he racked the standard beam rifles, followed shortly by picking up the nearest of the surviving Space Laser Cannons. "Ai, Traffic analysis, are these forces being controlled from a ground station or something in the air?"

"Indeterminate," the Battle Computer replied immediately. "There are a lot of different sources yelling their heads off on the enemy comms channels, but nobody appears to be listening. There are three possible command elements, two aircraft in high orbit behind the _Archangel_ and one ground station. I'll mark them on your tactical display. You have three Support Lasers nearby."

"Oh no! There's more of these black machines on this side!" Umi reported in a half-frantic tone.

"_Archangel_ is hit!" Miriallia announced in a worried tone. "Starboard Valiant is down again! Fuu, close in and take those machines out!"

"Fuu, close fast and hammer them flat, but get clear if they aim at you! Don't take a chance with those Support Lasers!" Kira informed her while he began locking onto the ground station his systems suspected of being a command post.

"SHIT!" Tolle shouted just after Kira dropped the hammer. His system immediately locked onto Tolle's location and magnified for a clear view; Kira did not like what he saw by a long shot.

"Tolle!" Miriallia shouted in response. "What happened?"

"One of those damned black-suits got his Gundam's legs," Yzak replied. "Nice shot, Kira, you brought that radar dish down into the rest of the building."

"_Archangel_, Kira, I'll recover Tolle and his legs, have Murdoch waiting with crowbars to get into the cockpit. The heat flash from these damn support lasers may have sealed him in."

"_Archangel_ copies your last, Murdoch will be waiting," Murrue assured him. "Mobile forces, _Archangel_ with flash traffic, if you see any more of those damned black machines, they are priority targets. We can survive AA belts, we can't survive too many more shots like those things."

"Aegis copies your last," Athrun replied.

"Speak of the devil," Morgan replied. "Got two more on the ground behind us, I'm'a try sniping them from the back deck."

-x-

"Buster is recovered," Murdoch declared over the ship intercom.

"I'm going back out for the legs, we need the parts," Kira declared before his Gundam jetted out of the catapult bay.

"Captain, we're over the inner AA belt, minimal fire incoming from ground sources. Now might be a good time to get the hell outta here," Newman informed the bridge.

"Control, Conn, begin recovering our units. Mechanicals first," meaning the Rune Gods would be the last in since they were not limited on fuel.

"The more I work here, the more strange shit I see," Sai bemoaned, watching the forward cameras as the Strike Freedom came up to the catapult deck carrying the two legs of the Buster, one under each arm.

"It's not a job, it's an adventure," Chandratta replied with a clear tone of mirthless humor.

"I knew he was going to say that," Miriallia replied. "Aegis, Control, return to ship, port-side deck. 105 Dagger, Control, return to ship by way of central lift. Duel, Control, you're next, starboard side catapult."

"Helm, Conn, after recovery of Mobile Units, put the hammer down. These guys can't pursue too much, they're probably running down on fumes."

"_Archangel_, Kira, recover my unit last, I'm still good to go, I'll cover everyone else getting in."

"Kira, _Archangel_ copies. Don't get shot down," Miriallia replied immediately.

"Conn, Hangar deck, Tolle is in route to medbay, moderate injuries. Alert Fuu and Nicol, they may have to help the doc out," Murdoch informed the Captain.

"Conn, aye," Murrue replied in shorthand to acknowledge she understood. "Mir, warn Fuu and Nicol that we have multiple injuries in the Medbay to be seen to."

"Windam, GuAIZ, _Archangel_ with priority traffic, we have injured persons from crew and Mobile Forces that will need help when you get in."

"GuAIZ, good copy, requesting landing authorization."

"Timber Wolf, GuAIZ, you are to ingress immediate, Timber Wolf to the port-side catapult bay, GuAIZ on starboard. Selesce, _Archangel_, please return to ship and enter by central lift."

"Roger that, comin' in hot!" Mu half-shouts as he jumped up to enter the launch bay. "I'm in!"

"GuAIZ is in, moving to lock down," Nicol added after a moment's silence. "Any word on how bad Tolle is?"

"No word," Miriallia replied. "Murdoch didn't sound like it was serious."

"Murdoch could bleed a pint a minute and not think it serious," Yzak said, though with a clear tone of respect for the mechanic.

"He's got me beat, then," Mu declared. "I tend to get stupid when I lose blood."

"Fuu, Hikaru, pull back, they appear to be backing off," Kira replied. "_Archangel_, Kira, remaining forces appear to be breaking contact."

"Out of their operations range, or out of fuel?" Murrue asked at the same time as sheared looked over the ship's damage panel. "God, we cut that one close."

"Yeah, they almost had us," Chandratta natively faced the damage panel, which tended to help him in making sure he was not issuing orders to destroyed weapons.

-x-x-x-

(8 November AC195, 1900 hours)

"Two days?" Murdoch asked, incredulous.

"That's all it will take to rebuild one of the GuAIZ hip assemblies to match what that laser just sheared off the Buster," Kira replied. "Here's the plate, just attach it and press the button. Once it's rebuilt, we can work on reassembling the Buster."

"Outstanding," the Chief Warrant Officer replied. "Anything on your machine need work?"

"Fuel, railgun ammo, and vulcan ammo. Rest of the machine is in acceptable shape," Kira replied.

"Will do. Get some rest, kid, you look like dogshit."

Kira groaned. "I feel like it, Chief, but you guys need help down here..."

"Out, before I have Gomer remove you and lock you in your quarters," Murdoch ordered, despite the fact that Kira technically outranked him.

Not willing to challenge the mechanics on their own turf, Kira quickly retreated into the lower decks of the _Archangel_. After about ten meters traverse, Kira even managed to convince himself crew rest was as important as repairs to the decidedly beat-up machines in the hangar behind him. None of the other pilots had remained behind to volunteer their services. Kira had had the last word, though, in that he requested the Strike Freedom's Battle Computer analyze all the sensor data from the units to determine who won and how many each had shot down. The results would take a day to collate and process, but the information would be invaluable to both the pilots and the command staff. It would also tell where, if anywhere, someone or something had gone wrong.

Despite his physical exhaustion, Kira continued to wander the ship, passing from location to location completely unheard and as often as not unseen by others. Most stopped and saluted, to which Kira simply nodded to the persons in question. His path even crossed Pytor, who had to sit out the past two battles due to the lack of a truly mobile 'mech for him to pilot. The Warhawk was good, but slow compared to the other 'mechs the _Archangel_ has or had. Pytor simply nodded as they crossed paths, since he was not in a position to salute while carrying an armful of parts from stores toward the hangar area.

In due time, Kira found himself in the halls adjacent to the Hot Springs, where the various memorial boxes for the deceased and departed had been set up. New to the addition was a box for Natarle Badgiruel, though not deceased she counted as having departed from the ship. Kira found it interesting, she had left her rank insignia for the box, or Murrue had ginned up a new one for the display, but Kira thought it more likely that Natarle had left hers in place. _At least she got out alive and in a way she risked enjoying it_, Kira thought almost enviously. _Home was home, and being nice would have been home, and real-estate in heaven has to be overpriced_, he thought blearily before he realized that he was so far gone his own thought process was making no sense.

The hell of it was, only mentally was he screwed up, his body felt all right. So, after a whiff of the steam, he decided that a bit of heat would be the choice to clear his mind. All he had to do was walk around the corner to the Springs...but he couldn't immediately look away from the box that held the memories of Dearka. And then there was the remembrance of the night he had been struck down, on Colonel Hartman's farm in the hills of Romulus. Years had passed, pilots had changed, but still the memory was always the same. The two hits, then the particle cannon streak circumnavigating the waist of his armor, having already blown most of the cockpit apart. Even today, the glove that he wore as a linked Knight to Hikaru continued to sparkle, and sometimes glowed, never fading or dulling from the bright ruby color it always was. Just the memory of just another guy trying to work his way home and hoping he survived it.

_For him, the war is over. Rest easy, pilot_. Kira didn't even quite realize someone had told him so telepathically, nor did he realize it was not one of the crew, but simply nodded at the logic of the statement. With the memory concluded for a day, Kira finally pushed away from the wall and took the turn to the Hot Springs.

"Heading in?" Terra asked when he arrived at the entrances.

"Yeah," Kira replied.

"Cube seven for your stuff. I just filled the towels, so you should be good." Kira moved toward the doors after a polite nod. "Erm, Kira, you may outrank me, but I'm not supposed to let you go into the ladies' side."

"What?" Kira asked, then looked at the signage on the outside of the robing room. "Oh, yeah, wrong side."

"Are you sure you're going to be all right in there? I've never seen you try using the wrong room before." _Come to think of it, I've never seen him put a foot wrong period_, Terra thought but did not say.

"I'll live...I hope. Thanks again." This time, Kira ducked into the proper room. He did manage to get undressed and prepared for the springs without any undue complications, and even entered the springs room without issue. Kira sort-of recognized that Commander La Flaga was in the room, but it didn't completely register. Trying to drop down into the water, though, resulted in a bit of a conflict with gravity and a loud splash, but no injury.

"Is everything all right in there?" Terra asked from the corridor outside the robing room.

"It is, no injuries," Commander La Flaga answered for Kira. "You sounded like hell there towards the end, but now I see it's worse than you were letting on," Mu apprised after Kira managed to stabilize himself and settled down.

"Those years in Vector didn't do me any favors," Kira grumped. "The calm was fun, but..."

"Yeah, you're not used to the high-stress high-stakes battles as you were while fighting the Clans," Mu replied. "Just more proof that you're still human at the end of the day."

"I'm beginning to wonder if we'll ever find somewhere there is nobody trying to kill us," Kira bemoaned.

"Maybe, maybe not," Mu admitted quietly. "I don't know, but I'm stickin' with the Captain, regardless of what happens."

"Little late to get off, though," Kira replied.

"Yeah, might be a rough walk home," Mu conceded. Kira could not stifle the inevitable chuckle to come with Mu's offhand joke.

Several minutes of silence ensued. "What are we doing with our lives?" Kira asked.

"I don't know what you are doing with yours, but I am going on with mine."

"Maybe I should, if I have anything of a life left," Kira replied after a minute's foggy contemplation.

"We'll be running deep for a few days, so nothing should happen. Might be a good idea to sort it out, figure out what you want to do. A head start can't hurt your long-term goals."

-x-x-x-

(10 November AC195, 1600 hours)

"And this is where it gets messy fast," Yzak replied. "God, why did these pukes have to use hydraulics in their missile launchers?"

"I have fifty C-bills that says some contractor somewhere said that if they made it a hydraulic system instead of a manual gear-drive or belt-drive, they would earn more on maintenance contracts," Kira replied honestly.

"Of course, in battle, one good impact and your missile launcher jams on reload, so..." Yzak replied, meaning that too much rough treatment could vent the hydraulics and seize the loading mechanism solid. "Think we can tear all this shit out and replace it with a gear-drive or belt-drive?"

"Not likely, not without some serious work," Kira replied. "Hrm, how about a chain-drive system? These hydraulics are only used to shuttle reloads up and forward from the magazine. I think we could get by with replacing the hydraulic drives with a couple good chains."

"Across three points of contact? The chain would spend more time slipping than turning," Yzak thought aloud.

"Nah, we put an idler sprocket up here, a meter above the drivetrain for the chain, that way it has four points of contact and it shouldn't slip. We'll have to do the same thing on the other side for tubes three and four, and then do it again for five through eight, unless you want to run the four inboard silos off one chain?"

"No way in hell, Kira. One chain for two silos, I'm not taking a chance on one broke link wiping out half my ready reloads."

"Makes sense," Kira admitted to himself.

They had captured some of the original-model missile pods, before Oz had moved to this complex magazine-and-barrel loading system. The original versions fired electronically with all the rockets in the tubes ready to launch, but because the rocket exhaust had to blow by the ready reloads in the same tube as the fired missile, there was a severe chance the fired rocket could ignite the engine on another rocket and cause the whole assembly to detonate from overpressure inside the launcher. Naturally, Yzak had twigged to such a failure and built his new disposable missile launcher using only the magazine-fed model, which lost two seconds per shot due to load time but the reliability and improved accuracy were worth the wait in his opinion. _Not all battles can be won by throwing gratuitous amounts of firepower in the enemy's direction_, Yzak thought sardonically, realizing that he had probably figured out why he always managed to fail at trying to bring down the _Archangel_ in days past. Such was enough of a revelation that it shocked him to stillness.

"You all right?" Kira asked in the moments after Yzak had froze.

"Yeah, it's nothin'. Chain Fed Missile Pack, I think I like the ring to that. Now, where are we going to acquire a chain like that?"

"Erm, that could be a problem," Kira replied after a few moments of considering it. "I don't think we have any chain like that."

"Great, Strike, just great, come up with a solution to the outstanding problem that we can't implement. How long were you studying to be an Engineer?" Yzak asked tersely.

"About two years, before you guys interrupted that," Kira replied just as tersely.

"Oh, okay, they never got around to introducing you to Murphy's Laws, then," Yzak replied. "Well, we can shelve the chain-link plan for now, and figure out some way to reinforce the hydraulics on this thing so it won't bust the first time someone farts in my general direction."

"Okay, first thing's first, hose clamps on the spike fittings," Kira replied immediately. "That's the obvious failure point, one of those hoses comes loose and you lose two silos right off the bat." Kira looked over the side of the assembly to where a couple mechanics were hanging out, playing a game of cards on top of a barrel of lubricant. The nearest of the mechanics was one easily recognized. "Hey, Gomer, can we get some one-inch hose clamps up here?"

"On it, Kid!" Gomer, being the ranking man at the table (he was Murdoch's fourth-in-command of the hangar bay), quickly sent two of the newer techs out to get the parts and deliver them to Kira, which also doubled over as an exercise in learning the locations of certain miscellaneous spare parts.

"What else can we do?" Yzak asked Kira while waiting for the hose clamps.

"The hydraulic reservoirs. What about putting some insulation around it, something to help slow down fragments or something?" The reservoir was not all that robust, and the fragmentation from a hand grenade could easily cause it to vent.

"Kevlar blankets?" Yzak got a nod from Kira. "Easy enough, I know where they are."

"Hold a moment." Kira stopped to consider something of significance. "Get enough to cover the inside of the entire loading area with a couple layers, as well as heavier wrap for the magazine itself and the hydro reservoir." (5)

"Protect the whole loading mechanism from fragmentation? Nice thought," Yzak replied.

As the Duel pilot returned to the maintenance platform for the weapons with a cargo exoskeleton carrying about three tons of Kevlar blanket, Gomer's two runners had come with an armful of the requested one-inch hose clamps. Much to Yzak's surprise, Hikaru had joined Kira on top of the missile launcher pack, given that right now was her assigned sleep time.

"Hey, aren't you supposed to be in bed?" Yzak asked after he shut down the exoskeleton.

"I just woke up, Yzak," Hikaru replied offhand. "Anyways, anything I can help with?"

"Yeah, here," and Kira handed her a screwdriver and over a dozen hose clamps. "These hydraulic lines need to be clamped down." He demonstrated how and where with the external port-side hose. "You can take this one on, while Yzak and I work on protecting the mechanism and hydro systems from shrapnel."

"This is going to be interesting," Yzak noted. "Any idea how we're going to do the inside pair?"

"Very carefully," Kira dodged. "We'll worry about that once we have the outside dealt with."

It would not take them long to revisit Yzak's question, as the process for seeing to the exterior shell and the critical hydraulic components was dead simple. All it took was some mounting bolts, grommets, and a length of the kevlar blanket and suddenly the major components were protected from all but the nastiest direct penetration trauma. After applying to the starboard side (they had started on the port side of the launcher to avoid interfering with Hikaru), they were left looking down in between the two loading mechanisms, with the less-than-a-meter gap pretty much preventing either Kira or Yzak from getting in there.

"You know, this could be a little bit of a problem," Kira noted.

"Yeah, and trying to take the assembly apart to make this fix would take about, oh, three hours? Four?" Yzak replied in kind.

"And in two hours, I'll be reassembling the Buster's legs." Which tasking put Kira off the project at that time.

Yzak was silent for a moment, considering what needed to be done. "You know, there is one person working on this weapon markedly smaller than the two of us."

"Uh-huh, you think she could deal with it?" Kira asked in clear response.

"Well, what did it take us? A little drill work, bolts and grommets? No big deal, really."

"You know, if Hikaru gets injured, Miriallia is going to blame us," Kira continues his line of dodging.

"You got a better idea, then?" Yzak concluded the argument phase of the discussion.

It was thirty seconds before Kira answered. "Nope. Not a clue."

"Hikaru, are you done with the clamps?" Yzak asked.

"Not the center four lines, I was trying to figure out how to get to them," Hikaru replied, looking just over the top edge of the port-side launcher at them. "Need something?"

"Yeah, we want to put some Kevlar blankets around the critical components between the two launchers, but we can't get in there."

Hikaru disappeared below the edge of the launcher for a moment, presumably to check the clearance in between the launcher assemblies, then popped back up. "I can do it, all I need to know is how."

"Check over here." Kira led her to the rig they had set up on the outside of the launcher. "See how this is drilled through, then the grommets are suspended from these eye-bolts?"

"Yeah." Hikaru checked the assembly thoroughly. "Yeah, I can do it."

"Alright, figure out how to get in there then we'll start with the hose clamps. I'll lower them to you one at a time so you don't get caught in there."

The arrangements made, Hikaru ended up having to climb up on top of the launcher assembly, then slowly lower herself down between the two launcher loading mechanisms. When down there, Kira began by handing her hose clamps one at a time, until all eight of the fittings in the center of the assembly had been secured. Then came the difficult part.

"Here." Kira lowered a pneumatic impact drill down to her. "Use these;" he stripped his own safety glasses off to give to her. "We'll drill all four holes on one side in one go, then the four on the other side, then we'll do the bolts and lastly the blankets."

"Okay, just tell me where." Kira showed the first location on the frame beam with a laser pointer.

"If you're a little off, we can compensate, so precision is not a huge deal," Yzak declared. "This whole thing is a jury-rig anyways, if it lives for an extra minute, so much the better, but my life isn't depending on you getting it right to three decimal places."

"At least we got the things working with telemetry from your TTS," Kira noted with a soured tone. Doing so had taken four hours of trial-and-massive-error programming operations.

"Don't remind me," Yzak replied, just as soured from the experience. Whoever did the software handling for those launchers needed to be brutalized, shot, napalmed, and then carpet bombed just for good measure in Yzak's opinion. 'Gross misuse of software code' was his operational description of the problem, for his records.

"All right, where next?" To which Kira pointed out the second drill location with his laser pointer. Hikaru moved onto it without reserve, though she had to contort herself somewhat sideways and horizontal to get the drill in proper place to bore the hole and maintain control. Since the drilling was going through 0.5cm steel beam and the drill bit in question was a Mithiril bit, they got lucky in that they didn't have to use lubricant to do the drilling, as Mithiril resisted seizing or thermal expansion in drilling applications.

Though the drilling operation only took about forty seconds, it took Kira less than half that time to come to a conclusion. Kira would then spend the next half-hour trying to get the view out of his mind, as well as a couple other contortions she had to work into in pursuit of the task at hand.

-x-x-x-

(11 November AC195, 1600 hours)

With the ship above the waves, a rotating guard had been stationed on the foredeck and the reardeck to prevent the ship from being ambushed without an immediate response for a third time. In addition to the Mobile Suit guards on the fore and aft decks, several work crews had been organized for the purpose of patching up the ship's numerous dents and scrapes. Work had begun 20 hours ago, and was scheduled for another 20 hours to come. A bet pool was running around the ship whether or not work would be able to continue without interruption; Kira had bet twenty C-bills for, Yzak had bet fifty against.

"You know, after a few hours to think about it, I don't know why we're betting C-bills on this issue," Yzak said without much in the way of conviction. "I mean, when you get down to it, we've got pretty much no chance to ever see the Inner Sphere again, so...why bother, y'know? Betting souvenirs would be just as easy, and probably more worthwhile."

Kira could not help but acknowledge the logic to Yzak's comment. "You do have a point, but we had to bet something, and betting Figaro Golds would have been just as effective, when you get down to it. I am not giving up those few trinkets I've picked up, though."

"At least the gold has some measure of value wherever we go," Yzak said deadpan.

"As does all the rest of the haul Nicol and Fuu picked up from those ancient caves."

"Yeah, that was a serious mother of a load they picked up. Just hanging around in a chest with a few worn-out traps to guard it. I gotta give 'em points for that one."

"Hate to interrupt the reverie, guys, but something is tracking us," Sai reported.

"Track 'em back, see if the lousy bastards will go away," It was becoming a bit of an old-hat story for the Archangel, military search aircraft would come looking but when the Archangel returned the favor, they left fast.

"That's the problem, there isn't anything in the area we're being tracked from," Sai replied. "I show a clear sensor board, but tracking radar emissions from 4000 meters. Port side."

Kira immediately looked his Gundam in that direction. "Oh yeah, there's something coming in right now. Show possible hostile of unknown type coming in from overland," Kira declared. "Appears to be a fighter type, fairly large one."

"What – there! Ten o'clock high!" The target flared for a moment, the halo of a particle beam of some kind; Yzak knew what was coming. "Oh hell no!" The Duel's shield was more than enough to block the narrow beam from the nose of the craft. "Definite hostile! Fifty bucks, Kira," Yzak settled the debate about the bet before he brought his own beam rifle up and fired three shots at the target.

"Hostile?!" Kira replied after taking a heavier beam hit from the same target in the beam shield, this one enough to knock his Gundam down from pure energy transfer. "Downright unfriendly!"

"I'll give 'em hell!" Said fighter screamed over the ship about a thousand meters above the _Archangel_'s flight level. Though, as it did so, it provided the perfect ventral (6) shot to Yzak, who took it. Two beams lanced out at the foolhardy pilot, one struck the aft part of the fighter and apparently burned out an engine on it.

"That thing looks freaking weird, like it's some mash of fighter and Mobile Su – SHIT!" Yzak's Gundam was caught looking the wrong direction, leaving him little recourse in stopping the incoming heavy missile or bazooka round that knocked him down. "More of 'em? What the hell?"

"I got the fighter, you take the ground-pounders!" Kira ordered. "_Archangel_, status of backup?"

"Tolle is pre-flighting, Nicol is moving to catapult right now. No ETA on the Magic Knights." Miriallia sounded groggy, likely because this was her assigned sleep rotation.

"Mobile Units, _Archangel_, fire support from the ship is going to be limited, we're still trying to fix most of the point-defense grid," Commander La Flaga said, apparently not pleased he had to say such a thing. "Do what you can, hold them until we can get clear and break away."

"Once more unto the breech," Yzak grumped, wrestling to get his Gundam back on its feet. Thankfully, the enemy forces on the ground had not followed up with a beam weapon, though he could identify at least one of the MS that carried the Support Lasers – except, it was painted white instead of black, and did not appear to have the Support Laser weapons. Yzak activated his Sniper TTS, which caused the eyes of his machine to flicker, before he brought up the beam rifle and fired two shots.

"I'm on the fighter!" Kira shouted before he hammered his jets and cleared off the forward deck of the ship.

"Nicol Amalfi, GuAIZ, launching!" Once cleared of the ship, he immediately began jetting hard to land on the semi-forested hills to the left of the _Archangel_.

"What?" Kira asked his monitors as the fighter he was chasing began contorting and transformed into a Mobile Suit – specifically, what looked like a Gundam, with one very large beam weapon for its primary. "Oh, crap, Gundam! It's a transformable Gundam!"

"Take it down, Kira, take it down hard!" Yzak shouted in response. Having struck zero for five in sniping, he set aside the long-range sight and cleared off the reardeck of the ship, headed toward the enemy position in the edge of a semi-dense forest just up the shore from where the _Archangel_ was cruising. When he landed, the frontline of the enemy formation became rather obvious as his Gundam was immediately subject to attack from machinegun fire from three different Mobile Suits.

"There's about ten in the treeline – three of 'em like the ones with the heavy lasers, the rest split between air and ground types!" Nicol warned the others before he began moving around to flank the treeline foes and displace their ambush into Yzak's waiting crosshairs. The missiles from the Duel's disposable missile pack began flying even as Nicol first entered the treeline and began working his way toward the enemy ranks.

Kira did not give the enemy a chance to take an advantageous position against himself or the ship, he simply closed on the transforming unit with both Beam sabers out and ready for a close quarters scrap. The enemy must have misread intentions, however, and failed to hit Kira in close with a high-power blast from the beam cannon it carried – thankfully, it also managed to miss the _Archangel_, but only by a matter of meters. In close, Kira started with the most dangerous weapon exposed – the beam rifle – and chopped it in half with a rising swing, before he tried stabbing into the chest of the enemy Gundam with the other Beam Saber. Wizened up from the initial shock of misreading his foe, the enemy knew what was going on now and countered appropriately. He slammed into the Strike with all force of his thrusters and shoved the larger Gundam away temporarily. Kira had no choice but to take the hit and absorb the recoil, which gave his foe precious seconds to eject a beam saber from the shield and prepare blade for the close quarter battle.

"Tolle Koenig, Buster, launching!" The _Archangel_ had come to a halt and turned bow-forward to the battle on the ground, where its limited forward armaments that survived the battle could be used to support the ground units. This also put Tolle right next to the Duel, which was as good a place for the Buster to drop as any in Tolle's opinion. "Comin' for ya!" He shouted before dropping the hammer on his weapons combined in shotgun form. The trees ate into the effectiveness of his attack, but the sight of an air-type MS arm doing lazy circles in the sky was evidence that it did not fail completely. The fire coming from the treeline did not take long to drive in on his machine now, though it (like the attacks headed for the Duel) was mostly ballistic and haphazardly aimed, resulting in few hits and no damage. A second shot into a clearing in the thickets resulted in a crippled land-type MS, which further took heat off the ground teams, followed by a barrage of particle cannons and Gauss Rifles from the _Archangel_ that brought a tree down on the air-type that Tolle had damaged.

Kira had snap-decided on the one-two-three principle of fighting, hitting the target in different ways in rapid succession. So, he began with the Xiphas III railguns and fired four shots while he hammered his jets to close in again. Of four shots, two hit, one on the shield and one in the right arm, though the enemy did not appear to have taken much in the way of damage. As Kira began closing again, the enemy lit off his paired head vulcans and shoulder-mount machine cannons, and Kira rightly figured the Phase Shift armor on his machine would protect him, except for one freak happenstance. The machine cannon fire walked across the center chest of the Strike Freedom, and in one of those classic cosmic accidents, a single penetrator struck an unprotected edifice on the chest – the barrel of the Callidus multi-phase energy cannon. The Phase Shift managed to shear the fins off the penetrator, but the rest of the long-rod slug bored inside and buried itself fully a foot into the beam generator and accelerator. Before Kira could begin the second phase of his plan, his Callidus went red and showed INOP on the weapons panel, a rather startling but hardly impossible result. Kira slammed his thrusters hard to the right, hoping to circle around for a reengage and use the enemy's shield against himself, but the pilot acted faster than Kira would have given him credit. The thrust was expert, but the follow-up diagonal slash was artwork of combat itself, and before Kira could realize what had happened, his Gundam's left hand was on the way to the ground while he continued to try and clear away. Again, the performance of the enemy machine was the final deciding factor of the engagement, as Kira took a third hit, this one removing most of the left arm below the shoulder.

"Windam, Control, Kira's in trouble, move to support immediately!" Miriallia ordered while said Rune God mounted to the catapult. On the ground, Nicol had engaged the enemy left flank with aplomb, and before the nearby land-type had even seen the GuAIZ, he fired up the beam claws and chopped through its hip plates from rear to fore, bringing it down in a massive heap literally at his feet. The shot to the upper chest was pro forma but battlefield necessity, enough to disable the machine and secure his rear, such as it was. Once he jumped clear of the disabled foe, he tried coming down on one of the white MS with the beam claws, but the pilot wised and cleared away from him before the strike would have been fatal. That did not stop Nicol's other intention, and before he even landed, a beam was loosed into the side air intake of a flight-type MS, which was enough to drop it by severing the engine coolant systems. Nicol took the hit from the one that got away, the beam sheared a significant chunk of his MS off, including the right-side rocket anchor, but that strike threw his jump maneuver off-balance and rather than jump through a clearing, he flew the GuAIZ practically headfirst into a significantly large oak tree. The follow-up shot from the white machine struck dead-center on the upper chest of his Gundam, and found the strike-hardened battlemech fusion reactor inside. Rather than risk further damage that might result in an engine explosion, he decided to play it smart; Nicol SCRAM'd the reactor to play dead. "Nicol is down, engine hit, I'm playing dead right now," he reported.

"Fuu Hououji, Windam, launching!" Fuu shouted, urging Windam forward and thereby tripped the catapult, but immediately as she did so she realized it was not going to be her best launch yet. Barely thirty meters out of the launch alley, Windam flew chest-first through a cluster of missiles, though the Rune God had shrugged more and more powerful weapons off in the past. Once through that obscurant, Fuu vectored up and right, toward where the battle between the unknown Gundam and Kira had moved through. The rapidly-approaching Rune God did not go unnoticed by the enemy machine, and where it was guarding against an attempted renewed offensive from Kira, it also managed to block and jam aside Windam's massive sword. The swipe at Kira was less than effective, but the shield check and burst of machine Cannon did cause Windam to back off, if not far. Her re-engagement did not work out well, as the enemy machine cleared back and away from the massive sword of Windam, and again with the machine cannons, though this time Windam was readied for it and took the hits on the hardest armor of his frame. Fuu's third shot at the enemy came off a little better this time around, as the enemy took the hit on the shield with intent to counter and follow through, but the fact that Windam's sword became embedded halfway through his shield made a counterattack a no-go.

"Thanks, Fuu," Kira declared, relieved that someone had taken the heat off his abused Gundam.

Yzak put the thoughts of the air battle out of his mind. His Gundam was not flight-certified, and he had real enemies ahead of him to take care of. "Tolle, close up on 'em and take 'em in close! We're at a disadvantage out here in the clear!"

Tolle did not reply by words, just actions as he jumped forward 200 meters, closing the gap almost instantly while firing on them from above. His two hefted weapons garnered no kills, but the four missiles he used to 'sanitize' his landing zone did the job with a confirmed kill on the third of the white machines. He landed in a fire alley, however, and the second of the white machines got him good with a shot to the right femur on his Gundam. "Damn, not again!" Tolle shouted as his Gundam collapsed right on the bum leg, though he did get some consolation in taking down the last of the air units with a burst from the gun launcher – the forty-millimeter 'shotgun pellets' of the blast was enough to sunder the entire right half of the enemy MS to flying scrap, to which Yzak silenced with a volley of Shiva rail gun slugs. For him, however, the battle ended as a loss, with the second of the white machines having finished up the job begun on his leg, and a tap to the chest knocked out the cooling circuit for his engine.

"Tolle's down, engine casualty," Yzak reported. "_Archangel_, I need some serious backup out here!"

"Rayearth, launching!" Kira put the ground battle out of his mind, knowing that the foe in front of him was far too dangerous to suffer a distraction. It was all he could do not to gape, then, when the enemy did regain momentum and struck Windam in the one place it really counted – the exposed left wing. The Beam Saber chopped through effortlessly, and in recoil reaction Fuu loosed the sword and dropped altitude. Kira saw his one chance to capitalize, and made sure it counted. His strike of the beam saber landed on the enemy beam saber, and with the enemy melee weapon sheared off he had no recourse but to grab for Fuu's sword. Kira could only smile in reply, as his Gundam did not loose the shield to which the sword was embedded, but with the sword suddenly taking on an effective weight of 3 kilotons, his Gundam was quickly dragged to the ground at a breakneck pace. Kira simply stowed his remaining beam saber, drew one of the beam rifles, and waited. After the enemy Gundam landed, a single precision shot to the torso silenced the threat.

"Fuu, you all right?"

"That is the weirdest pain I have ever felt," Fuu replied, slightly dazed. "I natively don't have wings, but they still hurt!"

"Wait, this isn't right!" someone unknown half-shouted on an open radio channel.

"What? Who said that?" Miriallia replied immediately. "Identify on this channel!"

"Sanc Kingdom forces, cease fire!" the same guy ordered on the open channel, presumably at the same time as he did on their command frequency.

"What? Who called time out?" Yzak asked after the fire stopped very abruptly.

"Wait a minute!" The second of the white MS threw aside its beam rifle. "We're not enemies!"

"Like hell we ain't enemies, kid!" Yzak replied. "You just shot our unit up for no damned reason whatsoever! Why shouldn't I blow your ass to the moon for that?" Despite the gesture of peace from the enemy ranks, Yzak had not removed his aimpoint from the said machine.

"You're not Oz, are you?" the kid asked more reasonably as Hikaru closed up on Yzak's right side, potentially shielding the Duel from an attack from the other white MS.

"Hell no we are not Oz, I don't have a clue who Oz is."

"Oh crap," an older lady said on the same channel. "We just attacked a neutral party," she admitted.

"Well that was incredibly intelligent. Let me guess, bad intel?" Silence was the only answer to Yzak's scathing question. "Figured as much. Now what would make you think that this rather unique warship belongs to whoever these Oz pukes are?" He asked deadpan.

"We were informed that Oz may be attempting to land specialist troops on the southern shores of the Kingdom," the kid replied in turn.

"And this Oz group, they own a base northwest of here, near the narrows out to the open ocean?" Yzak asked calmly.

"Yeah, that's the Northern Baltic base—" The lady drew silent after Yzak began chuckling mirthlessly. "What's so funny?"

"You just got played pretty hard, pilot," Kira answered for Yzak. "We just tore through that base three days ago, but they knew we were headed in this general direction. If you got that intel from inside Oz, there's a pretty good chance your source is compromised, and they tried playing two enemies off against each other."

"That's not—" The lady gasped. "Oh, God, it IS possible."

"It is likely that Oz did try using us to destroy this ship," a different guy declared. "Oz has a track record of such deceptions, such as New Edwards and Operation Daybreak," he concluded.

"Oh God, now what?" the lady asked.

"I think you need to talk this one over with our commanding officer. If this scenario is right, and we both got played by these Oz pissants, well, the Captain will want to do something about that," Yzak said.

"Now, where did my arm land?" Kira asked nobody in particular, looking down off the side of the _Archangel_ for the severed limb of his Gundam.

* * *

Author's Chapter Afterword:

I LIVE! Or, at least I think I am still alive. Hard to say, sometimes. What is death, but the absence of living? And trust me on this if nothing else, seven months of job-hunting is not living. Sucks to be searching when about 20% of the rest of the country is out job-hunting as well (and that is including all the people that the Government and media won't claim are unemployed because it makes 'the boss' look bad).

The first of the battles for the Archangel was a bit of an odd one. I kept coming up with either median results (between 41 and 60) or mildly good results (some of the AA takedowns) until right there at the end, when things shifted wildly from side to side. You could see where it went bad (first appearance of the Taurus machines that took out the Gottfried), then good (Kira scratched that element) then bad (A second flanking element got Tolle at the legs). All things considered, though, after a six-month hiatus on battle writing, I don't think this one turned out as dynamic or as satisfying as I wanted.

The fight of Strike Freedom against Wing was hellish and brutal, and very random to boot. Far more to my liking this go around. The intro paragraph (first clash) was just that, setting the battle circumstances with rolls of 87 (W missed its buster rifle shot) – 94 (Kira destroyed the Buster Rifle) – 39 (W dodged the second beam saber) – 29 (W body-checked the SF and drew its own beam saber). The second paragraph is where the scoreboard really changed, starting with a 74 (two hits of four for the Xiphas), then 39 (W machine cannons damaged the Callidus beam cannon on the SF), then 7 (W removed the left hand of the Strike Freedom), and a 16 (Kira lost the remainder of his left arm). You can see how the results build on themselves, depending on how the rolls come, where successive negative or positive results build up to worse and worse circumstances for the inflicted party.

The score again changed wildly in the ground battle second paragraph, going from 88 (initial strike) to 55 (attempted on Noin, hit on the Aries) to 16 (Noin hit Nicol) to 4 (Nicol flew into tree, then took a beam to the engine), though fortunes held in the air battle third. Fuu had a rough start, being catapulted through a flight of missiles (21), and even a rougher start against Heero (33), which didn't improve the first time she reengaged (21), but did end on a neutral note there at the end (55); thankfully, the Rune Gods are some tough hombres. And once more, it vacillated in the ground battle with a 51, then a 30, then 55, then 7 – not looking good for the poor sods in either direction, but they are running out of machines on the ground by this time.

The air battle ended on a high note for the Archangel – 5, 87, 50, 63 and Heero is done. The battle status roll before switching back (enemy ace downed) came up 36, which is not low enough to force enemy favor, but not high enough to cause a surrender, so this is how it ended. Now you see why I take solace in the results of the dice, because battles can become something frenetic, almost unpredictable, and it makes it significantly entertaining to write.

Now, the great question is, what next? I leave that up to your imagination, but of course I am required to give this little tidbit. NEXT UP: Captain Ramius and Captain Noin discuss the intelligence failure that led to the battle, and what to do about it. Romafeller begins their overt moves in another part of the globe, seemingly unrelated but far from it.

ADDENDUM: HOLY SHIT! As of this posting, I have the following stats on this doc:

33,450 hits on this story, which is in excess of 1100 hits average PER CHAPTER. That is incredibly rare for Gundam SEED fics any more. Highest hits per chapter is actually neck-and-neck between Chapter 9 and Chapter 13. Just for ref, at least 5000 of those hits came after I posted chapter 30. I forget the exact number.

260 Reviews, which is an average of 8.6 reviews per chapter. For the record, the only other story I have doing anywhere near this well is my other epic tale, Legend Of The Jokers Wild (Revised), and it has not yet passed 100 reviews.

Story is in 8 C2 Archives, 68 members have it listed as favorites, and 51 members have specific alerts for this story alone. These numbers beat out all the stats for all my other stories combined.

These are the kinds of stats that keep an author going, knowing that so many people read one's work and like it. Much thank you all for the continued patronage, and I expect you all to keep those comments and ideas coming, the more the merrier :)

* * *

Review Replies:

Erm, HOLY SHIT! 22 reviews for my last chapter! That is so insane as to be noteworthy beyond even the norm!

As usual, here are the public replies, in order of review submitted.

**Knives91**: I hope this is answer enough as to the trouble to come.

**Strata-Assassin**: The water entry is actually primacy of chance: earth is 70 percent water, therefore the likelihood of showing up somewhere else is low, though henceforth not all jumps will be on-planet.

There will be a bit of a drinking binge, eventually. Not sure when, or where, or under what circumstances, but it will happen eventually.

Hope this covers your missing the Knight's weapons.

Well, Gundam SEED operates on much fridge logic at times, so there really is only a plot force excuse for how well they started working together. It took quite a bit of effort to get going right on this one, for obvious reasons. I detonated the Fridge Logic reservoir with a rigged can of American-grade Whoopass before I started writing this story.

Natarle will get her just dues in the side-story I am still planning for the remnants of the FF6 world. Kira on the bridge, however, doesn't quite add up as was shown.

You have asked for that more than once, though of course I have to wait for the dice to give a positive result.

You can be mad about Heine, but the dice have spoken. Sorry about that.

**One Village Idiot**: As you can see from this chapter, the burner is being turned up at every battle. As to who would make more effective commandos, it is a toss-up between the pilots and the Cook's team, though favoring the latter because they are trained special operations personnel, not jack-of-all-trade officers like the pilots.

**Nim Maj**: The status of who has what when the lead is through flying will be a bit interesting, since the appearance of the _Archangel_ is going to change a lot of things up. Even in its present beat-down state, that is.

**FraserMage**: This chapter should give you an answer to that question. The Sanc Kingdom still exists and Heero is still driving his Wing Gundam, or at least _was_ driving it until he grabbed Fuu's sword. Oops.

**Deathzealot**: I hope this answers your questions a bit more thoroughly. Things just happened a bit too fast for any kind of situation management in that last battle, until someone realized things were not going right...

**CHM01**: I hope this chapter disabused you of the idea that the Gundams are the only thing capable of challenging the _Archangel_. There already has been some salvaging, but there will necessarily have to be more—and better—salvage to properly conduct operations here.

**Jaded **(ANON review): thank you, I hope this chapter continues the tradition of it going well.

**Knightwolf 1875**: You would be surprised the possible decision tree that is coming for the crew...

**Barricade**: The land of Oz...really, when you mentioned that, I was reminded not of L. Frank Baum and his classic work, but of ICP's Wizard Of The Hood song...

I am truly unsure who will get what in the end, but there will be some serious bouts to come, both in and out of the cockpit. This universe screams for more dynamic application of whoopass, and the _Archangel_ crew natively thinks outside the box, so...

Actually, I was thinking someone else for the battle against Trowa, but that may not come to pass given the timeframe.

The evolution of the ship is as much random as it is expectable, so the dice have said no major mods these past two go-abouts, but that may change here at the next transition...or sooner. As to an AI, well, if there is one that will integrate into the ship, I already have that one in mind...

**EvilManicX**: Well, we've already encountered two of the Pilots (Quatre and Heero), and as to Mobile Dolls, the stakes keep getting higher and higher, so eventually you will see them in battle... Of course, those beam cannons they carry could prove useful to Murdoch's madmen...

**EtienneOfTheWestWind**: Well, the crew doesn't quite know how long they're going to be at it, but after this jump most of them have come to the realization that it will be a very long time before they get home. As to Wufei, well, he's still in space right now, and given Miriallia's tendencies, he should probably stay up there for his own health...

**NHO**: NHO, there are so many ways to do 'Bad SEED' at any point in the series, it is insane. You may get to see a few of them, even. Depends on the dice and all that.

**Akasui**: Well, amigo, nothing is quite as clear-cut as it first seems. Oz, for whatever reason they have, wants them dead. They'll even (possibly) sucker a neutral and pacifist nation into attacking them. The road home will not be easy for anyone.

As to the Strike Freedom, well, it is good but far from the marvel seen in GSD. Even with different design implementations, it may not be the only tool to save the ship, and there will be far more pain to come before things even begin to settle down.

This chapter should give you a better idea where they are in the series, which is well after Heero destroyed the Wing Gundam. Yzak can still take the beating, though :)

Gundam 00 and Xenosaga have been frequent requests, but hold onto those thoughts, there are many places still to go before the blatant end.

**Mega1987**: Sorry for the delay before the new chapter, I lost my will to write for a few months there. All should be better now :)

**Gundam Chief**: Impressive, you're the fourth that has said the locals are hamburger in front of the _Archangel_ except for the Gundams. Have you people no faith in Oz? I hope this chapter shakes the thought of suckiness in Oz ranks out of your mind...

**JC**: The reality to come will be stranger still...

**Lord Sia**: My follow-through has been lax in months of late, but I have not given up hope yet. I want this one done! I want to see where the dice lead it as much as you people want to read it, rest assured of that.

I have been ripped long and hard for the actions of the dice, especially in my Jokers Wild series. However, there comes a point at which you can write a story and have it turn out blandish, or you can introduce random decision trees and change the narrative accordingly, which can result in a wildly different story from expectations. Like in this chapter, Kira got his arse handed to him and Fuu was well on the way to joining him in defeat, but one little error on Heero's part and the battle folded out from under him.

The evolving ship principle I borrowed and upgraded from MKR, but it is far from done. With much in the way of lands still to traverse, there will be much in the way of upgrading to come, both from the crew making mods and from the ship evolving itself, though in the end the path of mods is still random. I don't have a set plan for it, since I don't know where everyone is going yet. The machines, however, are not tied to the evolution link and as such run the risk of being outclassed rather easily in certain circumstances.

Thank you for the recommendations for locations to go, Stargate is a common request. May do that eventually, may not. Still classified at this time :)

**Hellhound-D.O.W**: Most of my grammar work is courtesy of **Strata-Assassin**, it pays dividends to have a very good beta. As usual, I have to say where we go next is classified, but that is half the thrill, is it not?

**Confue** (Anon Review): Aube is the manga spelling of Orb, I have since stopped using it to maintain parity with the official spelling and material.

**Alex Yamato**: Gundam 00 is becoming a more frequent request. The more the merrier, I say. As to the rest, I hope this chapter puts a bit of a point on what you are seeing between the lines...

**Mordalfus Grea**: Your knowledge of Murphy's Laws is excellent, and you can expect they are in full force in this story.

**Barricade** (Again): Sorry for the delay, comrade, here it is :)

**2ndsly**: You are correct about the Valiants, I call them rail guns when in canon they are coil guns (gauss rifles, etc). And trust me on this if nothing else, the _Archangel_ will need every pound of whoopass it can muster throughout the rest of the story, because things are only going to get progressively uglier.

**Eduardo** (ANON Review): Your appraisal is correct, and they just went head-to-head with the infamous Wing Gundam. Things will only get grittier from here on out...

**THANK YOU ALL FOR THE REVIEWS! **I am sorry this took me so long to get out, but since November I have been under varying degrees of writer's block and outside distractions. Now that I am back into it, I should have more chapters done faster in coming weeks.

* * *

The Gripe Sheet: Again, well over a hundred corrections to be made courtesy of the grammar ninja, **Strata-Assassin**. No outstanding probs for the last chapter.

* * *

Footnotes:

(1): Central Battle Computer, similar to but far more powerful than the Learning Computer System of the RX-78 system. Also houses the unit's AI system, integral to this line of the Strike Freedom.

(2): This is a safety measure similar to the industrial safety system Lock-out Tag-out. Basically, in this case it prevents the GuAIZ from being used if it is still under maintenance or not safe to use.

(3): When you see a guy with the lighted batons or a guy using strange hand gestures to guide a plane or MS as it begins moving, you are seeing a Marshaller. In the case of planes, these guys are usually accompanied by two wing-walkers, who keep the pilot from clipping wings with objects or other planes. Despite how easy this looks, it is one of the most vital tasks for modern flight operations, and one of the most difficult.

(4): In Gundam Wing, all weapon systems (with one exception) look like particle or plasma-based beam weapons, including the Space Laser. So, I'm mixing it up to show deliberate differences.

(5): This system, the use of kevlar blankets to stop fragmentation on the inside of armor plating (often called spalling) is presently used in the M1 series of Main Battle Tanks as a protective measure for the crew. Supposedly the only thing more effective is a double-hull design, which is not effective on tanks and would definitely weigh too much in this application.

(6): **Ventral** is the lower surface of a ship, craft, or fish. Dorsal surfaces are the top of the ship, craft, or fish.


	32. Refuge In Audacity

(Archangel's Amazing Adventures, Section 4, Chapter 3: Refuge In Audacity)

"Part of me wonders if this is becoming a bad habit," Murrue noted with a hint of irony. "The rest of me wonders if this is a manipulation backfire on someone else's part."

"Yzak does have a point," Mu replied before he dropped the slide on his pistol to chamber a round. A quick thumb to the safety and he holstered it. "By all appearances, it looks like these Oz fellows tried playing us off against one of their other enemies."

"That's what has me worried, Mu. Either we did get played hard, or this is a ruse to get us to stand down before we are struck again."

"And that's why I told Kira to hold position on the foredeck," Mu said. "They won't make too much of a move if their forces are under watch from our Gundams."

"I hope you're right," Murrue replied evenly. "After you," she gestured to the airlock door.

Mu tripped the airlock door and was the first out onto the ground of this world. A couple of the galley staff were acting as dutiful guards on top of the _Archangel_ itself, but those few were insurance and no more. Murrue believed she could talk the locals out of annihilating her or the ship, especially after the one kid said they weren't enemies. The few surviving enemy machines had stopped and the pilots were out, seeing to their downed comrades. Mechanics from the _Archangel_ were likewise seeing to the downed machines from the Archangel Team, though staying well away from the enemy machines for obvious reasons.

"Show Captain out of the ship, moving to neutral ground," one of the Cook's Commandos declared over the radio. "Believe enemy commander is the lady in the ornate, well, tunic would be my best guess."

"Longcoat," Murrue corrected. "Tunics are one-piece wear under a coat like that."

"Oh," the Commando replied. "Sniper has eyes on, no visible threats in area."

"Moving forward now," Murrue said after she looked around and verified she could see no threats.

"So, how do we do this?" Mu asked as they began the march toward the (possibly) enemy officer.

"Up front, though not in their face," Murrue replied evenly. "Just from looking at our downed machines, they probably know we aren't from around here. For now we assume that we have been played off against each other, unless I get the hint we have not."

Mu nodded twice, unwilling to say what he thought about their new circumstances. To Murrue, at least, the steeled look on his face was evidence enough he didn't like what had thus far happened. The march continued in silence up the shoreline hill and toward the enemy officer, who was speaking to one of the pilots. As Murrue approached, she could tell the pilot in question was no older than Kira had been when this misbegotten adventure began in Heliopolis, and the commanding officer could not be more than twenty as far as she could guess. When Mu figured the same: "Start young here," Mu put voice to Murrue's thoughts.

"Same applies to us," Murrue answered quietly.

The last few meters were hesitant for both _Archangel_ officers, but for Murrue it provided a bit of final analysis and a hint of mental echo from both the enemy pilot and commander. Murrue knew she had the moral high ground and at least tactical superiority, a combination well suited to the bargaining table. The other side knew it, given what bare echoes she was hearing from them, or at least knew it but were not actively thinking about it.

When Murrue stopped at a reasonable two meters distance, both the pilot and the commander came to attention and saluted – albeit sloppily, in the case of the pilot. "Lucrezia Noin, Sanc Kingdom," the 'enemy' commander declared.

"Quatre Rebaba Winner, Sanc Kingdom pilot," the kid pilot said.

Murrue and Mu returned the salute properly. "Captain Murrue Ramius, freelance warship _Archangel_," Murrue said, hoping her phrasing would help to break down some of the tension.

"Commander Mu La Flaga, Archangel Team mobile forces," Mu added after a short pause.

All four dropped their salutes after a prolonged moment. "Before we begin, I want to ask one thing for clarity: neither your forces, nor your ship, are part of Oz?" Noin asked plaintively.

"No," Murrue replied evenly and immediately. "We've done battle with Oz twice in the past week. If I can avoid doing a third round, I will avoid it."

"Then what are you?" the pilot asked. "I've never seen a ship or machines like yours," he admitted.

_They're on the level_, Murrue thought but did not say. She could sense that they were confused, not disseminating and not scheming.

"We're lost," Mu said. "Like, 'wrong side of town' lost, only on a cosmic scale. And we're just trying to get home."

"Um, what?" Noin asked.

"Not of this world?" Quatre guessed after a moment's contemplation.

"How can you tell?" Murrue gaped, clearly shocked that someone guessed it right from the outset.

"Phrasing, accent, uniforms, ship, everything's off about you. You're not from around here," Quatre hedged. "And I know you're not from the colonies, we'd've heard about a new weapons project if there was one."

Mu looked to the captain. "He's got us there, cap'n. We do kinda stand out."

"Can't argue with that," Murrue replied.

"Okay, okay," Noin began, but hesitated. "You have any kind of proof of that? I mean, it looks like this isn't anything made locally, but another world?"

Murrue nodded contemplatively. "Let's see, I have video records, picture records, audio records, paper records, weapons that are not manufactured on this planet." She was extrapolating the last bit, but the Clan Large Pulse Lasers mounted on the ship would not have equivalents on this planet, given what had been seen in battle thus far. "Even have a couple 400mm naval autocannon slugs that were shot at us and penetrated the hull in a warship battle a couple years back. I have plenty of evidence, where do we start?"

Noin opened her mouth to respond, hesitated, then closed it. She made a snap judgment on the matter: "This is going to take quite a bit of time, isn't it?"

Murrue nodded once. "Out here, or better accommodations?" She jerked her thumb at the ship.

-x-

Noin and Quatre were both rightly awed by the contents of the _Archangel_'s Stateroom. The walls were lined with bookcases, interspersed with display cases of amazing trinkets and even gems of excessive size. Much as Murrue had said, a 400mm cannon slug was tied down in a corner with anchoring straps, and even showed the rifling of its cannon bore in the partial light of the room. A flick of a hand over a control panel just inside the door was ample to bring the lights up to daylight, and Noin laid eyes on the flags behind the officer's desk.

Noin had her doubts about Quatre's aspersion and Murrue's quick-and-dirty explanation, but the wildly varied accents of the ship's crew – not to mention the ship itself – were quickly eroding her doubts. The amount of unusual stuff and circumstances well exceeded the point of absorption, to the level of activating Noin's 'weirdness censor' due to sheer overload of new things. Still, her military training and discipline kept her going, and put her at the amazing secondary chairs for the desk set – a finer desk she had only seen in the Romafeller foundation.

"Still not convinced?" Quatre asked as he stepped up to the second chair. Noin did not answer.

"Please, be seated," Murrue requested from the other side of the desk. "May I offer you anything to drink?"

"Water?" Noin asked, figuring it was a reasonably safe option for negotiating. Quatre nodded.

"Not a problem," Murrue replied, then picked up a growler phone. "Mess detail, please send two pitchers of ice water to the Stateroom."

"Shall I kick off?" Mu asked. "Where at?" he continued after a nod from Murrue.

"Take it from the top," Murrue considered. "Heliopolis, ZAFT and the Earth Alliance, all the way to South-Pac. I'll continue from there."

" 'Kay, before I begin, do you both understand the concept of parallel dimensions?" Mu asked.

"Same planets, different history?" Quatre asked, having read a few stories along those lines over the years.

"Different history, doesn't even have to be the same planet," Mu replied. "Across five dimension hops, we've been to two planets clearly not Earth, and one where Earth existed but we had never laid eyes on it."

"Okay, I'll buy that up to a point," Noin countered. "What kind of twisted history could create a warship like this one?"

"An extremely twisted one," Murrue replied, then nodded to Mu.

"It really started when the resources on our Earth began running out – major ones, like oil and living space," Mu began, starting with earlier history than he intended. "The entire world ended up in a massive war for control of the remaining material. Add to that an influenza epidemic, and a worldwide economic collapse, well, it was a global chain of catastrophes. About the same time, a genetics research group began working on Coordinators – genetic enhancements for humanity. It would take about seventy years and a long terror campaign for the jealousy to boil over into a full-scale colonies-against-Earth war, but that is how it went down. Hatred of those who are perceived to be better eventually leads to a race war. Honestly, there were other factors involved. Resource and manufacturing obligations, international treaties, terrorist organizations, the media, yet in the end the decisive reason was outright hatred. The declaration of war came a few days before the Earth Alliance showed what manner of monster they were, by using a nuclear weapon on a space colony."

"And that history produced this ship," Quatre made the conclusive jump.

"Sort of," Mu semi-confirmed. "The ship's changed quite a bit, in structure and armaments since it was commissioned. Of course, the really weird stuff hasn't even begun yet, so..."

Noin grimaced. She thought the Earth Alliance was generally bad for their actions pertaining to trying to take over the world, but they did it in little bits and starts over a century. What Commander La Flaga had described was an all-out race war that started with a nuclear strike and only became worse from there. "That's...terrible. Civilian colony?"

"Agricultural," Mu replied. "240 thousand dead, almost all civilian. After that, nobody would back down; even third parties and neutral states were drawn into the expanding war. Fast forward almost a year from the nuke strike, and this ship, the _Archangel_, is rolled out for its shakedown in a neutral resource colony called Heliopolis. Of course, this being the race war from hell I'm talking about, our shakedown came courtesy of a ZAFT Special Operations team. They were ordered to capture five prototype Mobile Suits and capture or destroy the ship. They captured four, didn't destroy the ship, and ended up chasing us from the colony to an Earth Alliance asteroid base. Once they trashed the base, they chased us right down into the atmosphere."

"That doesn't sound pleasant," Quatre said. "But, one question. This ship was Earth Alliance, right?"

"Was," Murrue echoed. "When we began involuntarily dimension-hopping, we realized there wouldn't be a way to continue being Earth Alliance and survive."

Mu picked up: "After a while, most of us just gave up on the Earth Alliance in its entirety, the rest of us want to lay down some hurt on—"

"Captain from Salvage Two, come back," her radio barked.

"Go," Murrue requested.

"Nicol and Tolle are recovered, Nicol's headed into medbay for a twisted knee. Recovery of Mobile Suits is ahead of schedule, ETA 9-0 minutes."

"Roger that, continue as normal," Murrue ordered.

"Where was I?" Mu asked after a moment.

"Chased down into the atmosphere," Quatre prompted.

"Oh, yeah, that was fun," Mu said with a neutral voice of disdain. "We landed about halfway around the planet from where we needed to be, and ended up fighting our way across the Sahara against ZAFT's desert forces, through the Indian Ocean against ZAFT's maritime forces, and even a couple rounds against the ZAFT special forces that started the chase. Then, to cement our title of 'cosmic chew toy', we make a stop-off in a neutral nation for repairs to the ship and got shelled by both the ZAFT Spec Ops team and the neutral nation. The neutral ships used it as a ruse to get the ZAFT guys to go away, but they did hit us a couple times to make it a more realistic illusion. We have a holo of that, cap'n?"

"I don't think Kira has converted that part of the records yet," Murrue replied after considering it.

"Anyway, we laid over in Orb for three weeks, patched the bullet holes and burn marks on the ship, and headed out for our original destination, Alaska." Despite the lack of holo-converted records, Murrue still put up a campaign map on the projection wall with their routes and with the major political borders involved. "We made it this far before we encountered the same ZAFT Spec Ops team for another go at it – and then things went from zero to weird in about, what? Four seconds? Less?" The last question was directed at Murrue.

"Three, four seconds," the captain replied. "I do have video of that, we caught part of the transfer on records."

The instant of the first dimension hop, brought forth by the Pillar of Cephiro, was almost something of a science-fiction work, until the inevitable crash in a forest that rightly should not be in an area that was completely ocean from horizon to horizon on the screen seconds before. The sound of the impact and the settling of the hull, both from the crash and the change in air pressure, was creepy to Noin and Quatre both.

"Here is where the real journey begins, and the underlying rules change," Murrue took over for the next section as Mu poured everyone a glass of water. "We did not know it yet, but we arrived in a new world, no way home, and with a really nasty task ahead of us..."

-x-x-x-

The impact from the fall had not left much of Heero's Gundam intact. As tough as Wing was, it was far from indestructible. The landing damaged most of the motive systems in the machine and almost all the cockpit systems, except for the radio, life support, and port-side external monitor, and as a final insult also contorted the cockpit hatches into an alignment that would not open. The impact also broke Heero's left leg in two places, it was that forceful. Heero's response was simple: two aspirin, try to evacuate his downed machine. The off-tone ring of his emergency evacuation bolts told him he could take the aspirin, but he wasn't going anywhere just yet.

Nearly an hour passed before he heard anything meaningful on the radio. "Heero, this is Noin, you all right in your Gundam still?"

"So far," Heero replied on the same radio band. "What's our status?"

"Well, we got played," Noin replied. "The ship and suits definitely are not Oz units. The intelligence we were fed has to be faulty."

"That source is compromised," Heero replied evenly. It was unsurprising to him; he had figured it of dubious quality to begin with, mainly because Oz had a long history of doing just exactly that kind of counter-espionage to give them advantages in battle. And what better way to cripple a force than to have it face off against a third party that Oz intended to annihilate sooner or later? "And the ship?" he asked after a few moments to chain some thoughts together.

"Think Odysseus, only jumping between alternate histories instead of islands in the Mediterranean," Quatre answered for Noin. "For now, they're going to give us a lift back to base; Representative Peacecraft will need to figure out what to do with them."

"I don't like anyone touching my mobile suit," Heero griped.

"I know, Heero, but right now you're dead in the water. Someone has to help," Quatre opined.

Heero acknowledged his defeat in that regard by saying nothing for a few moments. "All right, can you get someone to open my cockpit? The outer hatch is jammed in place, the explosive bolts failed to release it."

"Hold on," Quatre replied. Five seconds later, "I'm going to pass you over to one of their MS Mechanics," Quatre said, before handing over the radio.

"Pilot, this is Murdoch, Archangel Team mechanic. Is your inner hatch closed?"

"It is," Heero replied, suddenly getting the feeling that he would not like what was to come.

"Stand by," Murdoch requested. The next was clearly into a different radio. "Windam, Murdoch, bring your sword in."

For all that he had heard plenty of sword work courtesy of his fencing and epee training, Heero could easily recognize the wildly different sound of the large sword being pulled from his shield – a terrific grating and screeching sound like no other. He suspected that sword had been involved in his machine's sudden acceleration toward the ground, but to what method it had overcome the engines on his Gundam was still a mystery.

The sound of groaning metal immediately above his cockpit ran a shiver down Heero's spine. "Easy, girl, this isn't the thickest part of the unit's armor," Murdoch said into the secondary radio.

_I shall not injure the pilot_, Heero knew he heard it very clearly, in fact far too clearly for it to have been by ear, much less across a secondary radio echo. How he heard it, though, was definitely a mystery. _One moment; the hatch will be loosed_. Heero cringed when the whole frame of his Gundam groaned to the ministrations above him, then blanched when the outer hatch finally gave with a loud clang. The last shudder was also the last jolt of the machine.

Heero's hand hesitated over the inner hatch release button, at least long enough for his other hand to find the self-destruct trigger. If this was a spy job, he was going to make sure his Gundam didn't fall intact into anyone's hands. With the trigger in his grip, he tripped the hatch to the outside world. _This is going to be a pain in the ass to fix_, Heero thought while his eyes began adjusting to the receding daylight.

It took him a few seconds to realize one of the three people above his cockpit was Noin. "Broken leg?" One of the other figures above him was Quatre, the third was unrecognizable.

"Yeah," Heero said emotionlessly.

"Here," the third guy said; his voice placed him as Murdoch, the Archangel Team mechanic. A small container dropped onto Heero's gut, though not with enough speed to cause him to even flinch. "C-rat pack. Chow down while we crane your machine up to the ship's foredeck. Medics will pull you after we get you up top."

"I'll get out here," Heero hoisted himself out of the cockpit by arms and one leg only, then out of the armor well between the inner and outer hatches and finally onto the chest of his machine.

"Or not," Murdoch shrugged. "Gomer, get the hoist chains in place! 3-5 minutes and we're out of here, whether you're onboard or not!"

"Yeah, yeah," someone down near the machine's left knee grumbled.

"Heero, what are you—" Quatre began, but silenced himself. "You're not—" Murdoch looked back to where Heero was, just in time to watch the pilot force the broken bone in his left leg back into place. "Good God, Heero, that—ugh!" Quatre turned away to barf his recently-consumed ration pack over the side of Heero's Gundam.

"That...was disgusting," Noin said. "Unsurprising, but disgusting."

"Damn, kid," Murdoch said. "Here, use this for a splint," and Murdoch handed the kid a 'stick' magazine for a Thompson. "I've seen some hardcore shit over the years, done some hardcore shit myself, but that was insane. I need a freakin' drink after seein' that."

Heero was quick to tie the magazine on as a splint and stand up. "What do we do now?"

"We're riding back to base on their ship," Noin said. "We'll submerge the ship in the northern lake, it's large enough for that, and then we get to figure out what to do about it."

"This is going to cause trouble," Heero said, looking over the green...mobile thing he fought against in the air. "What is that supposed to be?"

"A Rune God," Noin said.

"A _what_?" Heero half-barked.

"A long story," Noin concluded. "I'll explain in route. Best we get off, they're about to hoist your machine."

-x-x-x-

(11 November AC195, 2100 hours)

The ship was mobile once again, this time headed north into a nation and not east or south into international waters.

"Conn, sensors, only contact is Oz EWAC turbojet, heading 3-5-0, range 6-2-5 kilometers, course 2-1-0 speed 3-5-0 kilometers," Sai reported.

"Jamming him?" Noin asked.

"Yeah, our N-Jammers are active right now, so he won't be seeing us," Murrue said. "Might also cause problems with your systems, but we'll deactivate when we land."

"We'll have to move your ship in six hours to dodge the recon satellites; I'm thinking probably moving you down to the south shore. Oz set up a submarine pen that should be large enough to house the ship," Noin said, having revised her plans for concealing the ship.

"And if Representative Peacecraft says 'no'?" Newman asked from the helm station.

"Then we do one of two things," Murrue began. "We go orbital, stay out of everyone's way, and eventually jump out, or we smash Oz, then jump out."

"I vote we smash Oz," Chandratta said. "Bastards shot us up without even a warning."

"Second that," Kuzzey said.

"Ditto," Miriallia added after a second.

"I'll admit something needs to be done about the Romafeller foundation, but this is a pacifist nation – we can't take outside direct hostile action, the Chief Representative won't allow it," Noin commented.

"Interesting," Murrue said. "And this nation has no notable military?"

"Well," Noin hedged. "We have a small contingent of defensive forces, including one Gundam."

"But, due to your pacifist bent, you can't maintain enough to stop Oz, right?" Murrue asked.

"True," Noin admitted after a moment's silence.

"This gives me an idea, but I'll have to discuss it with my crew." Murrue thought hard about how to get an opinion from the crew without an assembly, since things were operating too fast right now. She also did not want Noin in on the plan, either by way of seeing it or not. The idea came to her in a flash, remembering her and Miriallia's talent, and Mu's ability to squeeze anyone for an answer.

_Mu, could you head through the ship and ask around about the possibility of reviving the Archangel Team on this planet_? Murrue asked Mu telepathically.

"Permission to step down, Captain?" Mu asked after a moment.

"Granted. Miriallia has CIC."

"I have the CIC," Miriallia replied evenly, giving the illusion that such was routine on this ship.

"Conn, Helm, estimate fifteen minutes to requested landing zone," Newman said.

"Helm, aye," Murrue replied evenly.

"Well, that's interesting," Kuzzey said. "Cap'n, broadcast radio's talking about us."

"Well, that's good," Murrue said. "What are they saying?"

"That we're moving on the west side of the national forest and not to panic," Kuzzey said.

"Somebody always panics," Chandratta said.

The personnel door opened at the rear of the bridge. "Coffee delivery," CWO Ryback said from the bridge door.

"Coffee!" Sai, Chandratta, Kuzzey, and Newman shouted in response.

"Aww, thank you, Chief Ryback," Miriallia said as the cook chief handed her an individual thermos. Sai and Kuzzey got their personal choice brews tossed in their direction; none missed the catch.

"Cap'n," the chief handed her off a thermos.

"Thanks, Chief," Murrue said.

"Horsepower, standard, or decaf, Commander Noin?" the Chief asked.

"Standard," she replied warily, unsure what 'horsepower' meant and definitely not interested in any form of coffee without caffeine. She was handed a green-bottle vacuum thermos.

"Newman, on your seven!" A red bottle went his way; the helmsman practically snatched it out of air as it passed over his head, belying an impressive reaction speed. "Chandra, heads up." The last thermos went to the weapons officer.

"Thanks, comrade," Chandratta said before he popped the top with one hand. "Conn, weps, Gottfried Two is back online."

"Weps, acknowledged," Murrue replied.

"Back in two hours," Ryback said. He picked up a bag of empty thermos bottles from a rack on the bulkhead near the door. A spare bag was returned to the rack for the next run of empties.

"We'll be on a skeleton crew at that time, better call forward," Miriallia said.

"Roger. Need anything else, Captain?"

"Next meal is 2400, right? What's in the oven?" Murrue asked.

"Last of those turkeys we 'liberated' from ZAFT territory, Cap'n. Not sure what the rest of 'em are cooking up."

"Very well, thanks for the wake-up call, Chief. Keep me apprised on dinner arrangements, we may have guests."

"Pleasure, cap'n." With a hint of grace in movement, the Chief of the Galley was out the door and into the adjacent halls.

"If I may comment Captain?" Noin asked, definitely assured that Murrue was both a superior officer and in command of a fanatical crew; offending her would not be to her advantage, especially on the bridge of her own ship.

"Certainly," Murrue replied immediately.

"It seems like there's a lot more to the crew of this ship than just people trying to get home," Noin said.

"There is," Captain Ramius confirmed. "We have lost personnel, survived a mutiny, gained personnel, picked up Bondsmen from the Jade Falcons, lost some of those Bondsmen, the list goes on. We've taken a lot of beating, won some, lost some, but we haven't given up."

-x-

(2330 hours, same day)

Relena found herself quite awed by the massive warship in front of her. It wasn't so much that it was massive, or a warship, but the presence the thing showed. Even severely beat up and in the process of being repaired, the ship itself just looked as foreboding as Death himself, but a very graceful Death at that. Relena figured it ponderous in terms of actual movement speed, but it gave all appearance of being fast just on its form.

"My, it certainly is an impressive ship," Pagan, her driver and administrative assistant, gaped after Relena exited the limo.

"It is, but I think Miss Noin's report is even more impressive," Relena said. "The crew and officers may be the more impressive of the pair."

"I wouldn't even know where to begin looking for Miss Noin or the Captain," Pagan admitted after they watched the ship for a couple of minutes.

"Oh, Heero might know," Relena said with raised spirits, recognizing the Gundam pilot nearby an MS carrier that was waiting to receive his Gundam. Without a further word, Relena began the march to where Heero was directing the lowering of his Gundam to the waiting transport.

"Oh, Miss Relena, are you sure it's safe..." Pagan's sentence trailed off the farther she moved away. "Headstrong," he groused to himself after a few moments.

As she approached, the shouts and conversations started making somewhat more sense, until she could actually begin understanding what she was hearing. Their dialect was definitely unusual, but their English was understandable in the end. "Attention all personnel, the ship is required to move in 1-4-0 minutes to avoid recon satellites, all external maintenance details are to be secured in 1-2-0 minutes for movement. That is all," a young female voice warned over the ship's external speakers.

"Jerome! Tell the number six crane to slow it down! If she breaks that LRM 20 pack, the galley crew will be servin' her for breakfast!" one of the ship's hull welders shouted toward the bow of the ship.

"I'm tellin' 'er, I'm tellin' 'er, don' get yer panties in a wad," a marshaller replied, his lighted wands turned off for the moment. "Crane six, Ground Lead, slow it down before Murdoch gets too pissed off," he said into a radio. She heard part of the reply, but couldn't make out what was said over the noise in the area.

Relena continued down the length of the ship, more or less oblivious to the hazards around her except when it was at ground level. She passed by another hull welding crew, this one comprised of three ladies (one was younger than Relena) and two guys on a massive scissor lift. "Mark out and cut the outer hull plate in a 3-meter-by-2-meter square around the damage points, then cover the outside edge of the cut with a strip of thermite tape. Set the patch plate in place, make sure it seals all the way around with the thermite in contact with both hull and patch. Stand back and set the thermite off. Instant patch weld, all you need to do is verify it sealed completely." The guy speaking was slightly older than Relena, but the bizarre blue hair was throwing her off in appraising how old he really was.

"Won't the thermite cook through the hull plates?" the youngest of the three ladies asked.

"Thermite was originally used for welding, it was weaponized later. This strip material is—hey, kid!" A whistle drew Relena's attention back to the scissor lift the welders were on. "This is a hard hat area! Put this on!" Relena barely had enough time to reach and catch the stainless steel hard hat. "You, too," and a second hard hat was thrown to Pagan. "Freaking hell, civvies in the middle of a maintenance zone without hard hats. The captain woulda had our asses if something happened to her..."

Relena did do as instructed, as did Pagan, and the pair continued their trek to where Heero was beginning to direct the lowering of his Gundam. Reason why the hard hats were mandatory came after another ten meters of march. "INCOMING! LOOK OUT BELOW!" someone up top shouted; Relena stopped and looked up to see what was coming, and barely caught a glimpse of a light-duty chain falling through klieg light beams before it slammed into the ground twenty meters in front of her. "Y'all right down there?"

Relena, unsure if shouting would be appropriate, simply gave a thumbs up. The welder in question saluted with her running blowtorch and turned back to her task. Other than falling bits of cooled slag (which the hard hat stopped from hurting Relena or Pagan), the rest of the trip to Heero was uneventful, even educational (she got to see the innards of the hull of a ship, something she never really thought about or learned of in school).

"Crane four, Ground Four, bring it down another 2-0 meters and stand by for directional corrections," Heero said into a radio as Relena approached.

"Heero?" Relena asked.

"Relena?" Heero looked over his shoulder quickly, then back to what he was doing. "What are you doing here?"

"I'm here to speak to the captain," Relena replied before the crane jolted and came to a stop.

"Ground Four, Crane Four, what corrections do I need?" the crane operator asked.

"Crane Four, correct 3 meters to the north, two meters to east, rotate ten degrees clockwise and drop another ten meters. Stand by for further instructions." Heero switched radio channels on his walkie-talkie. "Murdoch, Ground four, I have someone at my location with need to speak with the Captain."

"Stand by," someone on the radio replied. "Maintenance Control, Murdoch, you know where the Captain is?"

"Negative, Murdoch, Captain Ramius is off-duty at this time. Try calling her direct, band 1-6-Alpha." The voice of Maintenance Control was the same young lady that had given the notice about the oncoming recon satellites over the loudspeaker.

"Stand by, Ground Four," Murdoch replied. Fifteen seconds of radio static ensued. "Ground Four, Murdoch, please have the guest report to the hangar airlock about forty meters forward of your MS carrier, someone will be waiting to escort."

"Thank you, Heero, I'll go from here," Relena said.

Heero simply nodded before he turned back to his task. "Crane Four, Ground Four, bring it down another five meters," he said as the pair continued past the carrier and toward the hatch that just opened on the side of the ship.

Relena and Pagan made it to the door without any other delays or hazards. Inside the airlock, Relena only had a few moments to gape at the contents of the hangar before her escort arrived; the approaching escort firmly drew Relena's attention, mostly because the military uniform was wildly incongruous on someone the same age as she, and only made worse by the strange half-glove with the blue gem on her left hand, as if she was trying to be both high society and low-end military all at once.

"Chief Representative Peacecraft, right?" the lady sounded just as young to Relena as she guessed.

"I am," Relena replied warily.

"I'm your escort, ma'am," the pilot bowed formally but quickly. "Umi Ryuuzaki, Archangel Team Magic Knights," she said.

"Umm, thank you," Relena replied with as much grace as she could use to cover up her surprise. She had been expecting more than a few things out of this trip, but a pilot with such force of presence as Umi was not on that list of expectations. Especially someone who was barely as old as she. Then there was the outstanding issue of her being a Magic Knight, and what that meant given the reports Noin had sent her already...

"C'mon, ma'am," Umi waved her forward. "Hanging around the hangar is a good way to get put to work," Umi clarified.

Relena followed close, convinced both that Umi was right (she would be put to work if left in there) and that not staying close could easily get her lost.

"Just spot-weld it into place, the internal repair systems will take care of the rest in seven hours," a different pilot said, standing nearby a hulking white-and-blue machine in one of the starboard cubicles. "Worry about Nicol's machine, mine is close enough to ready!"

"I need 7-2 meters of Myomer in 2-meter segments, bundled off in two bundles of 18 strands apiece! Got it, Johnson?" A mechanic working on a very blocky machine shouted to the ground personnel.

"Two bundles, 18 strands, 2 meters, got it!" said ground crewman ran past Relena toward a staging area full of large crates.

"I need five hundred kilos of coolant for the Duel (1), release it slow!" a mechanic on the large blue MS shouted to someone on the gantries around them. A guy on the gantries turned a small valve wheel slowly, until a green-blue liquid could be seen going through the hose and into the large blue Mobile Suit. Another technician was hand feeding sizable cannon shells into the side of the same Mobile Suit's head, into a special bin designed to hold and feed the shells into the machine cannons above the bin.

"Is it always this hectic in here?" Relena asked Umi.

"At least this bad, usually worse," Umi replied at a near shout to overcome the noise in the hangar. "Wait here," a warning arm came out to obstruct Relena from moving past her. The reason they were stopped became evident fast, as two cargo-carrying exoskeletons marched past, both loaded heavy with metal sheets and assorted parts. "C'mon," Umi waved them forward again, this time to pass behind a cargo-carrying small vehicle as it moved a crate of 75mm API shells to the Duel.

"Ordinance handling underway at the Duel, Strike Freedom, all personnel use caution in the vicinity of said Gundams," the maintenance controller cautioned over the internal hangar speakers.

Umi led Relena and Pagan straight toward a large machine that looked less human than it did like a walking tank with large 'ears' assembled of missile tubes. Behind said machine was a hatch leading into the innards of the ship. "Gah! Got lucky there, no other delays to get through the hangar," Umi half-complained. "C'mon, we need to head up three levels and laterally across the ship to get to the Stateroom."

Relena grimaced but said nothing. Despite the serious workout and hazards she had already faced, it was turning out to be something akin to an incredibly-demanding IRL adventure novel.

-x-

"And this is where we got 'em." Relena did not recognize the first voice as the door opened, but she did recognize the second.

"This operation just screamed for air support," Noin said.

"We were the air support," Murrue said. "Well, this ship and Windam's Esper contingent, that is," the older lady behind the desk admitted. "You're right, though, we needed more. A lot more."

"Captain Ramius, Chief Representative Peacecraft to speak to you, ma'am," Umi said after coming to attention.

"Thank you, Umi, please remain," the Captain said. "Chief Representative, welcome aboard the _Archangel_. I am Captain Murrue Ramius, this is Commander Mu La Flaga, unit second-in-command. Please, have a seat." Murrue gestured to one of the chairs next to Noin.

"Thank you, Captain," Relena replied graciously.

"Coffee?" Mu offered her a large military-style mug.

"Thank you, Commander," Relena was even more grateful for the coffee, given on a normal day she would have been asleep over 2.5 hours prior. The strong brew was ample to provide her a jolt above and beyond the constant stimulus of being in a very unfamiliar warship and helped clear her mental fog rapidly. Two sips later: "First off, I wish to apologize sincerely for the attack on your ship this afternoon," she began, then hesitated. "I authorized the attack, believing the Romafeller foundation would attack some of the fishing settlements in the area to incite panic in the area. I was wrong to do that."

"You did what you had to," Murrue replied. "Faulty intelligence on what you presume to be an attack on civilians is not the worst fate possible."

"But—" she stammered, seeing the look in Murrue's eyes. "What about you? We attacked a neutral ship—"

Murrue cut her excuse off with the cold, hard truth: "You attacked a neutral ship on faulty intelligence, believing we were a Special Operations group of the Romafeller Foundation, under the assumption that we intended to attack civilians. You were misled at multiple levels," Murrue said with a perfectly calm demeanor. "Commander Noin has explained to us how much a track record the Oz organization has in doing such. It's unsurprising, really, Oz would want two of their most dangerous foes to grind themselves down to the point that they could be crushed."

Noin glanced at Relena, but said nothing. "But...why you? You're a neutral ship, right?"

"Technically, yes and no," Mu answered for Murrue. "By normal practice, we are neutral. We're just playing the role of Odysseus and his fleet, trying to return home against all odds. We have been de facto forced to take sides – our own side – against the Romafeller foundation. When we first arrived on planet, less than a week ago, we blundered into an Oz staging base and thereafter into a four-direction naval and air force ambush. Since the first scrap, we had to cut our way through one of their bases to escape a second ambush, and I would say they are furious with the property damage we caused."

Murrue picked up next: "They probably realized early yesterday where we were loosely heading, and decided to feed you an estimated approach time. It's something of an easy solution, using two enemies against each other. No matter who wins, everyone loses from Romafeller's perspective."

Despite Murrue's lack of apparent concern over what had happened, the explanation only served to make Relena feel ultimately worse. "I—I know Oz does these kinds of things, but I can't help feeling responsible for this," Relena continued.

"Then what?" Mu asked almost flippantly. His tone was just enough off not to count as flippant or insubordinate, but the message still got across.

The response was as Murrue expected. "I...don't know," Relena admitted, the pressure and the weirdness of the environs cracking her semblance of resolve. It was not that she lacked an idea what to do, the whole affair was just too much weirdness too fast for even her.

"And that is the name of the game," Mu concluded. "You don't know, but you do have control of the situation," he noted. "Question then becomes, what do you want to know?" The commander yielded the initiative back to the Chief Representative.

The answer to that question was simple enough for Relena: "What do you intend to do?"

Murrue grimaced, having considered that question over the past few hours. "Given Romafeller's tenacity, they won't give up until we are dead or fled. We have about three weeks charging and realignment time before we can leave, so it's safe to say we will be in battle again."

_And we have maybe two weeks before Romafeller attacks us_, Noin thought but did not say. Murrue, despite trying not to listen telepathically, could easily hear the comment.

"What do you suggest?" Relena asked after a moment.

"We'll take some heat off the Sanc Kingdom, unofficially, of course. We can't remain here, or it will incite an earlier attack. Only thing I ask for is some water; the last time we went head-to-head with ZAFT, they damaged our water purifiers."

"I will have fresh water made available to the ship," Relena said. "If you need a safe harbor, you may return here, but I ask you do not engage in hostile actions in the Sanc Kingdom territories."

"We shall respect this request," Murrue said.

"I will distract you no further," Relena said as she stood. "Thank you for the coffee, Captain. I wish you luck."

"We will both need it," Murrue answered. "Umi, please see the Chief Representative to her vehicle."

"Yes, ma'am," Umi tripped the door and led the two out. Only Noin remained in the stateroom.

Murrue decided a little direct tack was in order. "If you say it I will not take offense, Commander Noin."

"She wants to help, but she doesn't want to break her oath of pacifism," Noin said. "Unlike Relena, I have no such qualms. I'll feed you any intelligence I can get and any supplies I can spare."

"Any requests?" Mu asked in the captain's stead.

"I do have one request," Noin answered. "Quatre is supposed to head south to the Mideast kingdoms, where his allies reside. His Gundam was trashed several months ago, but his team has rebuilt it and it is waiting for him. I'd send him by fighter jet, but I don't think he'd make it in one piece."

"So we go down south, pick up his unit, and ferry them north?" Murrue asked. Noin nodded affirmative. "Not a problem," Murrue replied. "Pass us a list of Romafeller bases along the way, and we'll hit one or two on both legs."

"Why are you doing this?" Noin blurted out after a moment.

"Three reasons. One, because Romafeller won't give up until we're dead. Two, because my crew wants some heads on pikes for jumping us without cause. Three, because we've seen some things that would turn stomachs. We don't trust most governments any more, and something about the Romafeller Foundation reminds us of our homeland in all the wrong ways."

-x-x-x-

(12 November AC195, 1000 hours)

"Damnit, I still can't figure out why the main camera isn't working," the junior technician griped.

"Check for ground faults?" the senior technician asked. "You can't ground to the armor like on a Leo or Taurus, not with these Mobile Dolls."

"Oh, didn't know that," the junior tech began checking for points where main control wires would ground to the armor incorrectly.

"Yeah, Gundanium is electrically nonconductive," the senior technician griped. "Means you have to ground to the main grounding bus in the central structure. Makes 'em a bitch to troubleshoot, too, since the armor is so hard to modify or replace."

"Wonder who came up with the name," the junior tech asked.

"It's a zodiac reference. Virgo, the virgin, since these machines ain't never been designed to be used with pilots," the senior tech answered. "Piloting one would be a giant step backwards, though, the Mobile Doll systems are better than all but the top one percent of pilots."

"Yeah, and those top one percent of pilots drive machines that could turn dozens of these babies into scrap," the junior tech said. "Think I got it, can you check the eye?"

"Yeah, you got it all right, she's lit up."

"Virgins: nature's frozen assets," the junior tech commented, referencing an old frat-house joke from his college days. "Too bad I could never find one that I didn't want to choke to death."

"Yeah, no shit," the senior tech replied evenly. "Last virgin I ran into older than 20, she'd've liked to rip my balls out by way of the base of my skull. Fuck of it is, all I did was ask her out. I wasn't even beered up at the time, so she couldn't use me being drunk as an excuse."

"Shit happens," the junior tech replied, reciting the Technical Company's unofficial motto.

"Shit happens," the senior tech said.

"Okay, got the diagnostic box in place, and it's showing green lights on everything now." The junior tech was still hanging inside the back of the Virgo's head, connecting to the various diagnostic headers to verify everything was working. "What do you think?"

"Oh fuck me," the senior tech said just barely loud enough to be heard.

"What?"

"Stay inside that head, kid! Incoming!"

"WHAT?" he shouted, though it was a question lost in the din of the first strike.

The Virgo shook wildly to the cacophony of explosions outside. The inside of the head was backlit by the fireballs of missiles detonating, an area-saturation attack reminiscent of MLRS or naval cruise missile strikes. Whoever fired the missiles knew their stuff, in the tech's judgment, due to the fact that the missiles could be felt detonating at intervals but the intervals were short – like a quarter-second per group of missiles. In artillery terms, it was called a 'time-on-target' barrage, and it probably meant the base outside his Mobile Doll was rapidly becoming a scorched wasteland.

The junior technician slowly crawled out of the head cavity, and saw why the senior tech ordered him to stay inside. Half the Mobile Dolls south of his position were twisted heaps, having been blown apart by the missile barrage; the fragmentation from the missiles damaged a goodly portion of the rest, with beam generators and main sensors out of commission. The senior technician was no longer up on the gantries surrounding the Mobile Doll; a quick check down at the feet of the machine found his mangled form on the tarmac. Half his head was split off, with part of a steel fragment stuck in the still attached half.

The sound of verniers and a loud impact caused him to look north, around the mono-eye head of the Mobile Doll. What he saw caused the technician to shit himself in pure terror.

-x-

Hikaru charged forward toward the rows of Mobile Dolls, her shield set forward and sword at the ready for a slash. The captain said this base needed to be depopulated, and Hikaru agreed to a significant amount with that decision. Thus, the major facilities at this base and all mobile forces had been targeted for destruction as they headed for Turkey.

The sword went right, and at the optimum time Hikaru brought it around in a grandiose roundhouse slash aimed at the preternaturally thin waist on the machine, an identified weak point in the design. At the last moment she saw the technician on the gantries behind the head, but she did not pull the swing, instead she redirected the second half of the arc to only take out the left side gantries and spare the semi-combatant.

"Mobile Forces, this is _Archangel_, stand by for enfilade shot from Valiants," she heard inside the control sphere of her Rune God. Enfilade shots were nasty, Hikaru had learned from one of the mechanics, since an attack against an enemy enfilade gave chance to hit more than one target with each shot. Much as Miriallia had declared, the shots came in low on the perfect rows of Mobile Dolls standing at the ready; the slugs tumbled with the first hits, making their path through successive ranks erratic and savage. Hikaru considered it thankful that these foes were soulless, unmanned machines and the flying body parts did not have lives attached to them.

"Keep the pressure on! We still have about sixty to go!" Kira shouted as his Gundam landed in front and to the right of Hikaru. The rail guns locked open on his hips, and each gun dispensed two rounds each before his beam rifles came into play.

"Nicol, Yzak, Chevalier, go left and hit the cluster of Mobile Dolls exposed on that flank! _Archangel_, I have positive positions on the manned MS hangars, can you drop 'em?"

"Missiles reloading, ten seconds," Chandratta replied immediately.

"Target nearby hangar with Gottfrieds," Captain Ramius ordered. "Secondary weapon systems begin targeting Mobile Dolls, any defensive units or emplacements," she rounded out the orders.

"Stand clear on the right, I'm trying a new attack," Fuu said as her Rune God landed to Kira's right. "_**Tornado of Blades**_!"

A green tinge of winds encircled the largest group of remaining Mobile Dolls, and as they whipped into a funnel it began lifting the Mobile Dolls into the air. Green bars of energized winds inside the tornado, rotating in counter to the cyclonic lift air, began dicing the raised machines, buildings, gantries, and occasionally personnel into scraps and remnants. Hikaru watched this in amazement even as she pushed forward with Kira, her sword cleaving down the Mobile Dolls not captured by the winds.

"Missile barrage loosed! Flight time eight seconds!" Chandratta warned.

"_**Release of Winds**_," Fuu chanted to end the tornado from Hell. As the winds released and faded, the elevated and trapped Mobile Suit bits began raining down on the base and surrounding forest areas.

"Hah!" Yzak shouted over the radio. "We caught their command staff napping! None of these things are live!"

"Finish 'em off fast before someone does turn 'em on," Mu ordered immediately thereafter.

-x-

Even with the extreme amount of brown material in his jumpsuit, the junior technician still managed to depart the gantries and get down on the ground where he was safe from falling to his death.

The nightmare ship, the massive white demon had arrived at his base – 150 kilometers south of the Baltic Sea, no less – and had laid waste to nearly a hundred Mobile Dolls in less than 20 seconds. The green tornado that popped up in the middle of the largest concentration of surviving Mobile Dolls was simply icing on the cake – proof that at least some part of these foes were supernatural forces, not simply men and machines.

Despite being a greenhorn, the Tech knew three things clearly. One, it was possible but extremely unlikely that infantry could damage or even destroy a Mobile Suit. Two, hanging around or trying anything offensive would be extremely detrimental to his health. Three, since the enemy was advancing south at a breakneck pace, moving east or west was his best chance to live. Without even much in the way of thinking, he began a west-bound dash for the treeline.

The fading tornado began showering the tarmac with debris, including the area that the junior tech was running through. He kept running, even as new explosions began throwing fragments by his head at supersonic speeds. A Virgo's beam cannon slammed into the ramp in front of him and skidded farther north; he dodged left, around the end of it, and kept running. The torso of another Mobile Doll landed on top of the beam cannon he just cleared and continued northeast, away from him even as he kept running.

The tech looked left, a quick glance at the advancing assault force. The white Gundam was the most fearful as far as he could tell, but the red high-mobility Gundam was certainly not falling behind. As he watched, the maroon machine used a pair of arm-mounted beam sabers to chop both arms off a Mobile Doll, then continued moving onto the next. He focused forward again, just in time to vault over a scrap of gantry deposited in his path. When he looked back, the sound of a Mobile Doll firing its primary beam cannon gave him some heart, but with only two standing out of over a hundred there was little hope against the assaulters.

He made it to the forest otherwise unscathed. Without thinking about it, he continued running westward and away, determined to put as much distance between the demons and himself.

-x-

The strike of a beam cannon against her shield was a quick reminder that time was against them on this assault. Thankfully, Rayearth could take a lot more abuse than two Mobile Dolls could dish out.

"I got right," Tolle said with a bit of cheer before he snapped off a shot. "Okay, maybe I don't," he said after the beam dissipated on the unit's energy shield.

"Planet Defensers," Kira commented, identifying the shielding system the enemy Mobile Dolls used. "Ballistic weapons only. I have right," he said before four railgun slugs perforated the engine in the unit.

"Last," Yzak commented. A single shot from the Shiva railgun on his Duel did the job, tearing the head off and disabling most of the unit's control systems. "Mobile forces are downed. _Archangel_?"

"Cause some property damage and prepare to return to the ship, pronto," Miriallia ordered. "We won't hang around for salvage purposes, but grab a beam cannon or two on your way home."

"Roger that," Yzak said. He aimed his beam rifle at the command center, hesitated a moment, then dropped the hammer on the 175mm grenade launcher. Nicol fired on several buildings with his beam rifle, then moved to a storage bunker to place a mech-sized satchel charge. Kira took to the orders directly, though he made sure his targeting systems were set to show personnel so he could minimize or avoid casualties.

"Command, I found something weird in this bunker," Nicol said. "Couple of pretty wicked machines in here being modified."

Kira moved forward enough to take a shot at a water purification plant. With four beams and a shot from the Callidus in his chest, the plant began flooding out. "Machine, identify Mobile Suits," Kira ordered, which came across the radio.

"Identified, Oz prototype Gundams Mercurius, Vayeate, and Aquarius," the battle computer in Kira's unit said.

Four seconds silence ensued. "Captain, if I'm reading the record stats on these, we may want to take a few minutes and grab these. Also, there are stacks of armor plate material in the bunker, we'll probably want some."

"Acknowledged," Murrue said. "Prepare to salvage fast, we want no more than thirty minutes on site. Gundams forward as security, mechanics forward to pick anything and everything up. Rune Gods, think you can pick up every beam cannon you can find from these Mobile Dolls?"

"I'm in," Hikaru replied. "I heard Murdoch's plan, and I like it," she said, mainly because it involved customizing the ship, which meant even she would be on a welding set for the upcoming plans.

-x-x-x-

(12 November AC195, 1400 hours)

"Still bleeding adrenaline from our assault operation today," Hikaru said.

"We all are," Yzak admitted after he held his hand up to demonstrate a very minor shaking. "That was hairy. If their command section had actually been smart, or awake, this assault would have ended very differently."

"We got very lucky," Athrun admitted.

"In more ways than one," Kira said without looking at them directly. He was staring down at a ream of printouts from the cockpit of his Gundam. "Get this, the three Gundams we picked up may be the token units that save our butts in this campaign."

"Man, have we corrupted him beyond the point of no return?" Athrun asked nobody in particular.

"What?" Kira asked, finally looking up at his comrades. "Seriously, what?" he asked after the looks shifted.

"If you have to ask, it's probably better we didn't tell you," Yzak said at his most grim.

"Later," Athrun said. "Now, we have three things we need to do, and this is 'all hands on deck' as per Murdoch. First, we need to work on and get the Aquarius running at the least. If it can scramble the Mobile Doll control systems, it's worth it even if it is a load." He was referring to the fact that the Aquarius was woefully under-armed for a Gundam, meaning someone would have to escort it when operating unless they upgraded it significantly.

"If we get the Aquarius running, Mercurius is next, then Vayeate. Crap to shove, we can use the Mercurius to defend the Aquarius in a running gun action, maybe even suck the enemy into the kill sphere around the ship," Yzak opined.

"Yeah," Athrun responded. "Second thing, all hands on the new beam cannon turrets as available," Athrun nodded to the mod line that had been set up for the collected Gundanium armor plate to be built into new turrets. Each turret would have two cannons and a direct power link to the high-powered engines on the _Archangel_, allowing for a high rate of fire for the cannons. Even the cooks were taking time away from the galley to help assemble the turrets, demand was that high for the increased firepower.

"And number three?" Nicol asked, definitely not looking forward to the assembly work involved in task two.

"Three, well, we have a request to upgrade the server systems for the ship," Athrun hedged. "We've been seeing a lot of problems with tertiary and entertainment systems as more and more power is devoted to the primaries and secondaries. While the hardware we've been picking up as salvage will not win any awards for server speed, if we put enough in it will take some load off the main systems."

"Think it'll improve Chandratta's accuracy?" Yzak asked.

"I won't tell him you asked that," Athrun replied with a savage smile. All conventional bets would have been on Yzak, but Newman had turned out to be a crack shot with a 50-caliber rifle. Officially, Yzak considered himself safe, unofficially there was no telling what the other officers were capable of.

"I get the feeling that is not going to end well," Tolle admitted with a hint of brevity.

"Geh," Yzak bemoaned his fate even before anyone had actually said anything outside of the discussion circle.

"Anyways, what's it gonna take to get the Aquarius running?" Hikaru diverted attention back onto their workload.

"A lot," Kira admitted. "They over-engineered the structure, so we'll want to pare that down just a bit to reduce mass. Needs a better engine, it looks like what they have in it is a salvaged Leo powerplant. The scrambler systems look to be only about half-wired into the actual ECM, so Athrun and I will have to go over that with a fine-tooth comb, and the actual armor – what little it has – needs to be finished up and welded down properly. Lastly, cockpit needs to be configured and someone needs to revamp the OS in the systems so it works like it was designed."

"Simple enough," Athrun understated the task. "Kira and I will take the jammers. Yzak, structure," he parceled out the task to the two best for the job among them.

"Got it," Yzak replied stiffly.

"Tolle, engine; cram the most powerful powerplant you can in there, we'll need it." Athrun gave him one of the safest tasks possible.

"Can do," Tolle replied. Several of the full mechanics and a professional welder would have to help, but the task was mainly his per Athrun's orders.

"Nicol, you have cockpit detail," Athrun continued smoothly.

"Ready," Nicol admitted.

"Hikaru, I'm not sure how you can do it alone, but we need you to do the armor," Athrun said deadpan, worried that her working the armor solo was a hazard waiting to become an accident.

"I'll help," a voice said from outside the circle. Yzak froze in dread as the rest of the team looked on at the approaching officer. "What?" Chandratta asked when he realized everyone was looking at him funky.

"Nothin', nothin', running joke with Yzak," Tolle covered.

"You say so," Chandratta replied warily to the junior pilot officer. "I figure better to help you guys rather than get stuck in that half-arse assembly line." His jerk of a thumb over the shoulder indicated the turret fabrication process.

Athrun made a snap-decision on personnel, given Chandratta was better with electronics than welding. "All right, I'll shift Kira and you around, Kira's better with a torch and I know you know computers, so we'll tackle the jammers while Hikaru and Kira finish up the armor."

"Fair enough," Chandratta said, thankful he wasn't about to be completely lamed and hosed by a schoolgirl-turned-canker-mechanic like Hikaru.

"Questions?" Athrun asked.

"Anyone know what's for lunch?" Yzak asked.

"Past lunch, amigo, next is dinner," Tolle pointed out. "My guess, it involves that cow the cooks were talking about 'abducting' or something like that."

"Free-range cattle, nice," Yzak said. Most of the beef produced by the PLANTs (not a helluva lot by anyone's standards) were hay-fed cattle, which tended to make them a little more fatty than grazing (free-range) cattle. By the same token, there wasn't a lot of room in the PLANTs to have a free range for said cattle, so...

"All right, let's get to work, people. Daylight's wasting," Athrun concluded the planning session.

-x-x-x-

(12 November AC195, 2300 hours)

"I have never imagined a human body could be sore in this many ways," Quatre groaned.

"Twelve-hour marathon of fabricating and assembly, now all we need to do is get a break long enough to cut in the new turret rings and place the new turrets," Gomer replied.

"Never that easy," Kuzzey replied. "Especially after we just shot up two fighter formations and a whole Romafeller base."

"May have to wait until we return to the Sanc Kingdom," Nicol, the only pilot in the spa at the moment, replied.

"Gives us more time to make more turrets, and different turrets," Gomer said. He flexed his shoulders, causing at least three pops in joints in his back. "Oh man, that's much better."

"And the increased firepower will hopefully keep us out of trouble," Kuzzey said. "We've had a few close ones because we didn't have enough guns to knock out all the crunchies."

"Yeah, I heard about your exploits in the southern continent on Gaia," Quatre said. "That plan was nothing short of refuge in audacity. I could see Heero or Trowa coming up with that, but I know I'd've folded and ran away crying if I had to face it."

_He sells himself short_, Nicol judged but did not say. "That was rough, we lost one of our atmospheric-only fighters in that engagement, and I got to experience ejection firsthand in the first engagements. Kira, Mu and Pytor got shot out in the invasion operation when they went head-to-head with the Metal Gear anti-armor defense forces."

"That's the problem with Mobile Suits, there's no ejection system on most models. I've had to bail out manually once, it wasn't fun but it saved our butts that day," Quatre admitted.

"Sometimes, running away is your best option," Gomer admitted. "Certainly makes my job easier by the numbers, 'last stand' actions usually take a lot to fix."

A gaggle of laughing from the far side of the armored bulkhead brought the conversation to a quick halt in the men's side. "Wow, the way you explained it, I didn't think anything could be heard from..." Quatre grew silent quickly.

"Every now and again, I think I'd like to know what's going on over there when you hear that," Gomer said. "Then I remind myself what manner of fox-demons we have on that side of the bulkhead, and I immediately kill off that thought."

"What?" Quatre asked, wondering what the mechanic was referring to.

"He's right," Nicol replied immediately. "Think about it. Every lady on the ship right now has some amount of magical skill. Captain Ramius, tied to Hikaru, Miriallia, tied to Fuu's Magic Knight skills, obviously Fuu, Hikaru, and Umi are Magic Knights, then Terra is a former Magitek Soldier and retains both her summoning and magic skills, even Flay and Natarle had magic skills when they were here, probably still do," he counted off the points.

_The departed retain their skills, even in separation_, Windam added to Nicol's analysis. Everyone in the hot-bath heard it just the same.

"What...was that?" Quatre asked, almost afraid.

"That was Windam," Gomer said. "The Rune Gods are an inseparable and honored part of our team, and every now and again they share some wisdom with us," the mechanic replied nonchalantly, enough so that Quatre thought such doling of wisdom was commonplace.

"Anyways, when you go by the numbers, 100 percent of the females on this ship have magic skills and armaments in one fashion or another. Umi and Fuu seem to be in some kind of unstated skills-based race to see who can come up with the more powerful and effective custom spells," Nicol said.

"So long as they don't volunteer me to test the spells, I'm fine with it," Kuzzey added evenly.

"I never even thought it was possible," Quatre grumped. "I mean, we've lived immersed in high technology for centuries, then you show up and you do both. It would be insane if it wasn't real."

"And real destructive," Gomer griped. "That _Tornado of Blades_ Fuu used turned 35 Mobile Dolls into a finely-ground powder d' Mike-Delta, or at least as finely ground as you can get to scale with an eight-story-tall soulless killing machine. Only problem is, it isn't always predictable, so they typically use it only when they have a clear field."

"Most technology solutions are both easier to control and a lot less collateral in causing damage," Nicol admitted.

"Speaking of, is the Aquarius ready?" Kuzzey asked.

"No, not yet," Nicol replied. "We'll need a day or two to shake it down and work out the bugs."

"The hazards of salvaging other people's hardware," Gomer admitted. "We'll shake it down, sure 'nuff, and figure out what combination of weapons is the best for it."

"I'm thinking the GuAIZ shield and the rifle from the Lightning Striker," Nicol admitted. "The charge requirement for the EM rail rifle is high, but it is ballistic and Kira tore up with the rail guns on his machine."

"Man, we get more planning done in here than we do in official planning meetings," Gomer said.

"Official meetings are assemblies where minutes are kept and hours are lost," Kuzzey repeated one of Captain Ramius' great gripes.

"I second that," Quatre replied, having had his go-around with official meetings before he became a Gundam pilot.

"All right boys, starlight's wastin', and so is my sleep cycle, so I'm out." Gomer began the process of climbing out. "Don't hang around too long, or the girls will shoot you for being body horrors."

After the mechanic was out of the room: "He was joking, right?" Quatre asked innocently.

"Hard to say," Kuzzey played the confusion for a joke.

-x-x-x-

(13 November AC195, 0400 hours)

"Your boyfriend wasn't at that base, was he?" the radio operator asked.

"No," the sonar operator admitted, relieved by that much. "He's stationed in Berlin, but he was one of the first responders," she continued. "Of course, the assaulters were long gone, but the damage they caused in such a short time was insane. They even stopped to salvage the downed units, stripped them of the beam cannons, generators and some server systems."

"Vultures and demons, all rolled into one," the radio operator complained.

"Damn powerful vultures at that," the sonar operator said from the left of the radio operator. "If we had to go head-to-head with that ship, we're toast."

"Oh yeah," the radar operator said.

"What kind of ship is that thing?" the sonar operator asked.

"Half assault battleship, half carrier, one hundred percent bad news," the CIC commander answered.

The sonar operator heard something on her towed sonar hydrophone systems that caused her to cringe. "Commander, I have something," she reported after a moment. "Definite mechanical, definite underwater."

"Hold one," the CIC commander said as he donned some headphones. "Isolate it, please," he requested her to continue.

"Isolating now," the Sonar operator said. "Target isolated, bearing 0-1-5, estimate range 16,000 meters. Direct contact and trace path, he's not far away. Sixteen feels about right, but she sounds weird and it's hard to place how much plant noise she's making."

"One of ours?" The CIC commander used to be a Sonar operator himself. "Sounds like one of our submarine carrier units." Zechs may have destroyed one during his bloody gauntlet, but Romafeller had built nearly a dozen of the subs for deploying quick-strike naval attacks.

"It sounds real close, sir, but I'd bet against. Something about the engine sig doesn't sound the same."

"May have a wounded engine," the CIC commander opined. "Also explains why she's on an intercept course, may be wanting to dock with us for some repair assistance."

"Ping 'em?" the Sonar operator asked.

"Give 'em one, if it is one of ours they'll bounce three back," the CIC commander replied.

-x-

"When they ping us, ping 'em three back," Miriallia replied. "It's the standard signal for Romafeller subs to identify themselves," she concluded. She was listening to the enemy CIC personnel with her telepathy, paying attention to their thoughts and procedures to make sure they could spoof them and get close for a surprise assault.

"Standing by with ping generator," Sai replied. "Conn, Sensors, they pinged us," Sai said five seconds later.

"Hit 'em back, three pings," Murrue ordered. "Umi, deploy by the rear hangar airlock. All Mobile Forces stand by to deploy."

"Three pings sent," Sai answered for his actions. They were not audible to the unaided ear, since the sound used for pinging was above the human hearing range. It was audible to sonar operators because their systems gave audible tones when the gear picked up the incoming sounds. "Okay, Captain, pings are back, I show range of 1-2-thousand meters to target. Close rate 400 meters per minute."

"We'll pop up inside their fleet bubble at 6000 meters, make an easy shot for the Gottfrieds, no?"

"Captain, I show Aegis, Strike Freedom, Duel, Rayearth, and Windam ready. Buster, GuAIZ are preflighting, Selesce is in rear lift."

"Deploy Selesce slowly, no rush. We have 15 minutes to approach where we want to be."

"Said it before, I'll say it again, thank you Sai for knowing your EWO stuff forward and back," Mu said from his chair in the CIC. "If you hadn't sniffed their radars, this would be a head-to-head assault action instead of a surprise attack."

Sai sneezed after he wiped some dust off his console. He had caught the fleet radars for the East-Med carrier fleet before they had detection values on the _Archangel_. With a timely change in plans, the _Archangel_ was now underwater and masquerading as one of Romafeller's assault submarines, giving them a perfect opportunity to ambush an otherwise unwary enemy.

"This is gonna hurt them real hard, but it's also gonna suck some of the heat off the Sanc Kingdom to chase us down," Mu said, partially justifying their actions inside the confines of his mind even as he voiced his thoughts to the bridge.

"What was it Murdoch once said about things like this?"

"I believe he said 'Screw justice, I want vengeance', and that's how most of the crew feels about Romafeller. They didn't even ask us who we were before they opened fire."

"Conn, Sensors, acoustic augmenter array is still showing green," Sai said. They had built a quick-and-dirty acoustic canceler / augmenter from the sonar systems carried on Pisces mobile suits, allowing them to modify enough of the sonar signature in the _Archangel_ to fool all but the best listeners. Because nobody was shooting, it appeared it was working...

"If this works, Tolle owes me fifty bucks," Miriallia said. "I wonder how I'll take my fee out of him, or how he'd take it out of me..."

-x-

(15 minutes later)

"Conn, sensors, carrier sub's hull is popping, she's coming shallow," the sonar operator said.

"Depth?" the CIC commander said.

"Right now 400 meters, coming up at about 120 a minute. She'll be up in about three minutes. Starboard forequarter, I've got a camera pointing at her now."

"Huh, she's making a helluva lot of mechanical noise," the CIC commander noted. "She must be in a bad way if she's that noisy running that slow."

The Sonar operator wondered why she couldn't hear any screw noises from the ship, but figured if it was coming bow-on at the fleet the bulk of the ship would be blocking sounds from the propellers on the back of the ship.

"Wonder how the Captain looks?" the radar officer asked nobody in particular. "Another of those rough 'n' rugged types?"

"I hope not, I want some eye candy in my visiting officer crew," the Sonar operator replied. "Even though I'm not allowed to play, I sure can watch," she admitted.

"Your boyfriend really picked a good one," the CIC commander said.

The group was silent for over a minute, listening to the incoming submarine or watching the monitors for it to surface. The Sonar operator thought she heard something really weird for a few moments, the sound of a fusion engine starting up, followed by the footsteps of a Mobile Suit. "Did they just start up one of their Pisces units?"

"What?" the CIC commander asked.

"I heard a MS walking after a fusion engine startup," she said. "And...some kind of bay or hatch opening," the Sonar operator said, her gut suddenly telling her brain that something was very wrong here.

"I heard it, wasn't that ballast tank hatches?" the sound of rushing air in a pipe only added to the confusion.

"Sir, I got a really bad feeling about this," the sonar operator couldn't explain the cause of her sudden panic, mainly because the whole thing just felt incredibly wrong but all evidence suggested it was normal.

"Breach surface in five seconds," the CIC commander said, now starting to pick up the tension himself.

The sound coming to her headphones from the towed sonar array was enough to instantly chill the sonar operator's spine to absolute zero: underwater cruise missile launches sounded of a blast of compressed gas followed by a special underwater rocket booster.

"OH SHIT! IT'S THAT SHIP!" All eyes turned to the monitor as the conning tower of the demon-ship breached the surface, followed a bare second later by a volley of missile breaching the surface to either side of the conning tower.

"Conn, sonar, torpedoes in the water!" the Sonar operator shouted, now hearing the unmistakable sounds of torpedoes in the water.

"CIWS guns!" the Commander shouted.

"Too late!" The missiles arced mostly over the carrier itself, aiming toward the escort 'cans (2) on the far side of the ship even as the enemy ship continued to rise.

"How did we – how did they – they gave us the right signal!" the CIC commander shouted at the screen. "They even sound like one of ours!"

-x-

"Hard on the levetator, Newman, we need to put our heavy guns downrange ASAP," Captain Ramius ordered.

"Fast up, aye," Newman replied as he dialed the levetator to the maximum. "Gottfrieds should be clear here in a few seconds."

"Neutron Jammers show 100-green, Captain, we're blocking everything coming out of the area," Sai said. "If they have laser-satellite communication systems, we can't stop those," he cautioned.

"Doesn't matter, by the time anyone responds, we'll be long gone," Murrue said. "We strike, we fade, we win. If we get bogged down, we're dead."

"Gottfrieds clear of the surface," Chandratta said. "Barrels clear! Guns have solution to carrier, fire lamp is green!"

"Fire at will," Murrue ordered.

"Firing one, firing two!"

Four emerald beams loosed from the guns, each accompanied by a puff of steam as the beams flashed the remaining seawater to vapor immediately. At barely 5700 meters, there was little hope for missing the massive enemy carrier ship. All four beams sliced into the hull and ripped through the ship sideways and at an angle, the beams exiting a mere three meters below the waterline on the far side of the ship. This was added to the detonation of torpedoes below the hull of the ship, instead of contact detonations, where the explosions formed temporary voids below the ship; as the hull tried settling into these instantaneous voids, the spine of the ship's keel was broke and began venting water into the ship. It would be two minutes before the flight deck was overrun with water, but there would be no saving Romafeller's light carrier from the crippling damage.

"Launch bays are clear of waterline," Miriallia reported. "Permission to deploy?"

"Hold, Miriallia, we may not need to," Murrue replied.

"Enemy launch, are those torpedoes?" Sai asked as he watched ASROC torpedoes clear the sides of the carrier's launcher cells.

"CIWS control is tracking," Chandratta replied. The actual CIWS guns were well out of range to target the torpedoes, but the escorts to port and starboard of the ship had fired missiles at the suddenly-hostile former-submarine contact in their midst. The 75mm rotary cannons made short work of the ASM cruise missiles dead-fired in their direction, while the port and starboard 100mm ultra autocannons fired directly on the ships themselves. "What is—" Chandratta was cut off by the indicators on his panel showing the weapons fired from the front arc.

"Did you fire the Gauss rifles at those torpedoes?" Murrue asked.

"No, ma'am," Chandratta replied as he watched the blossoming fireballs of three torpedoes sheared in half by the Gauss rifles. "Automatic targeting systems, er, did it themselves," Chandratta replied.

"Must be moving slow enough for the secondary guns to take the shots," Mu commented.

As the _Archangel_ came completely out of the water, the Valiant linear guns tracked left and right from the ship to target the nearest enemy escort destroyers. The starboard destroyer took a round in the arse, with no primary guns to return fire it simply took the hit and immediately began listing when the slug deviated and came out the side of the hull. The port-side escort did fire its 6" guns in response to the _Archangel_'s presence, but even two hits of three did not slow the ship down. The second slug sheared the bridge and most of the fire direction systems off the ship, crippling it for purposes of a working gun platform.

"Missiles on the escorts to forward and rear of the carrier, torpedoes to the rear on any surviving ships. Gottfried status?"

"Gottfrieds charging, ten seconds. Missiles armed, plots laid in, no targets to our rear; first volley got the two 'cans behind us." eight torpedoes aimed at two ships tended to leave very poor odds for the involved ships, all things considered. "Missiles firing now, Gottfrieds and Valiants are almost ready for fire."

"There just is no arguing with the power of a proper warship," Newman said in a reverent tone.

-x-

"We gotta run! C'mon!" the radar officer shouted.

The sheer power of the enemy warship was completely undeniable; their first missile attack had turned two of the escorts into twisted hulks, one of which was consumed by a fireball when a missile magazine cooked off and the explosion vented inside the ship. Two lifeboats had escaped from the two ships, though other sailors were floating free as of when her monitors last worked.

The second shot was even more terrifying than the first, and truly marked the enemy ship as a threat to anything in use by the Romafeller Foundation. Four heavy beam cannons, easily more powerful than the infamous Wing Gundam but more focused, sliced through the carrier width-wise and disabled the engines. It was a lucky break that the damage was to the engine cooling systems and not to the engine itself, lest the whole ship become a contained-sun-vented inferno. With that manner of firepower applied that close to the carrier, the Admiral of the fleet spared no time ordering surviving personnel to abandon ship; without the engine and the catapult systems, the carrier was completely useless as a battle platform.

The CIC crew did not remain around to see what else the enemy warship had in store; with the order to abandon, they were in the halls and headed outbound for their evacuation section.

"Faster, faster! We must get out of here!"

The ship jolted again, an artifact of Newtonian physics despite the nature of the beam cannons fired at it. Though the beams cut through the ship relatively effortlessly, the energy applied to the hull of the ship still had to dissipate somehow, and this caused a tremor of both kinetic and thermal portions. It wasn't much of an impact, but it was an impact without doubt. Thankfully, there was no explosive secondary release this time around, as the beams did plenty of hull damage but did not cook off anything important like a fuel bunker or the high-pressure coolant systems for the engines.

"Keep running!" the sonar operator shouted as they turned into a stairwell to go upward.

"We're almost there! Two more levels!" the CIC commander shouted.

Another impact, this time heavy with kinetic trauma as something physical slammed into the ship itself. It was all the Sonar operator could do to recognize the impact, for to her left (toward the center of the ship) and up in the hangar decks something blew up from translated trauma. A pair of missile racks for Leo bazookas gave out after an air compressor tank was detonated in close proximity, and the missile reloads tore through the ship's substructure without reserve. The missiles did not produce much fragmentation, but it was enough that the CIC commander collapsed down the stairs behind them, his left arm and half his chest eviscerated by a chunk of metal larger than his head.

"Oh my—" the radar operator did not finish the sentence, as the damage to the substructure caused the stairwell structure to collapse in on itself rapidly. The sonar operator had a brief moment to see her long-time friend crushed between two half-meter I-beams before the same beam swung through her and crushed her against the aft bulkhead.

Death for both was instantaneous. It would not be more than a minute before their makeshift tomb was flooded out by the incoming seawater.

-x-

"Carrier's going down," Chandratta replied.

"Remaining enemy forces?" Murrue asked.

"One escort destroyer, starboard side, 9200 meters off," Sai said. "Ship hasn't fired on us, but is tracking."

"Leave him, they'll be needed to rescue the survivors," Murrue declared, unwilling to consign everyone in the fleet to death by exposure and unable to pick up survivors in any major quantity with the _Archangel_ fully loaded as is.

"I'm starting to see a lot of emergency life rafts," Miriallia said hopefully.

"Newman, come port thirty degrees and up 200 meters. Ahead fifteen percent, when we are clear of the survivors prepare to drop down and go deep. Thereafter, resume course for Turkey."

"What terrible price we pay for victory," Mu said, looking at the crew of the carrier jumping ship in a very disorganized fashion.

-x-x-x-

(13 November AC195, 1200 hours)

"This is where the Maganac Corps reports their last position," Quatre answered the standing question. "They may have returned to their underground base complex, but that is unlikely. Oz knew about that base months ago, going back there would be foolhardy."

"Conn, Sensors, someone just swept us with a search radar," Sai said. "Off the port quarter, definite detection values."

"Miriallia?" Murrue asked.

"One moment," and the telepathic Mobile Forces controller looked inward into her mind to control her ability to hear other people's thought and sense their presence. "Got 'em, Captain, they're dug under the sands in the direction where Sai says they are. About two kilometers out."

"Quatre, if you have a password, now would be a good time to use it," Murrue requested.

Quatre climbed partway up to Kuzzey's station, then reached onto the console and changed frequencies. "Maganac Corps, this is Quatre. Pass-code is 'Eternal sands of night', acknowledge," he transmitted on the radio band.

"Acknowledged," the voice on the far side of the frequency said. It was audible to everyone in the bridge, and sounded of an older and wizened soldier. "You're in that ship?"

"Rashid! I'm glad you're safe," Quatre said. "Yeah, the _Archangel_ was gracious enough to bring me out here to come collect my Gundam."

"It is awaiting your return, Master Quatre," the same guys replied. "Can the ship transport the entire corps?"

"Some of your unit will need to ride on top," Quatre said. "The ship is heavily loaded right now."

"Conn, take her down slow to the desert floor," Murrue ordered. "Prepare to receive the Maganac Corps." Quatre had already worked out the plan with Murrue, the Maganac Corps would be heading up to the Sanc Kingdom by way of the _Archangel_'s transport capability.

"Heading down, descent rate five meters per second. Shall I rotate to face the force?"

"Go ahead," Murrue said.

-x-

"This is beyond insane, Rashid," Auda complained.

"These are insane times we live in," Rashid replied evenly. His glance at a defected Treize Faction Leo was answer enough as to how insane things had truly become. "This...not so bad," he said as a marshaller guided his mobile suit into a parking space.

"At least this ship is clearly against Romafeller and their inhumane practices," Abdul said. "I'm parked, Master Quatre is heading my way."

"Master Quatre's Gundam is secured," one of the Olifant pilots said.

"I'm parked, I'll be on the ground here in a few moments," Rashid declared. As he took the drop line to the ground, Rashid could tell the professionalism of the _Archangel_ deck crew as they first dogged it down for transport, then began maintenance checks.

Rashid was rightly amazed by the cavernous hold of the ship; the inside was just as massive as he thought it would be, but more so it was packed with units and material almost to the roof. It was the sign of a very-well-prepared ship that its holds were full of the necessities for battle and sustenance. "Beyond insane still, Rashid, but at least the right kind of insane to win," Auda hedged, saying so more to convince himself than anyone listening.

"All hands attention, the ship will be moving out as soon as all incoming Maganac Mobile Suits are secured and personnel are seen to quarters. All personnel are to be ready for combat actions at all times; this is a Romafeller-held area."

"The right kind of insane," Ahmad said as he eyed the other Gundams in the bay.

"Master Quatre, it is good to see you safe," Rashid said after he touched the deck with his boots. "You are well?"

"Very well, Rashid, very well," Quatre replied. Rashid looked hard into his eyes, and saw someone very happy with his present position, not what Rashid expected from someone who would be under duress. "This is Mu La Flaga, commander of the Archangel Team Mobile Forces," and he indicated the officer who was following him.

"Welcome aboard, Rashid," the officer said.

"You're really not from around here, are you?" Auda asked as he approached.

"No, we're just passing through, cosmically speaking," Mu said.

"Of course, since we have a wait before we move out, we've got weeks to play 'hide, seek and destroy' with the Romafeller Foundation," the mechanic lead said. "Murdoch, Mechanic crew chief," he identified himself. "Your machines need any work?"

"Just routine maintenance and sand removal," Rashid said. "Most of our systems are sand filtered, we'll need help clearing the filters."

"You'll have ground support in five minutes on that," Murdoch promised, then looked to the port-side bulkheads. "OI! GOMER!"

"YO!" someone shouted back.

"FRONT AND CENTER!" Murdoch bellowed over the racket in the hangar.

"And my men?" Rashid asked after a moment.

"Commander?" Murdoch deferred to Mu for said question.

"We have guest quarters in the crew block for your pilots, I have a maintenance detail verifying everything right now," Mu answered. "I don't know what schedule your men keep normally, but the ship is always active, so crew facilities and meals are always available."

"Reporting for whelping, boss," a mechanic declared as he came to attention.

"Spank your butt over to the mechanics lounge and assemble a team to help the Maganac personnel clean the sand out of their units and run general maintenance on their machines. Assume we'll be in battle in the next three hours. Good to go?"

"Whips and chains, sir," the mechanic threw a quick salute, acknowledged the Commander, and was headed for the aft bulkhead without further word.

"Is that...normal?" Rashid asked.

"No, not really," Quatre replied. "Some of the mechanics are mildly unhinged, but he may be the prime example," Quatre hedged.

"That kid worries me," Mu La Flaga said.

"Nah, not at all," Murdoch replied nonchalantly. "I think he's training up nicely."

* * *

Author's Chapter Afterword:

I am back in action and have UPPED THE ARSENAL WELL PAST 9000! (Of course, how I came to that number, well...)

Okay, on a more serious note, this is a chapter that was rewritten a third in by way of the dice. I had an original plan that was incredibly wildly different, but three dice checks changed the name of the campaign mid-stride. I know, I have received PLENTY of flak from the use of dice (Like an unintentional Relena expy showing up in Gundam SEED?), but, and bear with me on this one, the dice have made this chapter quite a bit better than I originally planned.

The breakpoint from my initial plan started early, when Mu went around and polled the crew. The crew said yes, which changed the circumstance of the negotiation check with Relena. My initial plan was then to have the Archangel offer to serve a salvage-only mercenary contract with the Sanc Kingdom, but that cratered when Murrue and Mu realized that Relena wouldn't fly that one from the flagpole. So, Murrue came up with an idea to basically operate independent and plausibly deniable, to which Relena took the offer because it would take heat off the Sanc Kingdom (physically – politically, she might still have trouble). Noin ran a check, and her result came up pretty positive – thus her offer to send Quatre down to pick up his Gundam and the Maganac Corps to help out in the land of love and peace.

Okay, at this point of my writing, the whole original idea just annihilated from a good ol' Lohengrin blast. No surprise there, any military officer will tell you the first casualty in any battle is the plan. I had intended to do some kinda wishy-washy things revolving around finishing fixing the ship, a spa scene (I kept this, just retooled it for new circumstances), and have some character arguments between secondaries and the Archangel Crew. My piece d' resistance was going to be Kira and Heero heading down to Luxembourg to say hello to Treize – any GW fan can recognize that as being ep 34 in the Wing series.

Well, if you've read this far, you see how the story shifted from some philosophizing and one battle to multiple little skirmishes (smash 'n' grab battles, but it counts) and some typical Archangel antics. Strangely, I think the onset of next chapter's whoopass may still be Kira and Heero in Luxembourg, but there may be a big white Warship along for the ride as well. The more whoopass, the better, in my humble opinion. I enjoy delivering the whoopass.

The inclusion of the Mercurius, Vayeate, and Aquarius in Germany is a detail I know someone will call me on, so I might as well preempt the purists. My logic here is simple: the scrap between Wing Zero and the Red/Blue team ended with both the Mercurius and Vayeate having what you could effectively call 'a bad day'. No surprise there, the Wing Zero is very high on the list of the Gundam franchise's all-time most destructive machines. So, take that fun little fact, then consider that most overhaul repair jobs by military units are done in a depot setting, and the Mercurius / Vayeate team showing up somewhere unusual is not all that difficult to imagine. Herein, my thinking (read: justifying the dice) is that they were picked up as salvage from the Wing Zero battle by Oz instead of by White Fang, shipped planetside to be repaired for manning by some of Oz's better pilots. The Archangel was in the right place at the right time to grab the units, it seems. Oh, if only Nicol had failed the perception check to see what was in the bunker before he set the charge...

Aquarius was Treize's second project, after Epyon, as a rendition of his hatred for the soulless Mobile Dolls. It technically is not Wing canon, due to the fact that it only shows up in SD Gundam as part of the Gundam Wing contingent, but the dice speak on this one: it exists here. My justification of its inclusion in this base is a bit simpler: Epyon was manufactured in Luxembourg, where Heero picked it up from Treize himself, but Aquarius was held in a separate Treize Faction base that was recently overrun by the Romafeller foundation. The unit was being disassembled for analysis of the jamming systems (to create countermeasures for the jammers), but the arrival of the Archangel put paid to those plans. And put paid to about a third of the research staff as well. Tough breaks, that. Naturally, Kira would be one of the first to see an inherent advantage to a machine that jams the control systems of Mobile Dolls...

The battles the Archangel ran were classic commando-style hit-and-run assaults, blow through the enemies like a whirlwind and kill 'em all, then snatch and grab what you can get your hands on, then clear out. Murrue's comment was perfectly correct: hit and fade, they live. Get bogged down, things will end badly. Look at things not necessarily ending well in the next chapters, especially when the matter in the Sanc Kingdom comes to a shooting match; defensive battle becomes a requirement in that case, and in a defensive stance things will not favor the Archangel. Period.

So far, my dice have not shown a real leaning for any of the Gundam pilots to join the accursed ship. Of course, thus far only two of the pilots have even spoken to the Archangel crew: Heero and Quatre. You can probably expect Wufei will drop in and challenge the Archangel, if the dice give him a fair shake to, but Duo and Trowa are up in the air as of right now. Duo is out skulking and shredding in space, Trowa is back with the circus troupe and should still have the amnesia.

This is where the real decision tree begins to branch. The coming chapters will set a course for bloodshed, no doubt about that, but in what fashion that blood is vented becomes a serious question. Does Luxembourg warrant involvement of the Archangel, or not? How does the Sanc Kingdom fare, dead, fled, or standing tall? Will the Archangel's actions change the fate of the Artemis Revolution in space? Can the Romafeller Foundation be brought down without a full-on space-versus-earth war? Will Relena convince the world to stop the fighting?

This is the nature of the adroit crossover. When you inject a chaotic element, everything runs the risk of change. This I have sworn to uphold, this I shall do. How the future blossoms after that, I can only guess at the moment. The dice have already nuked my eight-step plan for this section, so what results come next determine the future of all – and who lives or dies.

All things considered, it is a good time for me now. I am back to work, I am back to writing, and winter is upon me with all its focusing and imaginative benefits. This is my Christmas gift to my readers; I have been silent for too long, and 2010 was pretty much a flop for all intents and purposes in the writing department. Semi-depression and having to focus on job-hunting, then focusing on getting back into a job, did not help me center myself for proper writing.

Enjoy the holidays, enjoy these days of peace, happiness, and family. Live and love, for there is no better time than today to do so. Tomorrow may not be so peaceful.

NEXT UP: Romafeller decides it takes offense to the Archangel's cutting through bases, fighter regiments, and a whole fleet. Guess who gets to pay for those victories?

* * *

Review Replies: Quite frankly, I have had so many reviews between last chapter and this one, counting them is pretty close to impossible. The official count for this chapter is 29, which is more than the entire Cephiro I arc combined, but more than a few persons have dropped reviews to prior chapters. I'll respond to them all, so this will get lengthy. As usual, first review in, first reply out!

**C0dy88**: Looks can be deceiving, amigo. Only time will tell the truth of your appraisal.

**Alex Yamato**: Interesting things to do on a marooned warship... May have to do some of those things, but probably not all. The dice can be forgiving, but not that much.

**Knives91**: You know it, and Murrue knows it just the same. So long as the Archangel can avoid being bogged down, they live.

**Victor M. Sarks**: I believe this is a first review, welcome to the party.

You are quite correct on the nature of the battle in AC Gundam, force of numbers. This will be the major problem for the Archangel; keep in mind that warfare with grace is mostly an invention of television, and Gundam Wing is a lot closer to IRL battle tactics than even the producers wanted to admit.

On the supposed disparity of Coordinators versus Naturals, well, it's a hard thing to pin down with absolute numbers. Sometimes it comes off as superior, sometimes not. The bulk of it boils down to other factors, whether the advantages show or not.

UC Gundam is a real possibility, not sure where I want to put them in the series, though. I'm thinking Stardust Memory, if any?

I don't know where the Aries damaged the Gundams, but in some cases they can from translated impact trauma. The other (non-Gundam) units are vulnerable in that aspect, since most of the ground units and the Rune Gods are not Phase Shift.

**Strata-Assassin**: After 8 months of silence, here's the next chapter :)

Quatre is going to be hanging around for a while, but to what length I do not thus far know. For sure he'll be in it with the Sandrock now :)

**Robby Cartwright**: This chapter should answer Heero's status, amigo.

**Mega1987**: Not sure if this counts as hot-blooded, but the fun is far from over right now :)

**FraserMage**: Okay, okay, my bad on the Space Laser. I was trying to justify it having only one shot in atmosphere (as per GW Ep 5, where Wufei attacks the Taurus trainees).

The Wing Zero issue was an error on my part, I corrected it. See below for a little humor on that note, the Gripe Sheet entry.

**Knightwolf 1875**: Well, there is played, and then there is vengeance for being played. Guess which side the Archangel lands on :)

On the matter of truth, well, so far the only side that knows is the Sanc Kingdom. Everyone else doesn't really know where they came from...

**CHM01**: Hope that's a good stand corrected...

**Etienne Of The West Wind**: Real life has stopped whizzing on me, for the time being at least. As to the Archangel, well, Romafeller has just made the team's sj1tlist, not sure how the rest is going to unfold yet. Stay tuned for those details :)

**Tremerid**: I'm back to work as of July, so yeah :)

The battles were in the Archangel's favor this go-around, but next chapter may not be so kind to them. Especially in a defensive stance like Luxembourg or Sanc Kingdom.

**CyberAngelOne**: Sorry for the 8-month gap between chapters, my motivation to write died. Have it back now, so yeah :)

**EvilManicX**: See the Gripe Sheet below for the Wing Zero gaffe and my take on it.

On the computer in the Strike Freedom, well, it goes a lot deeper than that, actually into the story of the Crusaders that Kira claimed the machine from, a tale which will be told in another story from this. Learning Computer is only the smallest fraction of it, trust me on that.

**Barricade**: Love these long reviews, plenty of evidence that my writing is getting people thinking, and I like thinking circles :)

1 - Dice is part of it, but keep in mind that the machine is only as dangerous as the mind behind the controls. Yes, the Strike Freedom is well ahead of the Wing Gundam, but the gap is not so impossible that Heero would fail outright against it. That he managed to do that much damage to the Strike Freedom is testament to how good Heero is – and how much the dice favored him.

2 – This is entirely dependent on where the Archangel goes, there is no 'evolution' to a FTL drive by stock derivations of the _Archangel_ line or what modifications it has thus far received. If it goes somewhere and can 'absorb' a FTL-capable system, though, that is not beyond the realm of possibility.

3 – the fraying around the edges is really going to take hold before the end of the section. Keep in mind, the White Fang plan for dealing with the Gundams was swamp 'em until the crew gives out, which should be a valid (if costly) tactic against the Archangel.

4 – no such philosophizing yet, may have to make some room for that next chapter.

5 – The jump drive the Archangel is using does not work in that fashion. The reason why will be explained later down the line.

6 – may see that, may not. Dice are yet to issue such a monumentous ruling, but in a Gundam series it is not without precedent.

**Lord Marix**: Okay, on the point of the Wing Zero, I have said it more than once: it was a typo that I mentioned it to begin with, you can stop chewing my arse on that note.

Second, I try to avoid wall-of-text routines, but sometimes there is no dialog in the middle of a battle. Can you find me someone who spends a battle pontificating IRL, if you would, that actually survived the battle without getting his arse shot off?

**Hirrayami Otoni**: MSN Is a definite possible, if for nothing other than just the comedic aspect :)

**Mega1987**: Not entirely sure what you're referring to, but if you're dodging ordinance, I may not be inclined to go there.

**Nightblader1021 (Review 1)**: Believe it. I get plenty of flak for it, just the same.

**Nightblader1021 (Review 2)**: It was Wing, not Wing Zero.

**Nightblader1021 (Review 3)**: Some improvement, but not a lot. Laminated armor is pretty tough to begin with :)

**Nightblader1021 (Review 4)**: Trust me, it's not that simple. More will be explained on it in the coming chapters.

**Nightblader1021 (Review 5)**: Okay, makes sense in context.

**Aeroprime**: That's the crux both missed and struck in one review, amigo. The dice decide because the intentions of the story are open except for the beginning and the end. Where things go after this are random until further notice, and further notice may be along shortly.

**Akasui**: The dice are the main decision devices to which your ideas must answer. So far, Relena hasn't bit on the Archangel Team, but that may change soon enough.

**Nightblader1021 (Review 6)**: Well, that might apply if they can get lucky in going to Gundam 00 and win battles there. The latter is the true challenge...

**Katosuki**: 'Overkill' is such a relative term, amigo, and trust me on this, the farther this story goes, the less the Archangel will look like overkill. In Gundam W the ship is overkill in a tactical setting, reasonably matched to Barge or Libra, but drop it in a setting that has bigger guns or better defenses and suddenly it is more 'paper' than 'tiger'.

**MantaArms1989**: Good to hear your brother walked away from that one. 25 Auto has a helluva lot of penetration power, but not a lot of trauma. I don't personally like it, but it is lethal if used correctly or incorrectly.

**MantaArms1989 (Review 2)**: Oz isn't going to take an ass-kicking too much longer before they get it right. What happens then, hard to say. It probably won't be pretty.

Rant on, amigo. I like hearing other people's thoughts.

My intention is to go as far as the dice will let me. Once they hit the wall or get home, that is it. What the wall is, or whether or not they get home, hard to say, but so far leaning is very favorable to get home.

**Xazavier009**: A pleasure.

**2ndsly**: I'm trying to get them home in one piece, not in particulate bits. Jeez oh pete, people, I'm confirmed evil, not sadistic :)

**Mega1987 (Again)**: sorry about the continuation delay, I've been working on getting myself back into the writing. Crap weather, whiskey sours, and winter are helping, but I'm not sure if I'm up to 100 percent yet.

**Arbl A-17**: Oh yes, Murphy must be the unofficial Patron God of the Archangel. Certainly, he's 'helping' the ship along...

**Endrax**: Here we go again with Warhammer 40K, you guys really are 3v1l...

**Cataquack Warrior**: Well, I've made some serious FUBARs over the operations in my story, but I am always working to improve the story at all levels.

**Infinite Freedom**: The first Gopher died two years ago, not long after I posted that chapter. One of his relatives moved in last year, and I wasn't able to get it last year or this past year, but next year is a new year and I'll sight in my gopher gun sometime in March, weather permitting.

**Infinite Freedom (Review 2)**: The Strike Freedom has a bare backplate right now, since it gave up the jump pack now in use in the ship. I'm not sure what I'll do for the Strike Freedom, but it will take time and materials.

THANK YOU ALL FOR THE REVIEWS! 37 reviews total to the story since I posted the last chapter. This is the major motivation to write, and this is fuel for lighting the fire and adding more napalm to it. More is the better, if you ask me. Keep the reviews coming!

* * *

The Gripe Sheet:

My one gripe for the last chapter was I mistakenly called the Wing Gundam a Wing Zero. I wrote the notes after I sent the chapter to beta, and promptly forgot it was Wing instead of Wing Zero in that battle. Talk about lynch parties on deck! One logic fault (barely that, more like a typo) and it's "hamburger d' Stravag" for dinner...

Much thanks to **Strata-Assassin** and **Necroblade** for the tag-team beta reading on this chapter. I may not have used all their suggestions, especially when a suggestion conflicts with my intended turn of phrase, but they are excellent at catching all the small mistakes and the major logic faults in my writing.

Speaking of logic faults, my Beta reader **Necroblade** posed one good issue to me. Slightly prior to this time in operation, the Vayeate and Mercurius went head-to-head against a psychotic Quatre in Wing Zero. Necro opines that in said battle the Vayeate was destroyed. I have no argument with that thought, but almost at the end of the series the Deathscythe Hell goes head to head with Mobile Doll versions of the Mercurius and Vaeyate, and strikes both down. As such, I can rightly assume that enough of the Vayeate was salvageable to repair by White Fang, therefore if Oz got their hands on the derelict units they could do the same and probably do it easier (Oz did have them built, after all). Of course, since the Archangel now has them, it is up to Murdoch's Madmen to promptly rebuild and field these monstrosities forthwith.

* * *

Footnotes:

(1): Coolant can be measured in both weight (kilograms) and volume (liters), and on some units is measured primarily in weight.

(2): **Escort 'Cans** is a shortened version of the semi-insult Escort Tin Cans, which is a reference to smaller ships (destroyers, frigates, corvettes) used in escorting larger ships. Typically used by submarine forces to reference how easily a sub can kill an unawares escort.


	33. Thunderheads

(Section 4, Chapter 4: Thunderheads)

(13 November AC195, 1700 hours)

(Eastern Mediterranean, area of Isle of Cyprus)

"Two days to the Sanc Kingdom," Quatre enumerated, looking over the planned transit map and the course highlighted on the port-side monitors.

"I am amazed it will be that quick," Rashid said. "Given we have the whole of Europe to cross, I would have expected weeks by ground."

"I could get us there in 30 minutes, but every air search radar north of Victoria and east of Greenland would see us," Murrue admitted. She was referring to somewhere near 800 search radars, not counting independent radar sets for individual AA weapons.

"That probably would not be good," Rashid admitted after a moment of thinking about it.

"This winding route," Quatre indicated the route going from Greece to Poland to Germany and out into the Baltic; "This is to dodge cities and bases?"

"Yeah," Mu replied. "Dodging their bases is a no-brainer, but if our travel route took us over the suburbs of Berlin, it would be very safe to say someone would report the big white ship flying overhead."

"That would ruin our day in a big hurry," Sai said.

"Never thought about how hard it would be to dodge both," Quatre admitted. If he had to transit a city, he usually used a Mobile Suit Carrier and a tarp cover over his Gundam, then drove through by way of any heavy-equipment-capable highway. It wasn't exactly subtle by most definitions of the word, but it was surprising how frequently it worked.

"It's not always easy, but in this case we can mostly cross farmland and forests to get there," Mu commented.

"Conn, Helm, approaching surface shipping lane between Sicily and Tel Aviv. Should I take her down?" Newman asked.

"Sensors, surface traffic?" Murrue asked.

"No surface contacts within 200 miles, Captain," Sai replied evenly.

"Helm, hold altitude," Murrue ordered. The ship was far slower underwater than it was in air, which made every moment of air transit worth it.

"Holding altitude at 7-5 meters above sea level, course 0-1-0 at 225 kilometers per hour velocity," Newman reported.

"What do you intend to do once the shooting is over?" Quatre asked after a couple minutes of observing the bridge crew in silence.

"Whatever we have to do if needed, otherwise a vacation before we jump out," Mu said in jest, though Murrue figured it as good a plan as any.

"Vacation?" Rashid asked with a raised eyebrow.

"We don't get much in the way of peace and quiet, not with our track record," Murrue said with a slightly soured tone. "Whenever we can take a break, we do. We never know what the future holds, so on those days we can we enjoy these times of peace. The day after probably will not be peaceful."

"She does have a creepy sort of point," Quatre told Rashid.

"Conn, Sensors, got something here," Sai said. "Air contacts from Cyprus, estimate origin Cyprus Military Facility. Direct intercept course, ETA seven minutes."

"Not so peaceful," Mu said with a hint of forced levity to his tone. Everyone within earshot knew he was forcing himself not to vent frustration.

-x-

"105 Dagger, Command, deploy Aile Striker pack for anti-air operations."

"Command, Chevalier, roger and wilco," 'Mad Dog' Morgan replied immediately.

"Windam on right, ready for cat-shot," Fuu said from the 'cockpit' of her Rune God barely ten meters in front of Morgan.

"Windam, launch immediately," Miriallia ordered. "Strike Freedom, report status."

"Strike Freedom on left, standing by for catapult clearance," Kira declared his status. "Catapult is green, Strike Freedom is launching!"

Morgan's 105 Dagger jolted slightly as the catapult shuttles slammed forward into the arrester at the end of the catapult bay, but not enough to disrupt the installation of the Aile Strike pack. The beam rifle was a welcome addition, especially since most of the Romafeller (former Oz) units were not very resistant to beam hits (and those that were resistant were easy prey for the rest of the team).

"Command, Chevalier, moving forward to cat right," he said as the 105 Dagger trudged forward the ten meters to the catapult location. One of the structural upgrades on the ship had separated the Striker Pack storage / assembly and the actual catapult. It wasn't a perfect solution, since a unit receiving a striker pack still blocked the entrance to the catapult, but it wasn't impossible for a unit to queue up on the catapult before Morgan began taking on some firepower.

"Command, Buster on rear elevator, requesting clearance," Tolle asked with a tone unusually cheery to Morgan's ears.

"Come back alive, love," Miriallia ordered before she tripped the elevator to take him up to the ship's reardeck.

"105 Dagger, catapult right waiting for clearance," Morgan declared. Miriallia tripped the catapult release; "Aile 105 Dagger, launching!"

"Selesce reporting ready on left catapult," Umi made note as she watched the Duel trudge over to the rear-deck elevator. Rayearth had been the ship's standby unit, so Hikaru was already outside and waiting for intercept instructions. Only Nicol's GuAIZ remained to be deployed, and since it was not a flight-capable unit he would also be going out the elevator for foredeck guard.

Umi sighed mightily as she took stock of her fate, considering that all she really wanted was to go home, yet she felt she had a long way to go with many battles to come. Still and all, these were her friends and comrades on this ship; she would not have abandoned them for Prince Charming and a royal title if they had been handed to her. The _Archangel_ was her home, her life and her resolution; such a combination was not something she could abandon.

-x-

"Enemy type classifications: Aries, Taurus, Cancer, and Pisces confirmed," Kira read off from his sensor systems display panel. "Reinforced Battalion strength, mostly weighted toward Aries and Taurus."

"I'm going under the waves," Umi said after the names of the enemy underwater machines registered. Her forward momentum slowed, then stopped, then her lift cut and Selesce dropped feet-first into the ocean below.

"Mobile Forces, _Archangel_, we will provide support fire. Draw them in close so our guns can hammer them flat," Murrue ordered.

"Roger that," Athrun answered for the team. "Hikaru, feel up to being the bait for today?"

"I'm in. Straight in, or try and draw them to the side?" Hikaru replied immediately.

"Draw them left, into the travel line of the _Archangel_. Kira, Mu, let's wedge them toward Hikaru; Fuu, can you handle any stragglers?"

"Ready," Fuu answered by way of drawing her sword and beginning an ascent to 2500 meters, far higher than the flight lines for the other units. A few of the enemy Aries machines jumped up to her altitude, guns aimed and missiles already acquiring their target. It put her 'on an island' in tactical terms, but it also drew off at least some of the heat from the other pilots.

"Here we go," Mu said with a hint of levity, but a small one at that.

In years past, the team would have split up when taking on a cluster of foes, but not in these new days and new battles. Hikaru broke left and Fuu went high, but Athrun, Mu, Kira, and Morgan all plowed straight into the enemy formation's right flank both faster than the enemy expected and in a charge that shocked the rest into temporary inaction. It was this minor psychological advantage, the instant of hesitation the charge caused, that the Archangel Team relied on for instantaneous advantage.

"Got two!" Morgan half-shouted as he swept down low to avoid any possible collisions and then jumped back up to reasonable altitude to continue the engagement when he was behind the enemy formation. A pair of the Taurus machines were quick to single him out for a counterattack. One missed wide with his shots, another put a shot on Morgan but his shield blocked the pilot's ministrations. Kira moved through next, his guns fixed forward and firing; of five separate attacks, he missed with the Callidus beam cannon, hit with both rail guns (a kill on a Taurus and an Aries), and got two partials on another Aries with his beam rifles. His foes fared terribly; of six separate missiles loosed at him, not one came close to striking.

"Stay away from my ship!" Athrun shouted on an open band, using it as an intimidation weapon as he closed. It served to highlight him on several enemy HUD displays, which served to draw fire toward him, but he needed only block one beam from a Taurus; the Phase Shift armor on the Aegis prevented the 50mm chainguns carried by the Aries from damaging him. He came to a dead stop and began applying pressure to their battle line with beam rifle shots, with the intent of driving them into Hikaru as was the plan – and they would follow Hikaru right into the field of fire on the _Archangel_. Or so the plan went. A Taurus Mobile Suit and an Aries went down in his attack, with a partial on a second Taurus (missing leg).

Mu said nothing while he brought up the rear of the attack formation; instead he simply fired beam cannon, beam rifle, and the rail guns from the IWSP Striker Pack into the enemy formation. He did as well as Athrun in his initial volley, but without the stop to begin blocking procedures; a third and fourth Taurus went into the waves with his ministrations as he passed through their formation low. A pair of 50mm chaingun bursts passed within yards of his fighter, but none close enough to damage him on the way past.

"Oh no, guys, they're blitzing the ship!" Fuu reported from her higher vantage point over the enemy formation; she had slowed down somewhat to track their progress. The units that had ascended to engage her took their shots as she tracked the formation, natively faster than her and overshooting Windam, but only one struck true – a pair of missiles into the wing joint of her Rune God. She screeched, again reminded that the Rune God's injuries translated to her.

"This isn't going to end well," Kira groused, then realized Fuu had lost flight control. "Athrun!"

"I see her! Cover me!" Athrun transformed his Gundam into the long-range Mobile Armor form to shoot up to altitude. Kira took a moment to peg two of the three Aries MS with beam rifle fire; one engine hit resulted in a spectacular explosion as its fusion reactor vented, the other simply lost a jet engine that shredded apart inside the shoulder housing and threw sparks forward and back before it began a descent toward the waves.

"Support fire from the _Archangel_! Eight missiles!" Mu shouted in cheer; the missiles were the longest-range option the _Archangel_ had for taking out fighters and MS with reliability. Of eight missiles, one was intercepted, one failed to guide on terminal (1), and six hits scratched a previously damaged Taurus, a fresh Taurus, and one wound plus three kills on Aries machines.

Athrun closed up on Windam smoothly, then used his maneuvering thrusters to match her drop speed, then closed to grapple the injured Rune God. "Got her!" he shouted as he stomped on his main engines to slow their descent. "Aegis returning to ship with one, I need covering fire, I can't maneuver or defend!"

"Kira, Mu, cover the Aegis, the _Archangel_ will take the primary for intercept." As if to accentuate the point, another eight missiles were loosed from the ship, this time from the port-side launchers, and four of these birds were anti-air shrapnel missiles, last used against the Magitek Air Forces with stunning results. "Hikaru, bring it straight in against the enemy's left rear, you are cleared for area denial attack."

"Got it," Hikaru replied immediately. Mu went low and Kira leveled out with Athrun to provide close-in escort.

"Athrun, I have your back, floor it!" Kira announced.

"Have track two contacts underwater, how's Umi doing?" Sai asked in a brief pause of the comm chatter. A blast of beam rifle from a Taurus only roiled the surface of the water, having done nothing to the enemy below the waves.

"I think _that_ answers that question," Hikaru noted as a severe whirlpool formed in the area shot by an enemy machine. Selesce bolted from the center spiral of the waves, glowingly faintly blue as it charged upwards in altitude to challenge the remaining enemies.

"Four down underwater, the rest are running home," Umi said in a rush while she closed on the remaining enemies.

"Twenty seconds to landing!" Athrun counted off. "Fuu, are you all right?"

"I—I think I'll live, but this is worse than last time," she complained.

"Kira! Two Taurus on your left!" Hikaru reported a moment too late for Kira to do anything about it. Missiles were already tasked to intercept the Taurus machines, and it looked to be a close call, but Kira knew the Taurus would get their shots off first.

"Athrun, drop al—" the convergence of events in time and space was almost instantaneous, but not enough to prevent the destruction to come. The pair of Taurus triggered their space laser cannons, followed a second later by a pair of the missiles striking the two wayward machines, and a half-second later the space lasers fired. Kira blocked the laser aimed at him, but the one aimed at Athrun was diverted from what would have been a miss to a solid hit against the rear of his Gundam.

The Space Laser was a through-and-through shot; for a brief instant, Kira could see daylight through the side of Athrun's Gundam. "My engines are toast! I'm going in!" The Aegis' Phase Shift armor decolored (and therefore depowered) moments before it struck the waves. Windam was loosed from the crab claw grip of the unit as the Aegis was sheared apart into more than a dozen pieces by its asymmetrical impact with the waves. Kira thought he noticed the cockpit area of the machine took little damage, so he figured there would be hope for his amigo to have survived.

"Athrun!" Kira shouted.

"Umi, priority SAR (2), rescue Fuu, rescue Athrun, now!" Captain Ramius ordered immediately after she watched the impact.

"On it!" Umi cut her flight thrust after chopping apart an Aries from head to navel on the machine; within moments, her Rune God was under the waves again.

"Enemy forces retreating!" Sai reported. "All forces are bugging out to base!"

"A pity we don't have cruise missiles to send their fucking bartenders a message," Chandratta commented coldly.

"Should I pursue, Captain?" Kira asked, shifting from instantaneous fright to white-hot rage.

"Negative, return to ship and provide overwatch for recovery efforts," Miriallia replied immediately. "Worry about what we have left, Kira, not what we can do to them. We'll get 'em back another day."

_I have both, Selesce believes them alive_, Umi reported by way of Selesce's telepathy to the remainder of the ship.

-x-x-x-

(14 November AC195, 0400 hours)

(Central Mediterranean, north of Sicily, underwater (150 meters))

Despite two of her friends being in the med ward, Hikaru knew better than to give into despair or fear. The day (morning, in this case) still had to go on, and with it the operations of the ship had to continue. Servicing and preparation of the Mobile Forces took priority in her mind; the comment Miriallia had used to justify Kira not chasing them down rang true and loud to the ship. They had to worry about what was left, not be hung up on what they had lost.

"Down slow, down slow, hold," Murdoch said into his radio. "Stand by while I get the part anchored, Hikaru."

"Standing by," Hikaru replied.

Murdoch pulled a wrench and pushed in on the part, seating it in the mounting brackets. A couple turns of his wrench had it held in place, though not completely seated or bolted in. He pulled the crane hook off and removed the chains. "Crane is loose, pick up assembly six for installation, girl," Murdoch ordered before he turned back to the initial part.

"Roger that, old man," Hikaru replied with a clear hint of tease.

"Old? Old? I ain't old!" Murdoch replied indignantly. "Thirty-three ain't freaking old."

"Yeah, you're right," Hikaru admitted. "Still, you're at the absolute low end to be my father, so that has to count for something," Hikaru replied nonchalantly.

"Damn, that worries me," Murdoch groused as he began dogging down the assembly bolts. "Hearing it put that way does make me feel like I'm getting old."

"Got the next part," Hikaru said as the ground tech gave her a thumbs-up to raise the part up. "Anyway, two out of three young farts have no problem with Christmas Cake, so not all hope is lost for you," Hikaru tried to cheer him up. "If they can find the right one, that is," she appended after a few moments.

Murdoch didn't respond immediately; he focused on torquing the bolts down to the right force. "Torque, lock, check," he repeated the old mechanic's mantra for making sure bolts were snugged down right.

"Do it right the first time or someone dies," Hikaru repeated the _Archangel_ mechanic's mantra.

"Ain't that the truth," Murdoch said. "And I don't want nobody dyin' on my watch because of a mechanic's foul-up."

"Yeah, they get kicked in the face every time they go out, they don't need a kick in the ass to go with it," Gomer said on the same channel.

"Gomer? How's it going buddy?" Murdoch asked in a falsely comforting voice while he attached power and data connections to the assembly he was working on.

"Aquarius is almost ready to go, we're finishing up the armor work now, boss." Hikaru and Kira had only managed to finish the armor for the legs of the Aquarius, the rest was still left undone until Murdoch assigned a crew to it. "And I agree with the little lady on the ongoing conversation, with a caveat, of course. You have to be a little bit twisted to voluntarily be on this love boat, boss, which probably don't leave much in the way of ladies for us 'ye olde drunken sailors' to chase."

"Bring it left two meters and five meters toward, Hikaru," Murdoch requested. "This isn't the best conditions for anyone, much less a budding family to be hanging around on. It is a _war_ship, after all," he admitted as he continued using hand signals to guide Hikaru placing the part where Murdoch needed it.

"Well, Miriallia and Tolle seem to be making out well..." It took Hikaru a few moments to realize why Murdoch was hanging off the part, laughing hard enough to drop his radio handset. "Wrong choice of words, sorry," she admitted after a few moments looking around to see other mechanics laughing just as hard. Miriallia and Tolle were infamous around the ship for their exploits, of which a goodly portion of the mechanics crews were in 'hearing' range to either of their quarters.

"You really need to watch your phrasing around this crowd, girl," Gomer said deadpan. "They tend to get the wrong idea with just about—"

"—Anything you say," Murdoch completed the sentence for the hangar 2IC. "One more meter to the left, girl, and take her down about a quarter, that should be good."

"One to the left and a quarter down, stand by," Hikaru moved the part as requested for Murdoch. "Close enough?"

"Oh yeah, close enough, stand by to loose crane." Murdoch answered. He pushed the part in place and threaded the large (and unique) retaining pin into the mount brackets on the part. A couple good whacks of the sledgehammer seated the pin properly, and that was that for the first phase of this assembly. With a flick of the wrist, he had the crane straps removed and dangling free. "Crane is free, secure the next part please," Murdoch requested.

"On it," Hikaru immediately began moving the crane away and toward the next assembly that needed to be installed. "Wait, we don't have any more parts remaining, Murdoch," she said after she realized the 'waiting parts' check zone was empty.

"Good. Get your butt to bed, you're well past curfew," Murdoch ordered.

"Oka—wait, what? You're not my father!" Hikaru replied indignantly.

"You just said I'm old enough to be your dad, so someone's gotta pick up the slack until further notice. Besides, you're even past your non-duty cycle, so you need to get to sleep." The necessity for sleep was recognized by every military in existence, as the human body started losing efficiency the longer the person remained conscious past sixteen hours. It was possible to remain awake for days, but fatigue led to mistakes, and mistakes led to injuries, failures, or even death. The _Archangel_ was strict to a fare-thee-well on the requirements for crew rest; nobody remained awake for more than 20 hours at a time unless operationally necessary (rare) or combat dictated it (even more rare).

"But—" Hikaru stammered.

"They're stable, Hikaru. You can worry about them tomorrow, no more harm will come to them in the med ward. Get to bed. Now."

"Yessir," the Magic Knight groused.

-x-x-x-

(14 November AC195, 1200 hours)

(Central Mediterranean, 140km east of Rome, Italy, above water (5 meters))

"How are they?"

"Banged up real bad," Kira admitted as he applied a liberal amount of pepper to the lunch entree. "Nicol and Terra have seen to the worst of their injuries with magic, but the amount of abuse they took is insane. The sea is a very unforgiving thing to hit, especially when doing 330 kilos trying to run away from flying enemies. Nicol and Terra do have a plan, though, using various healing spells to fix 'em up over the next couple of days."

"And the Aegis is toast, and Windam is out for several days while it regenerates a whole set of wings," Yzak tallied up the remainder of the ship's woes. "Holy shit, Strike, you eat that much pepper and you'll blow five meters of flame out your arse."

"Extra jump-jet thrust may save my life someday," Kira countered with a straight face.

"This shit keeps up, we're dead by default," Tolle complained, ignoring the comment about flaming butts. "We only have so much to bleed before we run out of blood to give."

"This is typical of Oz," Rashid said as he approached the group. His was the same roast beef and cornmeal that the rest of the crew was eating; he studiously did not comment on the little green 'aliens' that were doing the bulk of the cooking behind the counter. "They have the advantage of numbers, and they will trade those numbers for an eventual victory. Body counts mean nothing to them, just results."

"Well, not to all of them," Quatre hedged his subordinate's estimation. "Just to _most_, to the Romafeller Foundation. There is a small and vocal minority in Oz that doesn't fight like that, rallying behind an old foe of ours: Treize Kushrenada."

"The enemy of your enemy is not necessarily your friend," Yzak replied candidly. "It would be real nice to believe we have friends out there, but you just said they are old foes of yours, and old rivalries aren't easily forgotten outside of the movies."

"Right," Quatre admitted. Rashid nodded at the sound logic the far younger Archangel Team pilot showed.

"For now, we still need to get you guys north to the Sanc Kingdom," Kira said to Rashid. "We can worry about who's friendly with whom once that pending disaster is stopped cold."

"Agreed," Rashid answered. "My men probably won't be able to make a huge difference, but it may be enough to draw out the battle into a stalemate, which works to our advantage."

"Anything left from the Aegis?" Quatre asked after a moment's silence.

"The only thing meaningful recovered from the Aegis was the cockpit housing, shield and beam rifle. The rest is on the ocean floor."

"Think they'll try to recover it?" Tolle asked.

"I wish them luck if they try," Yzak said. "Just on what splattered on impact, they'll take months to pick up the pieces, if they can find it all."

"And without the cockpit, without the necessary control systems for the Phase Shift armor, they won't get anything of use out of it," Kira closed that line of thought. "At worst, they rebuild it, recommission it, and deploy it against us. Who here doesn't know the Aegis' limitations?" No hands were raised by the Archangel Team pilots, but Rashid and Quatre both raised theirs. "Well, grading curve for you two gentlemen, we've been working with the Aegis for years."

"Makes sense," Rashid replied thoughtfully.

"And without the Phase Shift, the major defensive advantage it had is down the toilet. We could intercept it with missiles in that case," Tolle said thoughtfully.

"What are you guys planning to do with Aquarius and Vayeate?" Quatre asked, realizing that they had three Gundams – and only two prospective pilots.

"Well, I think Athrun is going to take out the Mercurius, since Murdoch just gave it his seal of approval, I'll take the Aquarius since I'll probably have to real-time hack the Mobile Doll control systems, and the Vayeate is going to be the interesting one," Nicol hedged.

"Who?" Rashid asked directly.

Nicol half-twisted to point over his left shoulder. The indicated person was standing in the mess hall serving line. "The big guy with the green tattoos on his face," he indicated Pytor, the old Mechwarrior that had come along with the rest of the team and had little to do operationally in the past few battles.

"Old Mechwarrior, he's got a few years in the cockpit," Kira added.

"He'll need a workup to pilot the Vayeate, but it does have a big honking gun like the favored cannons he used to drive," Yzak commented. "I don't think he'll have any problems once he gets used to driving a Gundam."

"Ah," Quatre grunted in realization.

The intercom began blaring the electric guitar riffs of an old metal song. "Ah, that would be Me Wise Magic by _Van Halen_," Tolle commented. "Good old Classic Rock, and a good way to signal the second hour." A bell was used to signal the passing of the hour between songs; someone in the mechanics crew did the song, though who was doing it was not entirely clear (and if Murdoch knew, he wasn't saying).

"This happens all too frequently," Kira muttered after a few moments silence. "We push forward, we're just trying to get home, but every time we turn around someone is trying to kill us. Athrun got lucky on this one, we've had pilots go out and not come back."

"Hear, hear," Yzak replied. "If we don't all come home, none of us ever truly comes home."

"Yeah," Tolle acknowledged. "All we can do is hope."

"Anyone for a game?" Colonel Chevalier dropped a pack of cards on the table. "Something to get your minds off the nightmares and relieve a little stress."

-x-x-x-

(14 November AC195, 2100 hours)

(Northern Italy, area west of Turin)

"All forces on ground, moving now," Mu said. Unlike the last battle, he was in the Timber Wolf with a new weapons load and forewarning of what was coming.

"Nothing like field testing the latest and greatest equipment we can deploy," Nicol said. "Aquarius reports ready for action, jamming systems are at 100 percent power and on standby."

"Mobile Forces, Command, enemy will be just over the ridge 800 meters ahead of you. Prepare to activate jamming system and close on enemy formations."

"Ground copies traffic, preparing weapons now," Colonel Chevalier answered. He pulled the paired anti-ship swords from the IWSP pack and manually cycled the 35mm Gatling on his shield.

"Enemy formation will be commanded by manned units," Kira declared. "The Mobile Dolls will be helpless once Aquarius deploys its jamming systems, but the remainder of their formation is going to be a threat. Start with the command elements, but be prepared to strike down the Mobile Dolls as we come across them."

"Roger that, Strike," Yzak answered for the unit. The sound of his shoulder-carried missile launcher cycling missiles into battery, built from two salvaged Aries missile launchers, echoed through their external microphones.

"Stone Rhino has point," Pytor moved up forward to where he could guard the unit. The Stone Rhino had been pulled from storage for this mission with relish; the pair of Large Pulse Lasers and pair of Gauss Rifles would make short work of Mobile Dolls, all the more so that the virus was also supposed to render them immobile as well as incapable of resisting.

"Echelon right, anchor on the Stone Rhino; we'll hit them from west to east," Kira requested. It took about ten seconds, but the formation changed up their positions to allow the heaviest armor (Stone Rhino, Timber Wolf, Strike Freedom) to take up the forward guard.

"Aquarius reporting, I have track on four transponder codes for Mobile Dolls, beginning virus broadcast on four detected channels now."

"300 meters to the ridgeline," Chevalier noted with a bare hint of anticipation to voice. "275 meters," he continued to count down. "250 meters."

"Computer, build shoot-list of all manned machines and slug to friendly units. Guys, almost in position," Kira said.

"_Archangel_ is on fire support detail, Kira, can you bird-dog for B-V-R (3) missile fire?" Miriallia asked.

"Computer, build MD shoot-list and slug to FCS on _Archangel,_" Kira requested. It took no more than three seconds to build, process, and transmit. "Chandratta, keep an eye on our locations; those missiles will tear up any of our machines except Strike Freedom, Duel, and Buster."

"Way ahead of you, Kira."

"Line of departure, people," Chevalier said.

"Weapons hot, fire at will," Mu ordered as his machine crested the ridge south of the enemy column.

"Holy shit on a stick," Yzak complained as he came into LOS of the enemy formation. "These guys have a real hard-on for _someone_," he gaped at the columns of forces ahead of his position.

"No shit, this is a whole armored brigade, I count 744 contacts not including support vehicles and infantry," Chevalier read off his sensor panel.

"_Archangel_ is approaching to provide close-in support and to deploy Maganac forces," Miriallia said. "Ground forces, sweep area and eliminate all threat machines."

"Wheat before our scythe," Pytor declared as he advanced his throttle to the stop. It didn't give him much in the way of speed, but the Stone Rhino didn't rely on speed to do the job. "I see only about forty enemy contacts moving now, I will focus on the left," he said before he snapped off his first shot. The Large Pulse Lasers, the native weapon of the Stone Rhino, gave him plenty of bite against a simple Leo MS. Two shots removed an arm and punched a hole in a leg, followed by a third shot that missed and a fourth that took it in the chest.

"Let's give these guys a _really_ bad day," Yzak opined. His left arm tracked upward, bringing the salvaged Aries missile launcher assembly into targeting profile. He fired at machines one missile at a time, given the necessity of hitting immobile and non-resisting Mobile Dolls was incredibly simple – and a missile would cripple the Virgo Mobile Dolls easily when their Defensors were not deployed. Missiles tended to be hellishly effective against anything with homogenous armor, and the Virgos were plated in tough armor – but it was still one material with no reactive plates, easy prey for a shape charge.

-x-

"6-3-Foxtrot to all units, they're here! To the south, moving southwest to northeast and tearing the entire column up!" another APC shouted on the infantry band.

"All units in Foxtrot command, dismount and engage in close with AT weapons. Do not, repeat, _do not_ try to engage from standoff range, they're better at range than in close!" the Major commanding the unit ordered.

"You heard the man! Drop your socks, load your gear, and pucker your assholes! It's showtime, ladies!" the Lieutenant, always the gung-ho one of the unit, was first out the door of his APC, followed quickly by an AT missile team.

"Holy hell, look at those things! Can we even damage 'em with missiles?" the Master Sergeant asked as he got his first eyes-on look at the Stone Rhino.

"We might be able to," the Lieutenant replied. "We'll start with a smaller target, though. Close up on that gray-and-blue machine with the gattling shield."

"We who are about to die salute thee," the Master Sergeant replied with the unit's unofficial motto. The very low emphasis the Romafeller Foundation put on infantry tended to show in their attitudes and mannerisms. _As if any form of Armor can solve all the world's problems_, the Master Sergeant completed the usual Infantryman's lament inside the confines of his own head.

"What the hell's up with the Dolls? They ain't moving or shooting while under fire!"

"I dunno, but I'll bet their ship has something to do with it," the Lieutenant complained. The infantry had precisely no weapons capable of damaging a warship, even from point-blank range. They could try to board the ship but that was a different, and very dicey, matter altogether.

"Damn boss, that blue-'n'-gray machine is goin' the other way, what should we try?" the unit's second asked.

"Go for that large gray machine, it looks like it's coming our way and it's slow enough to hit easily." The flash of two rapid-fire lasers from torso-mounted laser cannons gave everyone in the unit pause – just before the pilot fired a single massive slug from the right arm cannon. The slug tore through the chest of a Mobile Doll and dented the back of the armor plate, a testament to the sheer power and mass of the weapon involved.

"This is gonna suck," the Master Sergeant of the unit commented.

"F-U-C-K-E-D, A-G-A-I-N!" the three unit jokers chanted in sync on the unit band to the old 'Mickey Mouse' theme."

"Shut up and do it," the Lieutenant groused. "The Army don't pay you to like it. Nor me," he grumped after a moment.

"500 meters! Set up the AT Missiles! Target the large gray machine with the green trim!" the Master Sergeant put actions to his own orders, as he had his own AT missile launcher that he set up himself.

"Team 1, up!" "Team 2!" "Team 3" "Four is green!"

"Send your shots when you have lock!" the Lieutenant replied.

One missile, followed by two more, then a fourth AT missile was loosed. The squads immediately began the process of reloading even before the missiles came down on the torso of the enemy machine. The APCs also chimed in, firing their own wire-guided antitank missiles into the machine, followed by the 23mm chainguns each was equipped with. The impact of ordinance on the machine within four seconds was enough to knock it down sideways, where it crashed to the ground in a loud clanging and serious shock to the ground.

"Hell yeah! These bastards aren't so—" the Master Sergeant's declaration was cut short by something blowing his torso to shreds. It was the leading projectile from a massive area-denial attack from the enemy green Gundam, a blast from its combined weapons that practically annihilated the infantry and destroyed three of the four APCs they rode into battle with. The Lieutenant and two Corporals were the only ones left standing, though two more survived with missing legs.

The Lieutenant looked around his infantry unit in despair and then spared the Gundam that shot his unit a glance. The pilot of the large green Gundam had already transitioned target to another infantry platoon, and cut loose with practically the same result. A sound from the machine his unit downed drew his attention to the right, followed by sheer horror as the enemy machine began the process of standing up from the fall it took. Other than a single armor plate askew, it appeared their barrage did no major damage to the enemy frontline machine.

The sight of the enemy warship approaching the battlefield was enough to break his resolve. The lieutenant helped a solder that lost his left foot to his feet, then the private and the lieutenant began the process of hobbling away from the oncoming enemies.

-x-

"Maganac forces are deploying now, 70 seconds to full on the ground!" Rashid half-shouted the last as his machine hit the ground in front of the right catapult bay.

"Sandrock is on the ground!" Quatre declared. "_Archangel_, where do you want me?"

"Sandrock, Command, start chopping up the Mobile Dolls. Plenty of them to take down."

"This isn't a battle, it's a massacre," Mu grumped. "The manned units have fled northeast, all we have are these dolls." Even still, his own fire had not slacked off; Mu was hocking as much in ordinance as any of the Mobile Suits, and the combinations of ballistic and missile weapons were working wonders on the armor used by the Mobile Dolls.

"If it was manned units, I'd call it a massacre," Kira replied staunchly. "If it's just soulless Dolls, it's taking out the trash."

"Wow, Strike, that's a bit of an opinion there," Yzak replied. "I think my respect for you just went up a point or two."

"Four hundred more," Tolle said. "I'm running out of ammo, going just on beam cannon now."

"Use this, it's faster than the beam cannons," Nicol handed him a beam saber from his own kit.

"All right," Tolle racked his cannons and lit off the beam saber. "Here goes nothing!"

"Save ammo, get up close and personal, I like it," Yzak racked his beam rifle and joined the slice-'n'-dice action toward the front.

A group of missiles passed overhead and nosed down into the Mobile Dolls north of the ground teams. The tons of explosives sundered the enemy machines and threw body parts in every direction. "How's my aim?" Chandratta asked.

"Good shooting, we've only about 350 more, so..." Kira answered.

"Just another day on the job," Nicol said with a neutral inflection to voice.

"Maganac forces are deployed now, we'll take the left flank," which amounted to the western and southern columns of the enemy brigade, some 200 of the remaining enemy Mobile Dolls.

"This one is in the bag," Mu said. "All we have to do is finish scrapping them out. Kind of a hollow victory, but it is a victory."

The Mobile Dolls did not flinch for the remainder of the battle, their control systems jammed by the virus being transmitted by Aquarius. In less than an hour, the entire formation was destroyed and the _Archangel_ had departed the scene.

-x-x-x-

(15 November AC195, 0500 hours)

(Northeastern France, over the Ardennes Forest)

"What's this about?" Nicol asked as he joined the pilots in their customary position toward the front of the hangar assembly area.

"Not sure, pilot. Captain has something important for us," Chief Warrant Officer Ryback said, still wearing his galley uniform though without the typical apron he wore.

"Attention on deck!" Though few actually came to attention, the entire crew of the ship silenced itself within four seconds.

"At ease, people," Murrue requested when the room was silent. A few people shifted from their positions, but nothing major came of it.

"Did I miss anything?" Tolle asked as he joined the pilots. Miriallia joined the bridge crew a few moments late as well, and both were looking a bit disheveled.

"Just started," Nicol replied.

"_Archangel_ crew, as of right now we have a decision point we need to make," Murrue began her briefing. "Two hours ago, the Romafeller Foundation began a concentrated assault on the Luxembourg base of the Treize Faction. In all real terms, this battle seems like it has nothing to do with us, but in practice this battle may well determine the outcome of our mission to protect the Sanc Kingdom. The forces at Luxembourg are part of the reserve assigned to the battle for the Sanc Kingdom, and as such if we do not engage them now we can rightfully expect to face off against the leftovers in a week or so."

"Well that's no fun," Yzak complained.

"More trash to take out, just a question of now or later," Kira added to the standing complaint. What disdain he had for the Mobile Dolls nobody had heard, but that he didn't like them was evident to anyone.

Murrue waited a few more moments for the comments to subside. "Our decision is a simple one: We can take to the battlefield now, and engage this force of Mobile Dolls in the hope of not also having to do battle with the Treize Faction, or we can bide our time and do battle with these Dolls in the Sanc Kingdom. Neither outcome is technically more or less correct than the other, but we will have the advantage of better odds should we engage the two forces separately – we have a brigade of enemy machines to face here, and two brigades to face around the Sanc Kingdom. If those forces combine for a weighted assault, we would have to face a small division in one go."

"Ma'am, even with the virus jammers on Aquarius, we couldn't hope to slag down a whole Division on our own," one of the Mechanics pointed out. There were several audible assents to his point from other mechanics and even from some of the ship's crew. The sour look on Kira's face was ample evidence that he thought it unwinnable as well.

"Concur," Commander La Flaga replied. "Two brigades is not a pleasant force to face itself, but three is entirely too many."

"One Tango (4) is never enough, two is entirely too many," one of the cooks complained.

"Three is an orgy," another cook said, which caused a few around the hangar to suppress giggles.

Murrue plowed on: "I present this to you to decide, based on the fact that the Treize Faction is not likely going to take kindly to us, regardless of how we run the battle. We may end up winning the battle only to generate yet another enemy in this deal. The decision belongs to you." Murrue took a short bow to the extended crew of the ship.

"All in favor of bypassing Luxembourg, repeat, _bypassing_ Luxembourg, raise an arm," Mu requested. After ninety seconds, not one arm came up in response.

"Sir, I think I speak for the enlisted on this one, we kill 'em all and count the craters. 'All' in this case being a completely subjective term," Murdoch said loud enough to be heard throughout the hangar.

"HELL YES, SIR!" one of the cooks / special forces soldiers shouted in response.

"Any final objections?" Murrue asked. Nobody spoke up. "Very well, our battleplan is as follows. Primarily, our objective is to eliminate all Romafeller Mobile Doll forces. Secondary, we are to minimize casualties to the Treize Faction forces, unless we are attacked by them in which case we are to force a defeat scenario hopefully without killing them all. Secondary, we are to prevent civilian losses of life in the affected area of the battle. As an optional objective, if we can capture or eliminate command assets of the Romafeller assault force, we can probably make further battles far easier."

"We don't have much in the way of intel on the enemy forces yet, the area isn't exactly heavy with camera crews," Mu admitted. "The catch is we know the southern flank of the base is reasonably safe; we just destroyed the forces that were supposed to attack that part of the base. On the other hand, we do know the enemy is reinforcing the area with space-drops of Mobile Dolls, so we can expect things to get worse for us as the battle drags on."

Murrue continued when Mu hesitated. "The _Archangel_ will provide primary fire for air targets, specifically their Mobile Doll Carriers, to prevent reinforcement-in-place operations, and will provide primary indirect fire for ground targets with missiles. On the ground, our main effort will be the Mobile Forces, with a move-to-contact engagement profile to fix the enemy's flank and call in fire from the _Archangel_. Once their numbers are thinned, hopefully the Treize Faction forces can join us in eliminating the remainder of the Mobile Dolls and we can call it a day."

"All sections are to be battle-ready no later than 0700 hours," Mu said. "The gunfight starts no later than 0800. Dismissed!"

"There you have it, kids," Chief Ryback said to the pilots. "Time for us to throw in for real."

"Sucks," Tolle griped. "Can't someone leave us alone for a jump or two? Is that too much to ask?"

"Of course," Ryback replied. "We've pissed _someone_ off, and now we get to wander the interdimensional equivalent of the Mediterranean in search of home. Just like Odysseus, only nastier."

"Welcome to the Odyssey," Tolle said in a singsong voice, matching an old band called _Orgy_ and their song by the same name.

-x-x-x-

(15 November AC195, 0745 hours)

(Southern Luxembourg, Luxembourg Military Academy / AFB)

"This is insane! They must _really_ want Lord Treize dead!"

"It's their way or the highway, Corporal," Sergeant Blesser replied. He edged the muzzle of his Dobergun out from cover and took aim at one of the approaching Mobile Dolls, then squeezed the trigger. The shot went straight and true, struck the OZ-06MD Virgo in the left knee, and sheared the entire lower leg off the machine. It toppled to the ground, now too damaged to continue the fight.

"Yeah, their way or the highway to Hell," the Corporal groused. He did the same as the Sergeant, he fired his bazooka from cover to prevent the Mobile Dolls being able to track in on him, though his shot missed between two of the front-line units and hit a tango three rows back.

"Honorless bastards," a Lieutenant said. His machine had the shoulder cannons that officers tended to favor, but he had eschewed the standard beam rifle for a pair of the 105mm machine cannons, weapons not stopped by the eponymous Planet Defensers the Mobile Dolls carried. "Why don't these Romafeller pussies come down here and fight us like men, not Terminators?"

"They fear us, fear Lord Treize, fear anything that would challenge their ancient conspiracy. They have to slaughter us and the Sanc Kingdom, or they can't have their perfect little world," Sergeant Blesser groused. Another shot landed on target and struck down another Mobile Doll, but a second shot missed wide and blasted a tree in half in the distance.

"Bet they're crapping their pants over that big white ship that's free-roaming around the Med, striking down their Mobile Doll and air force units," the Corporal commented.

"What I'd give for a tenth of their combat power right now," the Lieutenant bemoaned. His Leo raised both machine cannons over the roof of a damaged water processing plant and began spraying ordinance in their direction.

"1200 meters before they're on top of us," the Sergeant said with a clearly hardened heart. He didn't expect to see them approach within 600 meters, he figured he would be dead before that.

"God damnit!" the Corporal shouted as his machine recoiled from a shot and slammed backward into another building of the water treatment plant. The bazooka to which he was using was thoroughly trashed, now blown in half and on the ground. "Not good, I just lost both hands in that attack, I'm out."

"Gah!" the Sergeant's machine was next to take a hit, this time the beam cannon blast blew through the dobergun and annihilated the right arm of his Leo. "Well, at least I'm in good company. Can't ask for finer men to die with today."

"I seriously wish we had some kind of help out here," the Lieutenant said. His 105mm machine cannons were doing damage, but not enough damage fast enough to matter.

"Ask and ye shall receive, Lieutenant," the Corporal said. The Lieutenant looked first to the Corporal, whose Mobile Suit was staring toward the rear of the Treize lines, then he looked toward where the Corporal's MS was staring. What the Corporal was referring to was completely obvious once the Lieutenant saw what was coming his way.

"Good God, it's more frightening in real life than it is in briefing," Sergeant Blesser said.

"Holy Hell," the Corporal groused as the ship was haloed by the rocket engines of missiles being launched – big missiles. The flight of SRAMs (5) streaked up to 600 meters AGL, then nosed down at a nearly ninety-degree angle onto the top of the Mobile Doll formation; four of the missiles burst open at 400 meters, spreading a swath of cluster munitions all over the ground, the rest were 'common' missiles that blew fifty-meter rents in the Mobile Doll lines.

"Hell yes! Let's see if I can get them to walk their fire in closer," Sergeant Blesser said with a tone of approval. "Warship, this is Treize Faction forward line, do you read me?" For visual reference, he flashed the mono-eye on his Leo at the ship.

"Treize Faction forward, this is _Archangel_, I read you five by five," the radio operator sounded like a young man at best to the Sergeant. "What can I do for you?"

"Can you walk your next missile barrage in 500 meters?" the Sergeant asked.

"Warning, that is danger close (6) for our ICM (7) missiles," the _Archangel_ operator replied. "We run a severe risk of hitting your position, Sergeant. Are you sure you want it that close?"

"_Archangel_, Lieutenant Canser, Pump House defense. If you're here to help, God bless you all for the assist. Send your shots close-in, we're about ninety seconds shy of being overrun here."

A four second pause followed, a creepy silence from the approaching ship. "_Archangel_ rogers your last, stand by for support. Warning, danger close on fire support, splash in seven seconds after fire. Launching in three, two, one, now!"

Another wave of missiles was launched from the ship, this time starting with rearward-facing silos and continuing with forward-facing silos once the first barrage reversed course. True to the operator's word, seven seconds after launch the first missiles began impacting on the ground a thousand meters north of the pump house and somewhat to the east, with explosions cascading west along the enemy lines. Also true to the operator's word, one of the cluster munition missiles opened up and dumped its bomblets across the enemy front line as well as the remnants of the water treatment plant.

When Sergeant Blesser blew open the emergency release and exited his now thoroughly trashed Leo, it was to the sight of the Rune Gods, Omnimechs and Gundams dropping from the decks of the _Archangel_ to the tarmac below. He held fast to the frame of his downed Leo as the blue Rune God landed on the roof of the last standing water treatment building—and promptly collapsed it. He was not quite happy that the Lieutenant used an area-denial fire support call on his position, but the erasure of most of the Mobile Doll front line was welcomed.

-x-

"You did warn them," Hikaru commented dryly.

"Still doesn't help our position much," Chandratta answered coldly. "We need as much help as possible."

"Time to get to work, people," Commander La Flaga ordered.

"Gotcha," Hikaru answered. Rayearth drew its massive broadsword and began moving against the front lines area that had been sundered by the missile barrages. Nine Mobile Dolls remained to be destroyed in this battalion section, of which four were in one small cluster.

"_Archangel_, Chevalier, long-range fire call," Hikaru heard over Rayearth's retransmit of the radio. Whatever else he had to say was not heard on the radio, probably because he either changed channels or used a TacFlash message to send strike coordinates.

"Nicol is down, preparing jammers now," the green-haired pilot declared.

Hikaru closed on the nearest of the Mobile Dolls with her shield forward, a prudent measure in knowing they were tracking her with the hellishly powerful beam cannons the Virgos carried. Her defense against the four nearest her was outstanding, as two missed shots and two blocked strikes proved, but opposition units from the enemy left were able to take a clear shot at her from her sword-arm side. She managed to bury her sword into the chest of a Virgo up to the hilt, but a Mobile Doll standing out some 900 meters put a round in her chest just the same, a hit that knocked her to the ground. "Rayearth is hit, Rayearth down!" Kira reported.

"Ow! That HURT!" Hikaru shouted as she gripped at the top of her sternum, equivalent to where the shot hit the Rune God. "What—ah, crap," she groused as she realized she was staring down the barrel of one of the other Virgo units that was now standing over her.

The Virgo preparing to execute her never had a chance to fire. A pair of Gauss slugs tore into its chest and right arm, a pair of shots that destroyed the beam cannon generator and the jump jet fuel bunker for the machine. Contrary to Hollywood, hitting the fuel bunker in a unit does not automatically result in an explosion, and this one was no different, but the internal slow fire only took four seconds to compromise something important in the unit and shut it down. "You all right, kid?" Pytor asked as his Stone Rhino moved forward of her to draw fire.

"I'll live," Hikaru replied evenly as she struggled to control Rayearth and get it to its feet.

_These weapons are very energetic_, Rayearth half-complained to her by way of telepathy. _We should be cautious about exposing ourselves to fire_.

"I hear you," Hikaru groused. She took the pace distance to the downed Virgo and reclaimed her sword. "Rayearth is returning to battle."

"Rayearth, control, move north 500 meters and east 200 meters to reengage enemy exposed right flank," Miriallia ordered.

"Hikaru, follow me in," Kira said as he began the requested movement, with his left arm forward and a beam shield active to defend against their attacks.

"Jamming coming online now," Nicol declared. "Jamming active, virus broadcast confirmed."

"Assault forces, Control, confirm jamming is online," Miriallia requested.

"Command, Timber Wolf, good jam, enemy is stopping fire and maneuver," Mu reported.

"Housecleaning, front and center," Yzak snarked as he began firing missiles at the Virgo units in the distance.

"Oh crap, Command, it's not jamming all the enemy machines," Chevalier reported. "It works out to 1500 meters, but the enemy front line extends another 900 meters past that and they're still going."

"Understood," Miriallia replied evenly.

"Ground forces, Captain Ramius, reduce the enemy as we move east. As we advance, more of the enemy units should come under our jamming umbrella and allow the Oz forces to attack without risk to themselves."

"Reduce enemy forces, aye Captain," Morgan acknowledged the change in plan.

-x-

"Jimmy! Four on your left!"

Jimmy ducked his unit's shoulder shield into blocking position and used his thrusters to bound back another hundred meters to cover. In his short flight, he took two hits with both to the shield, which threatened to knock him to the ground but neither did. "God damn this whole scenario! They just keep coming! Steve, you have a shot?"

"Hell no!" Four beams passed by his location, not aimed at anything specific so much as they were meant to suppress the Treize Faction Leo machines in place. "If I can jump for cover, I'll be doing damn good to survive."

"I'll knock down two on your right, try jumping for Hangar four," Jimmy declared. His Leo came partially out of the cover and brought the 105mm machine cannon up into place, then ripped a burst into the nearest Virgo's chest and head. One machine went down from repeated penetrations, but the enemy targeted him and began suppressing before he could walk the burst onto another. "Got one, go!"

"SHIIITTT! Steve shouted as he hammered his jets to the red-line to get clear and make it to the hangar before something shot him in the arse. A few shots came close, but none hit the erratically maneuvering MS. He landed next to the main door of the reinforced hangar and side-jumped to get behind the concrete revetment. "Oh, oh, oh, oh, stayin' alive!"

"Stop singing Bee-Gees during a crisis situation, unless you _want_ to attract their wrath?" Jimmy asked.

"Just tryin' to get them to ease up on you, Jimmy," Steve said.

"If you start struttin' like Travolta, I'll spare them the effort and shoot you myself," A beam round blew through the corner of the building he was hiding behind, with the beam removing the barrel of his machine cannon.

"Not without a gun, you won't," Steve said deadpan. "Jump for cover in three seconds, two, one," and Steve ducked around the corner to attract their fire and take a few shots himself, "NOW—WHAT?" Steve shouted as the fire all up and down the line stopped.

"What the hell's goin' on, Stevie Wonder?" Jimmy asked as he cautiously looked around at the suddenly-stopped Mobile Dolls. "They all stopped! What does a red eye mean?"

"Software error?" Steve asked nobody in particular.

"Weird time for 'em to get a software error." Despite his misgivings, he was still amused by the thought.

"Who called time out?" someone else asked on the unit master frequency.

Several of the Mobile Dolls nearby Jimmy were hammered by a rapidly-moving object slamming through their legs. The object, a twisted rail gun slug, came to a rest against the side of a building another three hundred meters east of his position, which meant the rail gun in question was to the west... "Holy shit on a stick," Jimmy groused. "It's that damned white ship!" To accentuate the point, a quad of emerald beams streaked over the battlefield, two beams each to a pair of Mobile Doll carriers that were reinforcing the middle of the Romafeller lines with paradropped Mobile Dolls.

"What? Serious?" Steve asked.

The emergency radio in his console crackled. "Warning, warning, warning, all Treize Faction personnel, this is the independent warship _Archangel_, be advised we are preparing to fire our positron siege cannons in a grazing shot along the enemy line! All forces, take cover immediately! Severe blast hazard, radiation hazard! Thirty seconds!"

"Erm, what the hell's a positron?" Jimmy asked.

"Antimatter," Steve replied, having been a science-fiction buff his whole life. "You heard the man! Fall back, get some damn good cover and pucker your assholes!"

"Put some concrete or steel between you and the blast line! Now!" a Captain shouted.

-x-

"Twenty seconds!" Kuzzey declared on the radio.

"Positron generation chambers online, charging cannons now," Chandratta said as the ship sunk lower and lower to the ground.

"Captain, I have an uninhabited hill as a backdrop just west of the base, we have a clear shot," Newman said.

"Ten seconds!"

"There ain't gonna be no hill after this," Chevalier pointed out fairly.

"Lohengrin blast, danger close! (6) Five seconds!" Kuzzey half-shouted. "Four, three, two, one, now!"

"FIRE!" Murrue shouted. Chandratta obliged her request with a single blast, holding the second cannon in reserve in case something went wrong or a second strike was needed.

The effect of the Lohengrin was simplicity itself, and not even the vaunted Gundanium armor of the Mobile Dolls could save it from certain physical annihilation. As the positron beam moved laterally through the Mobile Dolls, the positrons mixed with the molecular structure of everything they crossed: air, metal, fluids, even the dirt of the hill in the distance. As each positron moved along, it eventually encountered an electron, its normal-matter equivalent, and caused a matter-antimatter subnuclear annihilation. Each such annihilation released a lot of kinetic energy and a relatively small amount of hard gamma radiation.

Enough of these reactions began converting the Mobile Dolls, even the air itself, into a blast front propagating away from the core of the positron beam. More targets, more beam, more reactions and more Mobile Dolls seemed to disappear in a nasty blast-front explosion, to those looking on from a safe distance it appeared each machine was disintegrated that came into contact with the beam. Even the gamma radiation released by the annihilation became its own form of attack, as the radiation was absorbed by nearby objects and excited those objects into a semi-kinetic, semi-thermal explosion similar to a traditional nuclear weapon. For 2000 meters this was repeated time and time again as the Lohengrin cut through the enemy line with practically zero resistance.

A couple Treize Faction Mobile Suits were caught in close with some Mobile Dolls, and suffered the same fate as the soulless killing machines. They were the absolute minority of the issue; most of the Treize Faction had taken cover when instructed and watched the show as Murrue cut a swath through the enemy ranks. Contrary to Chevalier's claim, by the time the leftovers of the beam reached the backstop, it was mostly depleted and simply blew a large crater into the side of the hill.

"Shot complete, securing starboard Lohengrin," Chandratta said.

"Good shot," Murrue said with a smile. The swath of destruction caused by the nuked Mobile Dolls encompassed the bulk of the brigade assigned to the Luxembourg battle, with only those Mobile Dolls more than 100 meters away from the beam line still standing, and few of those still functional due to the continued virus broadcast from Aquarius.

A cheer came up from the Treize Faction forces, as Leo and Aries Mobile Suits stood up and waved their weapons in the air in salute of the _Archangel_. With a single stroke, a defiant last stand was converted into the last, best hope for a rational end to the war with the Romafeller Foundation, in the confines of their minds.

The fighting was not complete, however. Romafeller had not staked this battle solely on the efficacy of their Mobile Dolls.

-x-x-x-

(15 November AC195, 0815 hours)

(Southern Luxembourg, Luxembourg Military Academy / AFB, Main Castle)

Entering the castle was the easy part. The Romafeller infantry had blown their way in with speed and precision, which also left an easy entrance for the Archangel Team Special Forces, augmented by the pilots that decided to join in lieu of finishing off the Mobile Dolls.

"Rear security, four contacts," Chief Ryback warned as they approached the galley of the castle. "Two, three, do 'em."

Three silenced rounds went downrange, followed by a pair and another pair, then another burst of three. The silencers made it absurdly easy, given the sound of light machine gun fire inside the structure and the generated noise was about the same as a piece of fabric flapping in the wind. The bodies collapsing to the ground made more noise than the actual shots that downed them.

"Moving in!" the sauce chef said as he bolted from his cover position and moved toward the galley. Rifles bristled in multiple directions and elevations, with aim points (8) on the windows to verify that nobody would take a shot at the team unhindered. Mu, Kira, Hikaru and Umi were the last to enter the building as trailers for the specialists in doing spooky things to unsuspecting people.

Inside the galley, the team stopped to regroup and defend the present location for a moment. One of the kitchen tables was upended for Mu to set up a light machine gun on to provide a base of fire on the two doors in the northeast corner of the room. The others in the team took a few moments to look over the galley, given that their common day-job was as cooks. "Damn, I think we need to raid this place for methods and madness when we're done cleaning out the rats," the baker noted.

"I agree," the meats specialist answered.

"Soup's almost done," the sauce chef commented as he ladled some of the clam chowder out of the pot on the hearth.

"North door, breach and clear," Ryback ordered before the team became distracted by the cooking.

"Stacked," the vegetable specialist / entry specialist said.

"Go op," Ryback ordered the jump-off. Within moments of the order to go, the first four were in the stairwell headed downstairs. The opening of the door was an ample reminder for everyone gunfire that was absurdly loud when inside a structure, far more so than in open air. A dental mirror sufficed for a corner check, revealing a bare squad of enemy infantry surviving against a last-ditch guard of Treize Faction personnel.

"Nine tangos pinned in place, boss," the vegetable specialist said.

"Bang and clear," Ryback ordered. A flashbang grenade went around the corner and landed roughly in between the two enemy groups, one of five and one of four, that were hiding behind a pair of low brick walls. A half-second after it landed, the magnesium charge inside the flashbang detonated, filling the room with a deafening concussion and vision-negating white flash. "Go!"

The Commandos moved around the bend in the stairs and down to the dais entry before the ringing of the flashbang cleared. The stun of the soldiers on both sides made the task of 'clearing' (killing or capturing) the remaining Romafeller infantry pathetically easy. Silenced pistol shots were the order of the day for seven of the nine; the other two were pinned and expertly disarmed by the cooks in seconds, long before their proper vision returned from the aural and visual abuse.

"Trailers!" Ryback issued a one-word order; when entering and clearing a building, the entry forces commander (Ryback) had command authority over both the entry team and any support personnel (the pilots, in this case).

"Hikaru, grab the one on the right," Kira ordered as he put a pistol to the back of the neck of the one that was captured to the left. "Follow all orders and you will live, infantryman; I don't give second chances," he added the second on as an impromptu piece of intimidation, to ensure his prisoner did not do anything overly threatening. He didn't intend on eliminating a prisoner, of course, but the enemy would not know anything more about the Archangel Team than their reputation.

"Understood," the defeated and cowed Romafeller Corporal replied. Hikaru used her sword for the same purpose that Kira was using a pistol, but both achieved the same effect.

"Mu, Ryback, four coming up, two prisoners and two pilots. No friendlies downed."

"Got it," Mu replied informally. "Nothing happening up here at the moment."

"Treize Faction Infantry, any other Romafeller troops in the house?" Ryback shouted at the impromptu defensive bulwark put in place by the loyalists.

"No, those were the last," a fairly young soldier shouted back in response. "You Archangel Team?"

"Yeah, we are," the baker replied evenly, though his was not a shout for the effort of lighting a cigar.

A young Sergeant stood up, safed and set down his rifle, and approached the dais now occupied by the Commandos. "Master Treize wants to speak with you in the library area, if you are willing."

"Huh," Ryback groused, then hit the 'press to talk' switchplate on his gear harness. "Mu, Ryback, looks like the good Colonel himself wants a word. You can stand down the big toy as well, what infantry we didn't nuke or silence is now up in the kitchen with you guys."

"Roger that, the Elementals have taken the two prisoners in, so we'll be down shortly."

"Cookie, Muffins;" both of the named Commandos sounded off immediately. "Head upstairs and start checking their APCs and dead guys for intel. Maps and oporders are a priority. Keep an eye on your geiger counters, if it gets too hot head back into the ship."

"I'll serve it with fries, boss," 'Cookie' acknowledged.

"Now, how did you guys get the name of our old mercenary battle group?" Ryback asked.

"Romafeller put out a bounty on your ship and heads last week," the Treize Faction Sergeant replied. "We've been trying to get a hold of you guys for some time, see if you really are mercenaries."

"Captain might be willing to negotiate," Mu said from the stairs directly behind Ryback. "Lead the way to the colonel, please."

-x-

"Colonel Treize, may I present Naval Commander Mu La Flaga, Chief Warrant Officer Casey Ryback, and, erm, Magic Knight Umi Ryuuzaki. Sir."

"Thank you, Sergeant Wilson. Please send for refreshments for our guests," the man standing at a bookcase said calmly.

"Yes, sir, by your leave, sir." With nothing more said, the Sergeant departed the room and closed the doors behind.

"I have watched your battles over the past week, and I find myself a little bit surprised." Mu found himself more than a bit surprised that Colonel Treize was younger than himself, but he held his tongue on that matter. "A whole ship, displaced four times from its home world, picking up transients and fighting bizarre wars as it goes along. A modern-day _Odyssey_, less the Greek arrogance and with a surfeit of blood. What that it was a sun-dream or a fairy tale, but the crater in the side of the western hills significantly disproves that."

"Story of our lives, sir," Ryback replied.

"Does your ship have a clean copy of the _Odyssey_?" Treize asked before he removed a book from the book case he was standing in front of. After a few moments, the bookcase next to him slid back a few centimeters and into the wall, to reveal a staircase leading further down. "Please, follow me."

"It _is_ an old castle," Umi said in a tone of voice clearly intended to strengthen her resolve.

"You tight?" Mu asked Ryback.

"Damn straight, sir," the Chief Warrant Officer replied.

"After we get out of this, remind me to talk to the Captain about having you promoted. Petty Officer Second Class sounds about right," Mu said.

Ryback chuckled. "Do I get a pay-raise as well?"

Mu snorted. "You're going to have to talk to Sutherland about that," he answered as Ryback took the first step on the spiral stairs down.

"Wonder what's down here," Ryback asked nobody in particular. "More books?"

"Smells like a cave," Umi half-whined. Of the three Magic Knights, she liked dank caves the least of all.

"Whole castle smells like that," Mu commented. "Better than what it could smell like, of course."

The stairs opened up to what amounted to an artificial cave – it took Umi and Mu no more than three seconds to recognize the form of a hangar around them. Treize had not entered far into the hangar himself, but did stop at a breaker panel on the wall. "Your ship's compliment is loaded with Gundams – machines of frightening power and intimidation value. I had made two, myself: one to lead the people toward a proper future, another to cripple the demons that now threaten that future."

"Cripple the demons—Aquarius?" Umi guessed after a bare moment.

"And your force has put that Gundam to excellent use thus far – two brigades of Mobile Dolls destroyed, a significant amount of Romafeller's forces on planet, crippled at your hands. Odysseus, nay, the Gods themselves of the _Odyssey_ would be hard pressed to match your sheer determination and destructive skill. But, I must ask, what is your determination for?"

"The same reason as Odysseus," Mu replied deadpan. "Go home. Preferably alive."

Treize nodded twice, though nobody was able to guess why offhand. "You received the right machine for your task. This one," and he waved to the Gundam standing in the hangar area; "This is meant for someone to guide the future, not slay the demons of the past."

"Geh," Umi grunted, having seen right through his phrasing immediately. "What is stopping you?"

"Pardon?" Treize asked of the three-years-his-junior Magic Knight.

"You went to the effort of building it, why not use it?" Umi asked in a more pointed fashion.

"Mine are old-world hands. I have no right to guide the future."

"A well-phrased excuse, but still an excuse in the end," Umi challenged him directly. "Last I checked, the world doesn't run on excuses and hand-wringing."

Treize smiled thinly at the Magic Knight. "You have the headstrong attitude of certain rather rebellious princesses I have dealt with," the colonel responded. "What makes you believe I am the right person to use such a powerful machine?"

Umi smiled serenely, knowing she had broken his defiance with his question. "You strike me as a man with a plan," she replied. "You wouldn't have built this thing without a reason. I have a general idea how expensive Gundams are, half my team uses them, so you either blew a good chunk of resources and time for a daydream or you actually intend something. I lean toward the second option."

"Not a bad piece of circumstantial analysis," Treize admitted. "What if I said I intended to remove you from the equation?" Treize baited her.

"Sinking the _Archangel_ is a death-wish in common practice, or in other terms it is an oporder, not a strategy." Treize grimaced, wondering what she was referring to. "The ship's tally is over thirty blown ops, we've had everything short of ancient Gods try to sink us. We make the impossible battle a possible victory," it was Mu that grimaced this time for her corruption of his favorite motivational phrase. "You're aiming a lot higher than one perpetually-lost warship."

"Fair enough," Treize replied. "I want to end the mechanism by which elite parties use warfare to control the socio-political strata of the world. Is that a believable goal to you, miss Magic Knight?" Treize asked in a completely deadpan manner.

Umi made a show of considering it. "Aggressive, direct, far-reaching, but not quite developed on method," Umi judged. "You have the 'why' cemented, you built a 'how' with this Gundam and your forces outside, so I ask: 'when'?"

Treize chuckled heartily. "Now I see why you have made it this far mostly intact. You are the kind of person who never lets it go, are you not?"

"Hang a 'roger' on that one," Ryback commented. Her exploits with 'correcting' Yzak's foul mouth were legendary in the unit and the perfect example of what Treize referred to.

"To answer your question, I may just do as you say," Treize said looking over the Gundam he commissioned once again. "Before I begin, though, I must know what convictions lie outside the grasp of the Romafeller Foundation, and whether or not it is worth it to try to correct the mistakes of the past."

Mu caught the veiled allegory without issue. "What do you think of the convictions of the Sanc Kingdom?" he asked.

Treize simply smiled.

-x-x-x-

(Side Story: Messy Echoes)

(15 November AC195, 1300 hours)

(_Archangel_ Hot Springs)

(Ship location: Southern Luxembourg, Luxembourg Military Academy / AFB, Southern Resupply Area)

Unlike the bulk of the other pilots, Quatre was not asleep. He had decided on a run through the hot-springs, given he had just woken up when the assembly had been called prior to Luxembourg. For him, sleep was still another 9 hours off at the minimum.

"What do you think, Master Quatre?" Rashid asked after a minute of silence. "Is Treize after power, or does he intend something else?"

"He may have intended this outcome from the outset," Quatre admitted. "It would not surprise me if our initial operation orders were just as hollow as the original Operation Meteor."

This caused Rashid to tilt his head. "Yours was a different Operation Meteor?"

"Yeah, it was...messed up," Quatre admitted. "It was the Alliance, writ bloodier. It would have started off with a colony drop, and the Gundams were to ride down on the chaos to assert power for the Barton Foundation."

"Dekim Barton," Rashid groused. His name was synonymous with back-room plotting and sneakiness; if he was planning something, nobody would know about it until after it had happened.

"Yeah, Dekim," Quatre answered. "I—I couldn't do it as he wanted."

"Be at ease, Master Quatre," Rashid answered. "We will deal with him after we have ended the tyranny of the Romafeller Foundation."

"Yeah," Quatre said.

"I will turn in for the evening," Rashid said. "I will pass on to the Maganac Corps that you are now in command."

"Thank you, Rashid."

"When we have purged the invaders from our desert homeland, it will be I who owes you thanks, Master Quatre." Without another word, Quatre was left alone in the springs.

Quatre relaxed into a reclining position, reminded of the eerie fact that he was sitting on stones taken from a desert _planet_ in a completely different dimension. It was creepy to him in no small terms, to know there were whole orders of Existence that were wildly different from the history, culture and war he knew on this one world, and to know there were beings of infinitely greater power and mystery in those worlds. Quatre had considered working on Nicol to get him to publish the Archangel Team's record as a novel; an incomplete fraction of their journey, but still a noteworthy tale in its own right. The sales could certainly go a long way to augmenting the ship's already impressive arsenal, cargo and financial reserves.

After a few minutes, he let his mind go, which freed his empathy up to sense the low-level happenings around the ship. He could sense the people in groups, the cafeteria watching a soap opera in three dimension holoprojector, the engine room and their dirty jokes, the hangar deck as they loaded supplies from the Treize Faction bunkers and repaired Treize Faction MS in payment, the Maganac pilots drinking java and playing cards, and the silence of the sleeping pilots. _The ship that never sleeps_, Quatre reminded himself.

As his mind was wandering through the pilot's area, he began to sense something else...something significantly different from what he expected. At first, it seemed as if it was the flare of emotion that accompanied battle, but something felt off about that thought. A few moments and he realized it was not battle, but something totally different...something he had only sensed around mature persons. Another few seconds and he could sense it as perversion, desire between genders. He couldn't tell who it was, but the increasing feeling reminded him of winds on an open plateau.

Then it began in earnest, and Quatre knew he was in for a rough one. A second set of such emotions and reactions came to his empathic sense after a few moments, an action that told Quatre both the logically 'should-be-married' couples were having intercourse. The raw feeling of it was like nothing he had ever felt before, given that the male mind usually never knows what goes through a lady's mind during intercourse, and the conflicting emotions, physical reactions, and expectations began yanking his psyche in four different directions all at once. More egregious was the physical sensory experience of the two ladies involved, something he never expected to feel in his life in any fashion, which was alternately a completely enthralling feeling, mentally unsettling to ever have felt it, and pervert's best dream all wrapped into one.

The mental confusion caused by the overload of sensory and mental inputs caused him to try to scramble from the hot bath and try to get dressed so he could get away from the perverts in the ship. He made it as far as halfway climbing out of the baths and onto the sauna rocks around the bath before the overload actually did overload him. His last conscious sight was seeing a stream of blood from his nose landing on the stone floor as it rapidly approached his face. He blacked out before impact.

-x-

"You found him like this?" Mu asked.

"Aff, Commander," Pytor admitted. "I checked, he is not dead, but the nosebleed is a bit unsettling."

"The pose is unsettling," Mu admitted just the same. Quatre had tried climbing over the sauna rock seats to get to the door, but apparently didn't make it for some reason. As such, his face was planted on the stone floor about ten centimeters away from a drain vent that had a blood trail leading to it, with his legs hanging down on the far side of the sauna rock and his toes in the hot springs water. As a result of it all, he was doubled over at the waist and his arse was pointing skyward. "The doc is on the way. I think he should deal with this."

"Aff, Commander."

"This never occurred," Mu said, having a fairly decent idea why it happened. The white-yellow streak down the side of the rock was ample evidence, as well as ship lore about certain incidents and parties. That he was involved (at least partially) in the matter was something he was not going to comment on.

"On my honor, this shall never be spoken of," the aged Mechwarrior replied solemnly.

* * *

Author's Chapter Afterword:

This chapter was a perfect case of 'Unibrow Theory': It took me three months to write the first 8000 words, then four days to write the second 8000 words. Go figure. The unibrow comes in thusly: I decided I was going to finish this chapter at all bloody costs, so I did.

Spring is here, and before anyone starts singing a certain 'springtime' song, you can allay any such thoughts forthwith. Spring == home maintenance season around here; I probably could have had this finished and published about four weekends ago if I was not laying Linoleum. On an aside, so long as you do Linoleum right it looks wonderful. If you can do it yourself, and are reasonably competent with a razor knife, so much the better (Emos don't count here, sorry). If you don't understand the basics, call a professional: a screwup on this task can cost you $500 in a hurry, or more depending on how much the linoleum in question costs.

Athrun and Fuu were the latest casualties in my never-ending struggle with the dice, though this one turned out better than I initially expected. 23 for the retreat check, then 88 for survival on impact. I have not checked how long before they are back in service, but next episode is not beyond the realm of possibility. Aegis is toast, but as was mentioned in this chapter Athrun has a Gundam waiting for him...a bit of a step down in terms of long-range firepower, but both a bit heavier in armor and a lot more fierce in close quarters. Windam will be back up on its feet (wings) shortly, just needs a new pair of wings and problem is solved.

One of the things I wanted to put in the end notes for the day is a bit of a technical issue that is assured to come up about two defensive issues in this chapter. The first is the efficacy of Gundanium armor, of which I show the armor as actually vulnerable to repeated hits in this chapter – as well as being vulnerable to missiles. The issue here is simple: Gundam Wing is better than some of the Gundam offerings, but it still has a tendency to flip-flop on the efficacy of armor and firepower. My position is to respect Canon, but not to the point of god-mode in any case (unless I can justify it by the numbers). In this case, since the show is not consistent as to how effective Gundanium armor is, I have to assume its lowest common denominator is the rotary autocannons on the shoulders of Wing Zero in the case of the Virgos. That being said, heavier weapons (the 105mm MG on the Leos, Doberguns, etc.) would also be effective, but I do give a hedge: destroying a Virgo with the 105mm MG requires a significant outlay of hits to give a verified kill.

Also, the thing on missiles is pure physics: there is no metal in the entirety of the periodic table that can completely resist a shape charge, and even the heavier metals (depleted Uranium being one of the top choices) is not proof against shape charges. Simply stated, shape charges apply millions of pounds of force onto a spot usually no larger than the palm of your hand, and often no larger than a silver dollar piece. Chobham armor gets by with avoiding the penetration by providing a layer of ceramic tile inside the armor laminates to allow a shape charge to disperse its energy; this is not possible in homogenous armor systems, where the jet of explosive simply keeps blowing through the material until it gets inside the armor. Gundanium lands in the same boat as other homogenous armor materials: it will resist the penetration somewhat, but the amount of armor thickness necessary to completely outright stop a heavy-target shape charge well exceeds the amount of armor a Virgo can carry.

The Planet Defensers (that _is_ how they are spelled in canon) are an interesting take, and again are also subject to Gundam Wing flip-flopping on how effective they are. Leos firing machine guns at them are useless, Trowa rattling his gatlings at the Mobile Dolls is not useless. The Leos should have the higher penetration and velocity, so it looks like the producers are trying to have it both ways. In this case, I have to side with physics in the interest of consistency. I'll give the Planet Defensers beam weapon immunity (except lasers), no problem there. I'll even give them missile immunity, though in some circles that may be arguable; there are few components inside a missile that are truly magnetic, given that most of it is nonmetallic or nonferrous material (aluminum is not magnetically reactive, and most missiles are constructed with unitary aluminum or carbon fiber bodies). Ballistic weapons are where I draw the line: the physics favor the fast-moving slugs without issue. The Mythbusters tested what it would have taken to deflect a simple handgun bullet in terms of magnetic influence (they were testing a Bond myth, forget which movie), and to deflect a .45 caliber slug took something on the order of 3000 pounds of magnetic force to change its trajectory even marginally. Now, a 105mm APFSDS (what I am assuming the Leos use for anti-armor work) weighs over 350 times more than a mere .45 slug and has around six times the velocity, meaning the magnetic exposure is six times less than the slug the Mythbusters tested. That said, the necessary magnetic force involved in the Planet Defensers would have to be on the order of kilotons of magnetic pull to even deflect a bullet from its initial course, and megatons of magnetic force to outright stop it. That kind of supermagnetic force would easily disrupt the fusion plants powering the Virgo just as a start, much less what it would do to their own weapons or the environment. Such power is way the hell beyond reasonable expectation for any form of defensive implement, so I have to draw a line here.

Of course, you can expect the same weaknesses to apply to the Gundams in use by the Archangel Team...

On the flip side of the battle, there are the Archangel's creative use of interesting battle tactics. The first and the loudest is the game-breaker Aquarius. It worked today, but don't expect it to go without limitations and eventually flaws in the chapters to come. Nicol is good, but he's just one man against an army of Romafeller counterintelligence and research personnel. He isn't going to be able to stem them for long. The second one is the use of missiles from the _Archangel_; nothing beats a five-ton unitary explosive charge in terms of blowing the shit out of stationary targets. Of course, the improved cluster munition also helped, as it spreads the love around a lot better than the standard unitary charges without reducing blast effectiveness at range. Of course, they have a LARGE footprint, as some of the Treize Faction machines found out...

The crowner for the day is the Lohengrin, the oft-overlooked heavy hitter of the Archangel's arsenal. There is no better way to say 'go to hell, do not pass go, do not collect $200 dollars' than a positron projector cannon. One shot will give the average enemy heartburn of a type not readily solvable. Of course, this being antimatter we are talking about, it is rather indiscriminate, so care must be taken when you point it at your target, lest you really take out something you don't want to take out.

And, now that the technical matters are all done, I have to say that the stinger for the chapter is a little bit of a psionic quirk that goes along with my theories on magic and psionics. With three of the four involved parties being magically-trained persons, there is some amount of psionic bleed to their emotions. Two of the persons involved are out-and-out telepaths, which also causes Psionic bleed. Two of the involved parties are linked to the same Rune God, which increases the net yield of the psionic bleed. In short, someone is getting an emotional overload from their romp. Quatre, who is an empath and can sense the pain when Heero blows himself up along with his Gundam, is the likely candidate for an overload in this case. And this is how it turned out. Such is life, such is humor :)

On a non-prose aisde, I have some interesting numbers.

On Sunday, 17 April 2011, Archangel's Amazing Adventures surpassed 50,000 hits to the whole story. Every one of the last four chapters has been over 100 hits each, with one chapter above 1700 hits and counting. This is motivation for me, motivation to keep writing: each individual chapter has been read more times than some SEED or crossover stories have words total. It still blows the mind how popular this is, for something so off-beat insane.

AAA has 323 reviews as of this chapter, which exceeds the 10-reviews-per-chapter benchmark average I have been aiming at for some time. That is also mind-blowing, but for a different reason than the above. That I have been receiving this much reader feedback for the story is warming, to say the least: I didn't expect this to go far at all, and here I am, 33 chapters in and receiving all manner of encouragement, ideas, technical arguments, and even more as the story progresses. Insane, insane! Keep 'em coming!

Another interesting benchmark is the favorites / alerts. 94 persons call this favorite, 74 call it an alert. Also, if you search the story name in Google, AAA shows up in a site called FavoritesTracker as part of several different lists on said site, and has been subject of several message board posts. My thanks to those who continue to read, and to those who spread the word around the message boards of the internet. This manner of publicity is well beyond anything I ever expected to see, and for that I am honored.

That's pretty much it for this chapter.

NEXT UP: The Archangel turns North from Luxembourg, headed back to the Sanc Kingdom to fulfill a request laid in by Noin. With the ground situation heating up, battle is just around the corner, and space is just starting to stir of its own right...

* * *

Review Replies: The reviews for this chapter take two and a half pages, which should tell you something. Since some of the reviews were multiple-chapter-0postings, I'll give a tally at the end.

**FraserMage**: the Relena Expy in question was the Lacus of Chapter 12 in Legend JW Rev.

**Knives91**: That is what a proper surprise attack looks like in naval terms. Of course they didn't stand a chance, Murrue is a veteran captain and knows how to fight right, not fight fair.

**One-Village-Idiot**: Good to see my chapter draws such accolades, and I hope to start cranking these out a bit faster. I have a long way to go, after all :)

Of course, I can only answer those questions in prose, you know my rule against spoilers :) The next chapters should answer some of those questions, rest assured.

**Infinite Freedom**: Romafeller was poised to hamburger the Sanc Kingdom before the Archangel even arrived on planet. For they to move forward with their policies, they don't have a choice. Of course, they may end up hitting the brick wall built by the Archangel Team and stopping dead...

**2ndsly**: Of course, when you say they are in demand, circumstance tends to artificially inflate that demand, so...

As I replied in PM, I have a general disdain of survival horror, so RE3 may be out. 40K, however, is on the random gen list.

**Rc1212**: I have not watched BSG, either the original or the 2K3 remake, strangely enough. That is one of the stories I have managed to miss over the years. May have to look into it.

**Alex Yamato**: Your hunch, of course, leave plenty of open room on the battlefield, as was demonstrated by the opening battle of this chapter. Expect more of that where it came from.

Hope the stinger here qualifies as 'more relationship action'. You know this is going to add up to something eventually :)

**Atlan**: thank you for the countoff of the stats. As to the TO&E, I'll probably drop that in the next chapter or two, when I have a better idea what is happening with the Archangel's transient/organic attachments (Maganac Corps at this time). Wouldn't be fair to include them in the countoff and then the next chapter they're out of the picture.

**C0dy88**: Well, the problem with modding a Warship is that it takes time and engineering expertise, and the whole Wing storyline is just barely long enough to engineer a mod to the escort 'cans before what would be Ep 50. Mods would have begun the January after the massive scrap in space, provided the army wasn't abolished...

**chm01**: I hope this chpater answers at least a few of those questions. As to what makes the Archangel look weak, well, Barge and Libra could easily turn the Archangel into a toasted wreck in one shot, so not all hope is lost...

**Victor M. Sarks**: 0083 is on the list of possible random drop locales, so stay tuned on that front. As to the salvage and its use, well, not all of it has been used yet, so...

**Deathzealot**: I think I would have trouble doing a Relena versus Lacus argument like that, I can never seem to get Lacus right, but I do get close. As to the rest, I hope this chapter has planeted some more f33r in ye for the coming future...

**EtienneOfTheWestWind**: The dice have not spoken on this point of conduct yet, but may in the future...

**Mega1987 (Repeat Anon review)**: Writers block comes in many forms, amigo. As to unit mods, they may have to do so to keep pace with some of the locations listed in the random locations to come...

**Arbl A-17**: The dice system is a sliding scale of random results, where I think a decision point should be made random I let the dice decide it. I commonly use a 1 to 100 roll, with 1 being a failed roll and 100 being a perfect result (or as close to perfect given the circumstances). Not everything is subject to the dice, just the honest decision points.

**Flawless Cowboy 2552**: I am still looking forward to the opportunity of a Yzak versus Wufei myself. Should the dice let it happen, expect a lot more than fur to fly.

As I explained in my notes above, the virgo shields are a case of the producers trying to have it both ways with ballistic weapons, so I go with the physics of the matter.

Well, there is at least one ZERO equipped unit in play, and it can get messy fast. Stay tuned on that note.

**MantaArms1989**: Good that I got a laugh out of someone. Aquarius is a semi-canon immigrant from the SD Gundam franchise, but my dice say it is a live unit here, and man did it come in use already...

**Necroblade**: Much thank you again for the beta work, amigo.

Paper battles are all well and good, but remember that when I write, I write battles as if they are not just a paper engagement, they exist in otherwise real-world minutiae. Terrain, tactics, experience, training, and support will play a role in those battles, just as they did here today.

**Strata-Assassin**: Also to ye, thank you for the beta work once more. There will be some more everyday life stuff in the next chapter, of that I guarantee. As to the rest, well, you have to adapt or fold in these kinds of situations, and the crew chose 'adapt'. This is the end result.

**Cyspark01**: The Junk Guild would have been helping collect the last living beings for transport to Mars to start over. On the rest, well, most the ZAFT personnel went the way of Mars, though an oddball or two joined up as ship's crew. Luna and Meiryn are assumed to have been killed prior to the timeframe of the chapter.

**Gulping (Anon Review)**: The challenge, of course, being peaceful downtime, of which a competent commander in Romafeller would deny to the Archangel. Of course, even under stress things can get done...

**Metal Vile**: First review, an honor and my thanks. Stay tuned for far more hijinks in this story, much is yet to come :)

I used part of your notes here, and another part of your notes will come into play in the next few chapters. I have said it before: reviews will be used for idea fodder, so the more you throw out, the more I am likely to pick up :)

**Nightblader 1021**: I did have a few runs with SEED early in the story, but nobody has been put under non-instantaneous do-or-die pressure in some time. That will likely change in this arc, so stay tuned there. Of course, SEED + ZERO = insane-o ass-whoping carnage for the enemy, so be on the lookout for such a nightmare :)

**Mordalfus Grea**: A goodly portion of those suggestions are already in the random pile, so stay tuned :)

**THANK YOU ALL FOR THE REVIEWS! KEEP IT COMING, KEEP FEEDING MAGNESIUM INTO THIS FIRE, AND THIS IS WHAT YOU GET! THIS INFERNO WILL NOT BE STOPPED!**

Seriously, the more reviews, the more ideas, the more point debates, the better the story becomes overall. Your input is assistance and fuel to keep going, so keep adding those reviews when you have something to say! It is what we authors love to hear at the end of the day!

* * *

The Gripe Sheet: No major gripes from the last chapter, thanks again to **Strata-Assassin** and **Necroblade** for the assist in prepping the chapter. Necro, I added a couple extra footnotes to answer some questions you had outstanding (7, 8).

* * *

Footnotes:

(1): **Failed to guide on terminal** is a problem with some missile systems that use different guidance logic for the 'cruise' (long-range transit) phase and 'terminal' (close and kill) phase. Sometimes, a logic or hardware fault can cause the missile to lose the target or (rarely) accidentally target a different unit, which results in a miss or a kill on a different target. This is a VERY RARE fault in properly-designed weapons systems; hardware or software faults are less than a 1 in 1000 occurrence, however they are not impossible. You will note in this salvo it was 6/2 hits to misses, which is 75% kill rate, which is less than modern SAM weapons systems can expect.

(2): **S**earch **A**nd **R**escue

(3): **B**eyond **V**isual **R**ange

(4): **Tango** is a special forces shorthand reference for either 'target' or 'threat', depending on context.

(5): **S**hort **R**ange **A**ttack **M**issiles

(6): **Danger Close** refers to an attack that is so close to friendly troops that it runs the risk of being friendly fire. In both cases listed above, it actually did end up being friendly fire as well as severely damaging to the enemy.

(7): **I**mproved **C**luster **M**unition. Uses a specially modified cluster munition that can penetrate 800mm of hardened homogenous armor and has a blast radius of 5 meters shrapnel effect for anti-personnel work.

(8): There seems to be some confusion about the term **aimpoint** / **aim point**. Simply stated, this is where you are aiming your gun, or your point of aim.


	34. A Moment of Tranquility

(Archangel's Amazing Adventures, Section 4, Chapter 5: A Moment of Tranquility)

(15 November AC195, 2030 hours)  
(_Archangel_ hangar deck, over Eastern Germany)

"What are you humming?" Murdoch asked as he typed on the terminal used for reading IPCs and FIMs, maintenance manuals for mobile suits.

"_Fields of Hope_," Athrun answered after he made an adjustment to the control stiffness. "One of my fiancee's songs."

"Lacus, right?" Murdoch asked.

"Yeah," Athrun answered immediately.

"I didn't get to meet her when she was on this ship," Murdoch said after a few adjustments on his side. "Some of the other crew did though. Nobody had anything bad to say about her, except the Commander wasn't happy with how she kept getting loose from her locked quarters."

"I have a sneaking suspicion how that happened," Athrun grumbled after a few moments of contemplating it.

"Huh?" Murdoch prompted.

"Her favorite Haro is also the most powerful one in terms of integrated systems and personality. If he wants to get out of a locked room, he will figure out how to activate the door."

"Oh," Murdoch groused. He had heard how she kept getting loose, but it never occurred to him that the Haro might have been the culprit. "You're not...planning on making any more of those, right?"

"Wasn't planning it, why?" Athrun asked. "I made a couple dozen because my fiancee loves 'em, thinks they're cute. Unless someone wants one, I'm not starting up an army of Haros or anything like that."

"Thank you," Murdoch replied sincerely. He had not met the 'Pink Princess' herself, but he had met the bouncing Haro and was not impressed. "Have your controls set up yet?"

"Yeah, I'm ready."

"Go ahead and begin a test routine for the right hand."

"Wrist up-down," and the Mercurius waved its wrist up and down like it was trying to fan something. "Wrist left to right," and Murdoch saw it try to wave like that one 'Bob' guy in the old Viagra commercials. The mobility of a combat-hardened Gundam joint, however, was not the same as a person's joint. "Wrist rotate," Athrun announced. The wrist in question rotated with a good arc of control.

"Wrist good, go to fingers," Murdoch said.

"Roger that," Athrun answered calmly. The test routines he was using were the same as for the GINN, on which he trained for months before he took possession of the Aegis. Thumb, index, middle, ring, and pinky finger all cooperated with his test, to the point that he even moved immediately on to thumb-finger touch drills. The sound of the two fingers contacting made a dull clanking sound with each iteration, a welcome sound to the veteran MS and Gundam pilot.

"Hand looking good?" Kira asked as he approached Murdoch's station.

"Yeah, looks like we have this one in hand," Murdoch replied with a straight face. "OI! GOMER!"

"WAZZAP?" Someone shouted from the hangar floor.

"YOU GOT THOSE DEFENSERS READY?" Murdoch shouted.

"TWO TO GO! THIRTY MINUTES!" The original defensers had been destroyed in combat with the Wing Zero, thus the mechanic team was assembling a new grid of defensers for the unit from salvaged equipment.

"The more I think about it, the more surprised I am that we've lived this long," Athrun said in part to console Murdoch, and in part to take the heat off the other mechanics.

"No joke," Murdoch grunted. "We gotta be the luckiest scratch up unit anywhere in known reality. Might be nice to stay that way, too."

"Skip the Defensers for now, what else can we move on to?" Athrun asked.

"Weapons system interface, movement systems, sensors and electronic warfare. I can't think of anything else."

"Weapons is a big one, so we'll tackle it now while waiting." Athrun pulled down the keyboard he attached permanently to one of the consoles in his new unit. "I already have the FCS programmed, where do we start? System calibration, weapons interface, or fire support coordination?"

"You and Kira can handle the fire support system, I want no part of that," Murdoch complained. "We'll do weapons interfaces. Start with yours while I get a couple guys to bring by some salvaged weapons."

Athrun tapped the control button that executed a routine to draw the beam pistol that provided the Mercurius with its only ready-available long-range firepower. Much as he envisioned and programmed the routine, the pistol draw was expert and extremely quick for a mobile suit; from button pressed to ready weapon was barely 2.5 seconds. His intention, however, was not to test a preprogrammed routine he already knew worked, it was to physically connect the beam pistol to the weapon control circuits to allow his battle computer and operating system to recognize it was holding a new weapon. When the system acknowledged it was holding a new device, he began writing out a profile and control commands that would allow his new Gundam to use the weapon as efficiently as possible. Writing the necessary control language took him less than two minutes and created a far more detailed profile and handling characteristics than would be needed for most machine-on-machine combat; his level of precision theoretically could be used to hit a single man in a somewhat-spread-out crowd with almost perfect certainty of not injuring a bystander.

"Onboard weapons are done, what's next, chief?"

"Beam cannon from a Virgo Mobile Doll, couple of the guys are bringing one by now."

Athrun began typing out the template for the new weapon profile even as the mechanics rolled up with a weapon on a cart. When he was ready to begin, the former ZAFT pilot used the process of picking up the weapon as a test for his fine motor control programming. Much as he expected, he was able to grab and lift the weapon without issue, even despite the Mercurius never being designed for a beam cannon.

The radio in his mobile suit crackled, signaling somebody was transmitting on his command band. "Athrun, Yzak. When you're done with the beam cannon, can you bring it down here?"

Again, Athrun used the question as an opportunity to test its controls; instead of responding by radio, he raised the machine's left arm and gave Yzak a thumbs-up gesture. As expected, the controls worked without issue.

"Clear it with Maintenance Control before you move, we don't need an accident in the hangar right now," Murdoch insisted.

"Got it," Athrun replied before he activated his radio. "Maintenance Control from Mercurius, show machine in motion to deliver weapon to cubicle six from present cubicle."

"Stand by one, I have a munitions hauler in your walk path," Miriallia replied immediately.

_Good thing I asked_, Athrun thought immediately. Stepping on a munitions hauler with a Mobile Suit ran a very good risk of creating an 'Impromptu pyrotechnic bonfire' as his instructor had told his academy class in years past. Of course, what was unstated but readily understood from that faux politically correct name was the thought that said Mobile Suit was not likely to survive such an accident, and that included its foolhardy pilot.

While waiting, Athrun resumed his humming as he did some tweaking inside his fire control system. Even as he modified his base MS OS, he still could not help but wonder how Lacus was doing in his absence...or how the war was progressing with the Archangel and the Creuset Team being missing in action. "Mercurius, Maintenance Control, cleared the move and return to base cubicle."

Without further word, Athrun moved his Mobile Suit forward two steps, turned left, and marched down the taxiway to where the Duel was parked.

"Thanks, man," Yzak acknowledge the receipt of the weapon.

Before Athrun could respond, the raid warning klaxons began sounding and the hangar deck switched over to battle lighting. "So much for peace and quiet," Athrun complained.

-x-x-x-

(16 November AC195, 2245 hours)  
(_Archangel_ bridge, over Sanc Kingdom Classified Armory 1)

As always, the modified _Archangel_-class warship made a significant amount of hull creaking noises as it settled down to the floor of the clearing which would be its parking spot for the time being. "Full landing, Captain," Newman reported. "We should be completely stable in about an hour."

Captain Ramius picked up a growler phone and dialed the engine room. "Finished with engines," she told the engineering crew, a command normally used by captains to shut down and conserve fuel.

"Miriallia, have Athrun and Yzak string some camouflage netting over the ship," Commander La Flaga ordered.

"Attention all hands, this is the captain speaking. Ship is now to stand down to half watch, all maintenance crews are requested to begin a full inspection of systems in preparation for the invasion of the Sanc Kingdom. All personnel not on duty are authorized to disembark to the armory this ship is presently parked over so long as they receive permission from their watch leaders. That is all."

"Thank you for the passage," Rashid gave a formal bow to the captain.

"I thank you for the assistance in stopping the Mobile Doll assault in Luxembourg. I know Treize is not exactly your favorite aristocrat, but..." she left the sentence hanging, not entirely sure how to justify without being insulting.

"Better him than some of the others," Quatre replied diffidently. "The way Romafeller has split, I am beginning to believe what Treize did was on orders, not necessarily something he wanted to do."

"If that is the case, the less we have to fight the better off we are in the long run." The commander did not exactly sound thrilled, even though by all normal measures it was good news.

"Do you have anything else for us, Captain?" Rashid asked.

"We will be doing an officer's briefing at 0830 tomorrow morning, followed by a strategy session and a sand table exercise. If you and your unit commanders want to be involved, I would welcome it."

"We'll be there," Quatre said before he led Rashid off the bridge.

After the Gundam pilot and his subordinate left the bridge, the Commander spoke up. "And I take it I am required to be there as well?"

Murrue snorted audibly. "Mandatory, as well as Newman and Chandratta. Athrun, Yzak, Fuu, and Pytor if they are available. Anyone else you can think might need to be involved?"

"Oh yeah, I can think of two. Kira, because he can be very inventive sometimes, and I would say Chief Ryback since we will probably want him and his merry band of crazies to go behind enemy lines and disrupt command-and-control assets."

"Good idea, we will have to front that at the strategy session tomorrow." The captain sighed after a few moments of silence. "What does the crew think of this?"

"I overheard one of the mechanics saying 'screw justice, screw being nice, screw talking to them, I want vengeance.' Nobody he was talking to disagreed with him at all. I think if you ask nicely, they probably would follow you to the gates of Hell."

"I really hope we don't have to go there," Newman said with a raised eyebrow.

"Am I allowed to second that?" Sai asked in the short silence thereafter.

"I claim the thirds on that one. We've already been to some pretty exotic destinations, Hell might be a bit much," Miriallia replied fervently.

"I agree with the kids." Murrue finished that line of argument. "Newman, Miriallia, you have the next watch. Remainder of bridge staff is dismissed; I suggest anyone involved in the briefing tomorrow get some sleep. The STX (1) will go on until we have a reasonable expectation of success in the real thing. Newman, I'll be in the stateroom until midnight if you need anything."

"Aye-aye, Captain."

It took less than a minute for the personnel on the bridge to empty out, and only another minute for the captain to arrive at the stateroom. Her purpose was not so much as to remain awake as it was to compile a new entry for the log files started by Commander Natarle Badgiruel. Murrue would not readily admit the proper reason why she continues the log files, mainly because sometimes she had justifying circumstances to even doubt her own reason. Natarle had begun logs as evidence of all the wild and insane things the _Archangel_ had gone through over the years of its journey, whereas Murrue continued the logs as a reminder to herself and the rest of the crew of the measure of the insane things they had gone through and as written evidence that such things actually had occurred. All things considered, even to Murrue some of the things they had been subjected to would come off as nothing more than the crazed rantings of some teenager with a wild imagination and far too much time on his or her hands. That the sum total of one's life had to be reduced to operations reports and log file entries was telling Captain Ramius there was something very likely wrong with her life.

_At least I have an anchor_, she thought as the stateroom door opened to reveal commander La Flaga.

-x-x-x-

(17 November AC195, 1005 hours)  
(Sanc Kingdom, New Port City commercial district)

"Tolle is always nice about these kinds of things," Miriallia replied offhand to a question from Hikaru.

"Nothing ventured, nothing gained?" Nicol asked the aforementioned pilot-turned-porter.

"Not exactly what I was thinking," Tolle replied sincerely.

"Damn straight that wasn't what you were thinking, honey," Miriallia commented in a woman's neutral voice of disdain. "But you're both right, of course. Nothing gained without venture, because nobody rides for free."

This question caused a raised eyebrow from the pilot of the Aquarius. "Not sure what she means by that, care to elaborate?"

Tolle sighed mightily. "Later, Nicol, it will take a bit of explanation," he said. His tone of voice told a different tale: not within earshot of the ladies would he explain that one, less the outcome become too painful.

"How about here?" Hikaru asked as they stopped at a corner. The store she indicated was a dress store.

"Oh, definitely, we can also make sure the boys get a decent set of suits for themselves."

Sensing impending disaster, Nicol was quick to stave off the inevitable. "We will wait for you, I have a few things to discuss with Tolle about the coming battle," he dodged for both of them.

"Okay, but don't think this gets you off the hook. Fuu was complaining about the fact that neither of you has any kind of formal wear."

"We have our dress uniforms, don't we?" Tolle asked in counter.

"Those do not count, and you know it." Without further word, Miriallia was the last to enter the dress shop.

"Head over there, we can grab a seat on that bench." Nicol indicated a bench across the road from the corner dress shop the girls had entered.

Once seated and relieved of their carrying duties, both pilots relaxed. "How bad you think we have it?" Tolle asked after a minute of silence.

"Bad," Nicol groused. "It'll be like Luxembourg, but without any of the shock value or speed advantage. The problem with defensive battles is we have to stand there and take it, our maneuver options are going to be limited to what we have to defend and how the enemy surrounds us."

"Ouch," Tolle blanched, knowing that in Mobile Suit warfare it was usually mobility that saved one's ass from a bad case of lead / beam / plasma 'poisoning'. "You wanted to talk about something?" he transitioned to something other than a pending bad day.

"Yeah, it is a personal question, though, are you willing to answer?"

"Yeah, sure, hit me," Tolle replied nonchalantly.

"Are you planning on getting married?" The other half of such a marriage went unstated, given that it would be obvious to anyone that observed the _Archangel_ crew for any length of time.

Tolle's response had no hesitation in it at all. "Yeah, eventually. Not sure when would be an appropriate time for it, though. Every time we turn around, we get shot at."

"May I make a suggestion?" Nicol asked after a minute of silence between the two.

"Sure," Tolle said as he received a strange look from a passerby.

"Plan it out for after we're done dealing with the Romafeller Foundation. Ask her, maybe sometime tonight. Motivation to come back alive can't hurt, and it may help. And, of course, it'll make it official what we've all known for some time."

"Who put you up to that?" Tolle asked after a minute.

"Nobody did," Nicol replied. "Only person I talked to about it is Kira, and he's convinced you're going to put it off until you do something foolish or something happens to one of you, and the other is going to regret it for a long time coming."

"Oh," Tolle groused, never having thought of the matter in those terms. It made a lot of sense, given that Tolle spent a measurable portion of his time being shot at by otherwise hostile parties. There was always risk, highlighted all the more by the fact that he was the second pilot of the Buster, with the first pilot being memorialized in a box on the _Archangel_.

"See what I mean?" Nicol asked after it sunk in for a few seconds.

"Yeah, I do, it's a good point," Tolle said. "I want to, but I'm just not sure where or when."

"Next time we get a break from campaigning would be as good a day as any," Nicol fronted as a possible idea, in essence meaning after they had dismantled the Romafeller Foundation..

Tolle seemed to buy into that idea almost readily. "How long do you think we'll be at it with Romafeller?"

"A month at the most," Nicol judged. "They'll have some reserve forces and their legacy units, but most of their effort will be in attacking this nation. If we break that, we break their ability to do anything more than defend what they already hold."

"Might also break their morale," Tolle sounded as if he was trying to convince himself more than he was trying to make a point.

"Hard to break morale on a soulless machine," Nicol countered drolly. "You are right, though, knocking out two brigades of Mobile Dolls might make their leadership think twice about taking the world over."

"Serious?" Tolle asked, skeptical on the thought of these enemies being scared on any matter.

"Not completely," Nicol admitted candidly. "I don't know if we can scare 'em into negotiating, we may have to go all the way."

"Yeah, that sucks," Tolle grumped. "Can't we ever get an easy one?"

"Of course not," Nicol said. "We go where we are needed most." Both were silent for a minute. "Speaking of going, what did Miriallia mean when she said 'nobody rides for free' or was it something else?"

"Part of a really old, grungy hippie saying," Tolle replied. " 'Gas, grass, or ass, nobody rides for free,' as I heard it."

"Wait, what?" Nicol asked, completely confused by what he meant and how it fit into what Miriallia said.

"Serious," Tolle answered. "Back in the dark ages of history, when the automobile was first invented, hippies used this saying so they would get something out of driving their friends around. Gas, meaning gasoline, Grass, meaning weed or Marijuana, or Ass, meaning, well, sex, nobody rides for free. Get it?"

"Oh," Nicol half-squeaked. "Wait, does that mean..."

"No, I think she was just using that phrase to get my attention," Tolle said. "Figuring she's the one that really took it up to the next level, it'd be a bit weird for her to be asking."

"It does make a bit of sense, though," Nicol said. "Nobody on the ship is riding for free, but we certainly aren't paying in gas, grass or ass." Even having been around Yzak for years, the hesitant way he said the last payment method in was clearly evident to Tolle.

"Yeah, more like blood, sweat and tears," Tolle sighed. "This is not what I wanted to do with my life, but it beats the alternative."

"Yeah." Nicol nodded twice.

The odd passerby gave the two pilots a strange look, as if it was obvious they were not normal immigrants to the Sanc Kingdom, but most paid them no heed.

-x-x-x-

(17 November AC195, 1005 hours)  
(Sanc Kingdom, New Port City central park)

Athrun had found that the picnic tables in the middle of the central park in town held a strange combination of solitude and overexposure, though it was not an untoward environment for continuing his adventures in programming and refining the operating systems for the Mercurius and Vayeate. The overarching advantage to being away from the ship was the silence; even at complete stand-down, the ship was a massive noise factory with the ongoing Mobile Suit repairs and the upgrades to the ship's arsenal courtesy of some 'liberated' Gundanium armor and beam cannons.

In all reality, the existing operating systems were, while not perfect, at least close enough to excellent as to require little modification. The problem was debugging and after-market component interfacing: without access to the processes and logistics that normally supported these two machines (and their cousin, the Aquarius), the _Archangel_ crew had to jury-rig the machines to functional. No simple task, that, especially since these Oz Gundams had very little in common with the surviving Earth Alliance Gundams from their true homeland and even less commonality with the Crusader (maybe ZAFT?) Gundam acquired in their alternate-history-homeland-turned-hellhole. Every change required changes to the interfaces in the machines; there were no modular parts or perfect spares when jury-rigging patches and repairs and the machine had to be custom-programmed to handle the changes in a real-time environment. The slightest mismatch in code would cause calibration losses, equipment strains or destruction and endangered the lives of the pilots and ultimately that of the ship and crew just the same, a fate Athrun wanted no part of.

Three notebook computers and a radio headset sufficed for his operating environment out in the park and away from the ship. It was the latter piece of equipment that truly made the escape from the ship doable, mainly because he still had to contact the maintenance crew to get things done to the machine physically so he could tweak the software based on their inputs or modifications.

"Gomer, Athrun, come back," Athrun requested after he touched the switchplate on his headset cord to activate the microphone.

"Gomer's Madhouse, _maître d_' speaking," Murdoch's technical 4-I-C / unofficial 2-I-C of the hangar bay replied. Given that Murdoch was off duty (presumably looking for a bar in town right now), command devolved to Gomer.

"Gomer, I'm still getting the bad readings on Sensor Set 3 on the Mercurius, coming from wiring harness 3-A. Can you get an electrician on it?"

"Sure, you find me one and I'll get 'em on it," Gomer answered. "Damnit, Jimmy! Get that stack of grease barrels locked down right the frak now before some numb-nuts knocks 'em over!" His shouting at one of the lower-rank techs was muffled, as if the radio was still active but down at his side. "Athrun, all my elecs are tied up running power cables and setting up generators for the new beam cannon turrets. I can crap electrons faster than I can get 'em to run cables right now. Unless you think a general maintenance mechanic can do it by a diagram, it's gonna have to wait."

"Damn, but I do have a task for a general mechanic while I'm on the channel," Athrun said. "The left knee joint is reporting half maximum travel when it hits the physical stop. I think that sensor is bad, and we don't want the actuators to try overextending that knee."

"Yeah, it'd look pretty weird seeing a Gundam walk around with a gimp leg, much less kicking ass with a gimp leg," Gomer agreed.

"Nope, it's my right leg I use for kicking ass," Athrun admitted. "Losing the left knee would make it just that much harder to kick ass, though."

"Yeah, about like the Black Knight from Monty Python's _Holy Grail_," Gomer commented. "Tony, Max, left knee of the Mercurius, check all the sensors and actuation cutoff stops! Coordinate with Athrun on testing it once you get it fixed!"

"Your job never ends, does it?" Athrun looked up at the speaker, and was shocked to find he had not noticed Representative Peacecraft and Captain Noin approach him. "Don't worry about standing, you look too busy to move," she said before Athrun even thought about standing up.

"May we?" Lady Peacecraft indicated the seats across from him.

"Certainly, milady," Athrun replied, reminded of some of the etiquette he picked up from his time among the former Imperial Army and Kingdom of Figaro. "May I help you two?"

"Relena?" Captain Noin prompted.

Relena nodded twice, curtly, though was looking at the table below her hands. Athrun could easily recognize the tension in her posture, as if she was steeling herself for something she didn't like, which immediately began worrying the veteran pilot. "I need to ask your opinion of something, because I'm not sure of the course we are set on."

"Please," Athrun prompted her.

"Is fighting the Romafeller foundation necessary?" Relena asked after a few seconds of hesitation.

Athrun hesitated for a few seconds of his own right, and decided he didn't have enough information to answer. "Before I answer, I need to know what your end-game is, milady."

"I want peace for the world," she replied immediately.

Athrun nodded, as her intention made the answer a simple history lesson. "_Si vis pacem, para bellum_."

Lieutenant Noin immediately caught on. "If you want peace, prepare for war," she said before Relena could ask for a translation.

It didn't take more than five seconds for the inherent lesson in the statement to sink in. "Should we not talk to them? No difference is too great that peace cannot be made between people."

Athrun sighed. "If it was that simple, I would be a mechanical engineer now, not a pilot. And we would never have met."

"Oh," Relena replied with a minor gasp, immediately having realized that she hit a sore spot in Athrun's past.

"Peace can be maintained as long as everyone is peaceful and wants to be peaceful," Athrun continued his lesson. "You get one rotten apple in the bunch and it is over. These guys won't stop until they die, once they take over the world they'll create enemies for them to continue smiting until the world itself rebels and overthrows them. They may even play parts of the world off against each other to redirect accumulating hatred for their actions. If you want peace, prepare for war; the other side won't quit until you force them to stand down."

"I'm guessing you have some history with that one," Noin said.

"I do," Athrun replied. "This world also, just the same. World War 2 is a good example of how much talking doesn't work. Britain and France tried outright placation with the Nazi government, and you can guess how well that worked out. Same thing in my homeland: we did what we could to be nice about it, but when we sensed the other side was out for blood, we began preparing. When it came to blows, we still tried to be nice about it, but all we got for it was a nuclear missile detonated inside a colony."

Both Commander Noin and Relena gasped. It was Relena's optimistic question that came next: "Did they...get out?" The dour look on Athrun's face was answer enough, though she continued. "Did...any get out?"

"No," Athrun replied. "243,721 killed, with less than three thousand of those being military." he sighed, reminded of his extreme anguish at watching his mother die by nuclear blast on live television. "The Sanc Kingdom is in the same position. It will not matter how nice you are about it, you are going to be flattened and probably very shortly. The only question remaining is simple: do you want to bring about the next time of peace, or watch it unfold from exile?"

Relena still did not look directly at Athrun, but nodded nonetheless. It would be hours before she came to a conclusion, but it would be a fateful one, and one not without precedent.

-x-x-x-

(17 November AC195, 1430 hours)  
(Sanc Kingdom, Military Command Center)

"All hands, prepare to begin sand table exercise number six," the exercise operator announced over the room intercom.

"This one for the win," Commander La Flaga said to nobody in particular.

"Not like we technically lost the last one," Kira answered his immediate superior officer.

"We can do better," Captain Ramius replied evenly. "We have to do better, because I don't want to explain to your relatives what went wrong."

"Oz forces have issued a declaration of hostilities, ultimatum issued for three hours to surrender all Sanc Kingdom military assets or face invasion," the Operator declared.

"Six minutes," Captain Ramius complained. Normally, the window of opportunity was 10 minutes to begin initial recon and planning, given that time compression was in effect for this exercise of one minute exercise time to 30 minutes operation time. Six minutes drastically reduced the amount of recon her forces could gather, and made judgment on the enemy operation intentions that much harder. "Execute plan Romeo–6," which was a canned reconnaissance strategy that involved using the Skygrasper support fighter on the southern and eastern borders to attempt to spot any sneak attacks from that area while the _Archangel_ moved towards the north to spot on the enemy's likely primary axis of assault.

"Should we move out the Rune Gods?" Hikaru asked.

"No, I'm holding you guys in close this time, we were bogged down last time because we had no units available to conduct a weighted assault." Captain Ramius shrugged her shoulders a little bit, in a mostly futile attempt to better settle her bra. The last time she had bought proper undergarments for herself was back on Twycross, and her present set was getting a bit tight and more than just a bit worn. "Kira, I want you west and southwest as mobile heavy recon and counter-recon. Start denying them information," she stated her intent.

"Got it; operations, please show me as mobile heading southwest immediately."

Given the speed of the Strike Freedom and its amazingly large sensor bubble, the result was both inevitable and fast: "Strike Freedom has detected enemy reconnaissance units on the southwestern border. Enemy units have not entered Sanc Kingdom airspace at this time."

Kira wasted no time in deciding his next actions. "Strike Freedom takes position on Hill 433. All sensor systems are active, including sonar systems."

"Roger, sensor imaging coming active now," the Operator said. Immediately the Sonar sensors began picking up scattered traces of moving Mobile Dolls behind the enemy rear-lines. "Beginning reception of reports from Partisan forces in areas of invasion," she continued, with the new contacts shown in a different color to distinguish between sensor contacts and Partisan reports.

"Oh, hell," Hikaru griped, seeing the weight of numbers on the western border, where defense was the most difficult due to limiting terrain.

"Let's get a good picture of what we are up against," Yzak said. "Command, show Yzak as attempting to hack enemy satellite network. Focus is on communication and reconnaissance satellites."

-x-

Inside the exercise control room, one of the support staff picked up a pair of ten-sided dice and gave them two good shakes. With a quick throw, he had his result as to how effective Yzak's next action was to be. "Give him a minute, then drop clear reads on everything from BL South (2) to the 144 Highway," which encompassed slightly less than 76 percent of the enemy forces that would be arrayed against the Sanc Kingdom, matching the dice roll.

"Roger that," the Operator said. Even as she spoke, she was approving display results for the Skygrasper scouting on the southern border and over territorial waters.

"Does she look uncomfortable?" one of the managers said, looking out of the control booth and down to the Captain.

"Probably is," the exercise director said. "Confirm, she just blanched when she reached to point out a move scenario."

"I'll bet she hasn't had a new issue of clothes in some time," one of the lady administrators said, taking a guess at what was bothering her. "Some of her clothes are probably worn out and digging into her," she concluded with enough of a nebulous phrase that the guys in the room likely would not understand.

"Probably not since before they took down that Empire on their last destination world," another female administrator said offhand as she began shifting a few of the battalions around to simulate last-minute maneuvering in the enemy ranks. She didn't say what she was thinking as to why a bra would suddenly become uncomfortable, mainly because two-thirds of the personnel in the control center were male.

"Well, hell, new uniforms would be a small price to pay for their services," the Director of Training for the small Sanc Kingdom Security Force said. "I'm pretty sure I'd front for 'em if we survive this and the Chief Representative asked."

"Lady Relena?" The first lady administrator snorted. "She'd probably pay out of pocket herself, especially given they'll give her a chance to clean the aristocracy out."

"Timer is approaching run out for the invasion begin," the Director said to re-rail the conversation from the bizarre gutter it had landed in. "Get 'em moving in, Soviet tactics again. Hit 'em hard, hit 'em fast. Tickle the southern and southeastern borders."

"Roger that," multiple voices chanted in unison. Immediately, the administrators began moving forces in what would be a preplanned staging maneuver for the 'jump-off' phase of the battle.

-x-

"Looks like the fun is beginning," Yzak grumped. "Quatre?"

"Think this one is the real deal this time?" Quatre asked in response. Two exercises prior, they had been worked into a corner because what they thought was the main thrust (north) turned out to be a secondary attack vector, with the enemy primary coming from the West.

"Looks like it," Kira replied. "Hikaru?"

"Rayearth says it should be the real deal," the Magic Knight said. "Too much maneuver to the west to be anything but a real attack or a disorganized cluster," she concluded, deliberately cutting off the rest of the common expression for the purpose of civility in polite company.

"Since Oz isn't famous for disorganization, that really only leaves one option," Murrue concluded with a dire tone. "There is the problem with incoming carriers on the southern edge, though, so I'll send the Rune Gods south, Maganac and Sanc Kingdom forces to the west, Constellation trio to the north. _Archangel_ will provide fire support, I want Kira and Yzak in close to provide reserve."

"That's a very thin reserve," Commander Noin pointed out.

"Can't be helped," Murrue said. "I don't have a lot of forces to hold for reserve in most battles." She held up a hand before Noin could protest. "I know, I am inviting an eventual failure without a reserve, but for now I have limited options."

"I know, but..." Noin trailed off. "What are our orders?"

"Mobile defensive action, hammer on them as they come on but don't hold ground. Trade space for time, string them out and allow the fire support units to take their toll," Murrue defined the battle strategy. Again, she shrugged her shoulders to try and realign her undergarments without physically touching them (or herself), though this time her action caught the attention of the smaller Noin and significantly smaller Hikaru. Both saw it for what it was, just as had the Operators in the control room above her and to the right.

The plan began unfolding much as it had the battle prior, with the enemy debauching into the northern and western forest lands in an attempt to push through the Sanc Kingdom sparse defenses and make a run on New Port City. It would have been an interesting theoretical exercise back in Murrue's academy days, except that it was a simulation of a very brutal reality to come. More to the point, lives were on the line for everyone involved, and the factors of size, distance, and relative forces only made the risks that much higher.

The reward, however, was simply more battles in the near future.

It almost seemed as if this was a cruel joke someone was playing on the Archangel Team, though Murrue intended on doing the laughing all the way to the enemy capital in Berlin.

-x-x-x-

(17 November AC195, 2230 hours)  
(_Archangel_ rear decks)

Kira found himself significantly surprised that he had forgotten a simple but rather important task that he was supposed to be performing routinely for the ship, though not one directly relating to the operations of the ship but more along the lines of maintenance of honor. Athrun and he had installed the holoprojector systems to help relieve stress and tension among the crew, though it certainly would not be stress relieving if anybody found and made use of the recording options on those projectors. Though he had gone a long way to making sure that the recording option was removed, caution and verification would definitely go a long way to preventing any undue bloodshed as a direct cause of said features.

The trick, however, was in gaining access to systems without interrupting the use of the hot springs, or theoretically in even alerting the ladies of the ship that something was amiss with the projectors.

"You are a bit busy this late at night," Gomer commented as Kira began opening a certain access panel that also led to the wiring harnesses for the port side missile launchers. "Something wrong with the missile systems over here that I didn't hear about?"

"Sorry, Gomer, classified operation. I'm definitely not about to discuss what I need to do with this one to you."

"Dude, no fun."

"Serious, Gomer. This is not something that needs to be widespread known. Captain will have both of our asses and a few more for throw rugs." Even while speaking, Kira was using a manual screwdriver to remove the six mounting screws on the access panel.

The Gundam pilot's warning was easily clear enough to get the message across. Given the proximity to the hot springs, it was readily understood by Gomer as to what the affair in question was, and what side of the matter Kira stood on. "Those projectors, right?" The pilot did not answer immediately. "Say no more, amigo. The absolute last thing I want to experience in my life is having the females of the ship's crew pissed off at me. Where can I help?"

"Grab a wiring gimmick; you can help me verify the output connections on the projector are still locked off."

"Roger that." Without any further explanation Gomer picked up the available gimmick from Kira's wiring kit. Said pilot had begun checking wires with a hand-held signal analyzer to attempt to find any non-command wires in a bundle that should otherwise be control wires for the missile launchers and automatic defense systems. "Has this happened before and nobody told us?"

"It has, the involved crew members are presently dead. No, involved crew members were not administratively punished for it, just threatened with death and dismemberment by Yzak."

"New group must not have had the sense to heed such a warning, because it looks like the output header has grown a new wire."

"What color?"

"Magenta," Gomer began using the gimmick controller to unscrew the connection on the projector.

"I got it," the pilot announced, given that the color of the wire made it dead simple to find in a bundle of nothing but black and white wiring. Either the offending party didn't give a damn whether the wire was found or not, wanted the wire to be found, or was using off-the-shelf scraps for their clandestine operation. "Hold it, leave it connected, I want to trace this to where it is going." Kira's method of tracking was to simply attach a multi-phase tone generator to the data cable and looped the generator leads around the outside of the wire to amplify the signal. A simple tone wand sufficed for tracking it to wherever it was going.

"Down to the main cable harness router?" Gomer asked as Kira traced the tone along the conduit walls toward the stern of the ship.

"Won't work, I blocked all signals to that router from the projectors, and the main projector router is set for distribution only, it will not accept outgoing signals from the projectors except for system control signals."

"Then where the hell is it going? Any farther back in and you're getting down into the missile launchers themselves, not the cable harnesses for them. Unless the ship has grown something new back here?" Gomer stopped to break out a cigarette and lit it with a propane torch Kira had in his tool bag.

"Stops right here." The pilot tapped on the wall just past the main cabling router in the area.

"Next access panel is going to be a meter to your left." Before he was even asked, Gomer kicked the screwdriver down to Kira and resumed smoking in direct violation of standing ship policy.

Once the cover was removed, finding the equipment was a simple task. "Well, isn't that just clever on someone's part. Someone put a small router in here, which is wired into a laptop, which is then wired back into the router and a fourth cable is going over to the primary system router. Signal in, signal gets translated, signal out, signal distributed to God knows where."

"Someone knows their shit and how to use it properly," Gomer groused. "I can think about a half a dozen of them that are both inventive enough to do it and skilled enough with electronics to do it."

"You going to talk to them, or should I call Yzak?"

"Oh, Petty Officer Ryback and I will be discussing this with the potential candidates, and if any of them confess I'm pretty sure we can figure out some way to deal with this problem." The pure nonchalance of his voice was almost chilling to Kira.

"This is just flat-out perverse," Kira complained, taking his mind off the threat of grievous bodily harm that would be inflicted on the perpetrators.. "I mean, most guys would do this at the drop of a hat if they thought they could get away with it, but they can't get away with it on this ship and there's a lot of very deadly ladies in our crew. Or am I missing something here?"

"You pegged it, sir. Getting caught at something like this is like playing Russian roulette with five out of six chambers loaded. Gambling like that, I damn near always bet on the guy with the gun having his day ruined in a big hurry." Kira blanched at the thought, given that Gomer's definition of having his day ruined was on the understatement side of an equation.

"Or you could always take the natural selection scientific approach to the problem." Both pilot and mechanic jumped slightly at the sound of the new voice, though both immediately recognized Yzak as a comrade in this endeavor. "Some people live for the sole purpose of proving Darwinian theories correct."

"Laptop." Said machine was handed off to Yzak.

"I'll crack it and get the info to you guys as soon as possible." Just as quickly as he came he was departing the area of the Hot Springs.

"He will probably bring Athrun in to help crack it and analyze the information. Two hours on the short end, a week at the absolute most, I'd guess maybe two days and you'll have an idea who did it."

"Good, fishing expeditions are a lot easier when you know what you're looking for."

Removing the connection equipment would take the pilot and mechanic nearly an hour, but their actions would prevent far worse fallout in the months to come.

-x-x-x-

(18 November AC195, 0630 hours)  
(Sanc Kingdom, underground MS Bunker, small arms firing range)

For Heero Yuy, time on the target range was time to clear the mind and validate base skills. Exploits in his Gundam had made him a legend of the battlefield, but Wing Gundam was not the most effective answer to all of life's little problems. Sometimes, the solution required a much smaller, more precise touch to complete; in pursuit of his mission, he wouldn't shy away from 'reaching out and touching' someone at a mile or a yard with infantry weapons.

Today, he was on his rifle, practicing at the range's maximum of 400 yards. An Armalite AR-30 bolt-action rifle was his tool of choice for long ranges, complete with muzzle brake and 36-power rifle scope. The .300 Winchester Magnum cartridge it fired was easily heavy enough to ensure the job was done with one shot, but not heavy enough to deliver the recoil of a .338 Lapua, .404 Dakota Mag, or .50 BMG. Though normally accustomed to needing no more than one shot for any given task, the rifle did provide a magazine with five rounds capacity, and he made it a point to use all five rounds per target to validate his accuracy.

Even without having used this perishable skill recently, Heero's accuracy was still phenomenal. After taking two groups to verify his rifle was still sighted in, his first "competition" group was extremely accurate: two bull's-eyes, two in the 10-ring, and one in the 9 ring roughly analogous in location to a person's throat. The time necessary to pull back the target from the range's maximum distance gave his rifle time to cool down and his right shoulder time to relax from the beating it just received. Though hardened by years of training, physically he was still sixteen and the 300 Winchester Magnum caliber was not a small cartridge by most measures of the word.

A new target and a new series of five rounds resulted in even better scores. Two in the bull's-eye, three in the 10-ring simply reinforced the verification that his long-range rifle skills were still up to par. Odin Lowe had started by teaching him the art of long-range rifle, but, more to the point, he had also taught the young Heero Yuy the full list of traits and skills necessary for a sniper and special forces operator. A single shot with a high-power rifle was not always the preferred method of solving problems; true special forces personnel would often seek ways to complete their objective without resorting to direct combat.

Once again, the waiting as the target was reeled back in provided time for his rifle to cool down. Though every weapon can and frequently will absorb excess of amounts of waste heat from the rounds fired, no weapon ever manufactured could be fired continually without the risk of overheating and/or catastrophic failure. Magnum-caliber sniper rifles were even higher on the list than certain automatic weapons in regards to the failures due to overheating; a single shot from the 300 Winchester Magnum cartridge could generate as much as double the heat of certain common infantry rifle rounds. Excessive heat could cause the barrel on such a rifle to warp, which would throw off the aim of the weapon and render it possibly useless or at the least far more difficult to take accurate shots.

As his next target was heading down the range, the sound of a rifle's bolt being drawn back caused him to look down the range two lanes to see who had joined him. It didn't particularly surprise him to see Commander Rashid from the Maganac Corps on the range, with an assault rifle, a pistol, and a shipping unit of ammo for each. One of the things Odin had taught Heero was how to maintain steady aim even when being fired at; someone nearby firing in support of his action was unlikely to make any difference in his accuracy. Before Rashid could even load his first magazine, Heero had lined up and sent his first shot; less than a second after firing, the round punched a hole in the target just on the border of the 10 and X ring, low and slightly left of center. It would be his best shot of the series, with a 9-ring and three solid 10-rings to finish out the group. All were easily fatal shots, but he expected better.

Also not unexpected, the short-burst chatter of Rashid's assault rifle showed he had been expertly trained on how to handle automatic weapons. It was typical movie bullshit to see somebody simply hold down the trigger and spray a weapon in the general direction of their foe; with the possible exception of a multi-barrel Gatling weapon, automatic weapons lost most of their accuracy the longer you fired them. While some 'comedians' would claim the purpose of an automatic weapon is to spray down an enemy, the average professional readily understood that having an automatic weapon was more or less useless if you didn't put the bullets on target. Rashid simply proved the professional stance correct, in that his slow fire in short bursts was very effective at chopping the hearts out of the silhouette targets he was shooting at.

A new target, another five shots. In this group, his accuracy beat his present-day average, resulting in three bull's-eyes, a 10-ring and a 9-ring. A quick hand over the barrel without even touching it revealed that his weapon had grown too hot for continued firing; without any movement of air in the range and with the proximity of other objects (the individual shooting stall walls for example), the barrel of his weapon had absorbed enough heat that any continued firing ran the risk of warping it. Given the cost in both materials and manpower to replace the barrel of a rifle, he decided to set the rifle aside and continue today's practice with his pistol.

As he was bringing the target shuttle back to replace it with a silhouette target for pistol work, Heero noticed a third shuttle moving now, this one also with a silhouette target. A quick glance down the lane showed only a brief glimpse of someone in one of the Archangel Team uniforms; without a clearer view, or without a good look at the arm patches on his/her uniform, he had no way of knowing who he was looking at. Still and all, the Archangel Team was presently on his short list of allies: having been ambushed more than once, and having lost one of their Gundams to the Romafeller Foundation, they had plenty of reason to dislike the present ruling party of the Earth Sphere. So long as they didn't seek vengeance for his surprise attack on their ship, he had no problem with their assistance or fighting alongside them.

With the target in place, Heero held down the button to begin moving the shuttle out to a suitable range for pistol practice. About half way down the range lane, his trained eye caught movement in the general direction of the newcomer; whatever it was, it slammed into the ground roughly 200 yards down the range and tumbled to a stop. After a few seconds of trying to determine what it was, he simply shrugged it off and brought his pistol up to present, then took direct aim and began firing. The pistol he preferred was a weapon favored by the Japanese-region Organization of Zodiac ground forces and pilots, produced in Japan by Nambu Armaments Company for its ease-of-use and hard-hitting stopping power. The only thing it lacked compared to other common pistols was magazine capacity; the Nambu PL-7 carried only 12 shots, whereas most European pistols had magazine capacities of 20 or greater using a smaller round. It made for a fair trade-off, given that one shot was very likely to put somebody on the ground as opposed to as many as five shots from other pistols against somebody wearing body armor.

Twelve shots, eight in the chest and four in the head in the same form he had been trained to use in years past, simply proved his shooting skills were still in top form. As the target shuttle began coming back to the range stall, he again noticed the movement coming from the newcomer's target lane; this time he was able to tell what was being shot when it landed down the range a hundred yards past the target being shot at. Why anyone would be practicing with a bow and arrows in the era of Mobile Suit warfare was such a mystery to the pilot that his curiosity overcame his desire to continue practice. He cleared and locked the action open on his pistol, set it down on his range stall table, and stepped out to see who was in the stall now occupied by the Archangel Team.

The first and loudest shock of his quest for information was who he was dealing with. It did not take him long to hear the rumors about her attitude, but he had heard nothing of the fact that Petty Officer Miriallia had any direct combat skills. The second interesting datum point was her accuracy: five shots using a compound longbow that had no apparent sight system, and all five shots would easily have been heart shots. It did not take him long to realize this was one of the Archangel Team's legendary magic weapons; what passed for a quiver for her looked like nothing so much as a small metal cylinder on her belt at her right hip. As he watched on, she reached down to the cylinder and touched it with just her index and middle finger; a full-length and properly fletched arrow appeared between her two fingers, which she immediately brought up and properly nocked in one swift action. After a second of aiming, she loosed the shot for the sixth hit on the target; just as the five before, all the shots landed within a space slightly smaller than Heero's clenched fist.

After she paused to check her accuracy with a spotting scope, the pilot had to ask the question that was most pressing of all. "Why are you using a bow in an age of automatic weapons?"

Though he did not expect an answer during a string of bursts from Commander Rashid, he still received one though it was entirely inside his head. _I use this bow because it is always with me, ammunition is free, and I can make the arrows explode on contact, explode after penetrating, generate wind magic on strike, or magically punch through 3 meters of armor_.

"I don't think I'll ever get used to that," he grumbled to himself.

_It takes quite a bit of getting used to, but_, and before she continued she loosed another arrow; this one struck the target and released a massive blast of wind of magic that was only barely visible to the naked eye. In an instant, what was left of her target was shredded into nothing more than confetti bits and distributed over a good ten square meters of range space. _It is what we do, how we survive. We get used to it after a while_.

"I'm not... being nearby you when you use that isn't going to cause problems for me, is it?" the pilot asked out of curiosity, having no exposure to anything of this sort before encountering the Archangel Team.

_No, so long as you don't get hit by it you should be all right. Hell, unless you are tied to Magic Knight Fuu, you can't even use this bow. It just drops right out of your hands if you tried to pick it up_.

Heero realized in an instant his defeat in his first battle with the Archangel Team was in direct result to what Miriallia had just described. When he tried removing the sword of the Rune God that he was doing battle with from his shield, it must have triggered the same effect and suddenly spiked the weight of his Gundam well above anything his engines could have compensated for. He had been dragged to the ground by an anti-theft enchantment on the sword of a supernatural being; which, on reflection, had to be one of the most embarrassing ways to be defeated he could ever think of.

Such a thought was good for a rueful chuckle as he returned to his own stall to resume practice. He didn't expect a rematch, but if he did have to go toe to toe with the Rune Gods, he knew not to touch their weapons if they were ever disarmed.

-x-x-x-

(19 November AC195, 0900 hours)  
(Sanc Kingdom, _That Old Sound_ music and media shop)

"Either this band Nickelback was extremely popular, or a lot of people bought their discs, heard how much they sucked, and promptly sold them back to the record store. So far I can't figure out which," Tolle whined about the epic task of searching through old compact discs looking for one of the many bands he recognized but could no longer find their audio for his player.

"I say the first choice," Sai replied from the other side of the 'incredibly old' music bin. "Doesn't sound half bad to me."

"Remember, man, I am looking for a form of Metal music, not something that can at best be described as Alternative and at worst is Pop." Even still, Sai set aside four of the more frequent discs of said band to add to the ship's growing music library. The Buster pilot may not have thought such music was "hard" enough for his collection, but very few people on the ship actually had any intention of listening to stuff that hard. In fact, he figured such bands as Aqua and The Spice Girls would find favor among the mentally-twisted mechanic crew in the hangar decks of the ship; Murdoch had put out a bounty on music that may be annoying to the personnel (sane personnel, that is) to be added to the music rotation in the hangar. Bonus points would be awarded for 'bubblegum pop' music from any era. Sai suspected his intention was to create mood whiplash in any (normal) person that listened to the music for any given length of time. It was readily expected that some people on the hangar deck would enjoy such otherwise torturous plans.

"I know, I know, I'm not just helping you shop. I have a list of stuff to pick up courtesy of the mechanics."

The _Archangel_ sensor operator looked up and around, sensing more than seeing or believing that he was being watched. The only person in his area looking in his direction even just barely was a rather stunning lady was long, platinum blond hair and some rather significant eyelashes, though the presence of her school uniform was an instant turnoff to Sai. He figured if she was still in school, she was definitely off limits. It was good for a deep sigh, in that the only girl that had paid attention to him lately was jail-bait and very likely was high-society jail-bait at that.

"Did Hercules have it this bad? I can't seem to find shit in here."

"Unless you count this next to cleaning a stable filled waist-deep in cow crap, no, not as bad."

"Bull, I think I can feel my manliness being sucked out of me just by holding some of these discs."

Before any more comments or banter was traded, the small radios both carried chirped twice. "All units, band six, code 1138. Do not acknowledge."

"If that wasn't your significant other, I'd already have smashed my radio."

"I know, I know, duty calls. At least we have enough time to check out before we go."

For his part, Sai checked again on the lady that had been eying him; sure enough, she was again looking in his general direction, though this time doing so over the top edge of an old record box. He figured it pretty bad if a rank amateur in counter-surveillance such as he could spot the spy. He chose to ignore the not-quite-threat for now to focus on the upcoming battle; he certainly wouldn't forget the off-limits lady, but he highly doubted he would ever see her again. Besides, he figured her interest in him was entirely professional, likely as a spy to the Romafeller Foundation. No normal lady would track in on the sensor operator of a warship when standing opposite one of the pilots from the Archangel Team.

For her part, Dorothy Catalonia could not place any details of the two mystery men going through ancient audio discs. Neither of them seemed to be anything like what she envisioned a male music collector would look like. Neither of them appeared to be anywhere as brutish as would be a typical soldier, which meant if they were true members of the Archangel Team they must be part of the oddities on that team. A unit with such a reputation could only be staffed by some of the toughest persons known, and in her mind Dorothy could not stack those two soldiers with any of the tough personnel she had ever seen before. Still and all, the intriguing duality of their presence and their appearance compared to their (theoretical) duties was almost magnetic to the war-hawk in Dorothy. She decided a little further investigation was in order after her grandfather's campaign was concluded.

-x-

"Romafeller has issued their demands," Captain Ramius declared to the assembled crew. "They know we are here, given their third demand is for the Archangel Team to disarm and immediately surrender. They know we have only very limited defensive capabilities. They know we have extremely limited manpower. In all real terms, this one is a shot in the dark, and I can't guarantee we're all going to survive it. We've been lucky so far, but this time the enemy decides the circumstances of the battle and it won't be favorable to us."

"The choice is simple. We will not ask you to remain on the ship if you believe the risk exceeds the potential rewards of seeing the fight through," Commander La Flaga said. "Any crew that wishes to leave the ship may submit a resignation to your direct commander or the Captain. You have two hours before the ship has to go airborne; after that, we can't guarantee you a way off."

"Like hell I'm out," Tolle declared. "I'm just getting used to the Buster, and we'll need it."

"Two brigades of Mobile Dolls...this won't be easy," Kuzzey complained.

"No way out of this," Miriallia replied. "They want us out of the way, just as bad as they want the Sanc Kingdom out of the way."

"We can run, but they can't," Yzak pointed out fairly.

"Fat lot of good that'll do us if we can't sleep at night knowing we ran when needed most," Tolle said.

"Does anyone want to take this window to leave the ship?" Captain Ramius asked the entire crew.

The crew fell silent for a few short moments. Nobody spoke up to leave the ship.

At the fuzzy edge where a few decided to start chatting again, a single shout came from where Tolle thought the mechanics had assembled. "Kill 'em all and count the salvage, Captain!"

"HELL YEAH!" half the crew (minimum) shouted in response. Kuzzey could see more than a few swords and rifles waving in the air in salute of the declaration.

For her part, Commander Noin could only shake her head while watching the crew of the warship from the repair gantries. Many of them were expatriates of military forces, some were civilians brave enough to throw it all away and take a chance on this wandering ship. Four of the pilots were former soldiers trying to sink this ship, as well as the Elementals. Three were schoolgirls literally kidnapped from their peaceful life and dropped into the waiting arms of a war on a magical planet. The crew could easiest be described as 'disparate', though Noin figured there were a few better adjectives for them. Still and all, they were a crew that would not be divided and refused to surrender to anyone; that fact alone made them easily more dangerous than the Romafeller Foundation.

-x-

Relena squinted against the glare of the television camera lights briefly, a common reaction to the massive 10,000-candlepower illumination devices that were necessary in the Sanc Kingdom Administration Building's press room. She had considered paying for diffusers herself, but now kicked herself mentally for not doing so before this day.

Still, the message was paramount. It was always the hardest path to stand against aggression and tyranny, and in all technicality it was against the original Sanc Kingdom policies, but the words of a single pilot rang true. If the Sanc Kingdom surrendered, it would still be overrun and 'pacified', given that even the most nonviolent of the opposition to the Romafeller still suffered deliberate civilian attrition at the hands of their new overlords. In olden days of modern warfare, the actions of Duke Dermail and his subordinates would have earned them a seat in a war crimes tribunal, but those days were long gone...and today was the cold, hard reality staring at what Representative Peacecraft held dear.

"Less than two hours ago, the Romafeller Foundation made its final declaration in its ongoing and evolving policy of autocratic dominance at all costs. Until today, the Sanc Kingdom has been only a refuge for the displaced and a silent observer in the affairs of the world, taking no action hostile to any parties elsewhere in the Earth Sphere. We have spoken no ill word toward the Romafeller Foundation, and contrary to their accusations we have taken no direct or indirect hostile actions against the Romafeller Foundation. Today, the price of our silence is now the threat of annihilation by the Romafeller Foundation."

To the viewers around the world, Representative Peacecraft paused to take a breath. In truth, she hesitated to continue, given that what she was about to do was in direct violation of everything that she had learned in life and was now practicing in the Sanc Kingdom. The words of a single pilot had rung true and had haunted her for over a day. Athrun had struck a nerve, whether he intended it or not. It was the feeling invoked by that nerve that had chosen her path, and this speech would be the first step on that path. _If you want peace, prepare for war_, her mind echoed the translation of his words.

"Though the Kingdom is peaceful, it is clearly against the best interests of the entire world for us to simply abdicate in the surrender to the tyrants who now control what was the Earth Alliance. History has shown numerous times placating indifference, appeasement, abdication, ignorance, apathy, or support of tyrannical actions are simply methods by which civil nations seek to embolden the tyrants and fascists of the world. Such actions almost always lead to massacres, genocide, global wars, all resulting in extreme suffering for all parties involved. Today, it has been demanded of this Kingdom we must once again placate a tyrant or suffer his consequences.

"For weeks, we have been trying to negotiate with the Romafeller Foundation in an attempt to avert war. These negotiations have been stonewalled at every possible turn, as if they were used simply as a delaying tactic to distract other parties. Now, we have been asked to give up everything we hold dear, all of our principles, beliefs, even our lives and livelihoods, simply to complete a new rendition of Manifest Destiny. The alternate to abdication, clearly stated in the Romafeller Foundation demands, is an invasion by which the Romafeller Foundation has clearly stated they cannot guarantee the safety of civilians even in a clearly military-oriented campaign." More than a few of the reporters grumbled at her statement, clearly wanting to lambast the Representative for her harsh language, but none spoke up.

Relena pushed forward over the din, confident they would only get worse. "Given the existing record of atrocities known to have been or suspected to have been committed by the Romafeller Foundation, it is the conclusion of the Sanc Kingdom leadership that any action we take will result in significant loss of life and the potential for continued or renewed atrocities elsewhere in the region. As this outcome is completely unacceptable to the Kingdom, we have chosen the most difficult path we may take in the hope that we may stop the pending disasters before they begin. As a result, I hereby issue the following declaration to the Romafeller Foundation."

Again she hesitated and it translated on the television, but again it was not for the reason most assumed it would be. The silence of a second was used to calm her nerves, prepare her for the leap of faith she was about to take. Her faith had to rest in those around her, those willing to put it on the line for her, even if indirectly or not specifically for her, and such a consideration was rattling even to her.

"First, the Sanc Kingdom demands all military actions aimed against the Kingdom be terminated immediately and indefinitely. The invasion of the Kingdom will only result in bloodshed, and further military actions beyond that invasion will only result in more bloodshed, which will result in even more bloodshed and tragedy. Upon this path, the Romafeller Foundation has no future except continued tragedy." Her turn of phrase did cause a stir among the crowd, enough that a few tried to ask her for 'clarifications' to her statement. "I will answer questions at the end," she prompted them to return to silence and the reporters complied.

"Second, I call upon the Aldermen of the Romafeller Foundation to speak out against the depredations of the current figurehead, Duke Dermail. From my private conversations and official discourse with the Aldermen, I am convinced that not all in the Romafeller foundation are set on this path. There is no better hand to restrain the dogs of war than the hand who controls those canines. I ask you all to consider at length the cost of continued campaigning, both in terms of your own expenditures and in terms of what you are doing to those people, states you are conquering." A third outburst from the press pool was short-lived by a stern glare from Commander Noin.

"Third, as the Sanc Kingdom has no regular military forces with which to defend itself, we have retained the service of the Archangel Team. In recent weeks, the Archangel Team has proven their resourcefulness and their power in repeated engagements with the Romafeller Foundation, to which the Romafeller Foundation has never provided a proper reason as to why they are engaging in battle against a mercenary unit that had prior never fired a shot on them. Contrary to the claims of the Foundation, the Archangel Team has never been in the employment of the Sanc Kingdom and does not conduct itself as a regular formation of the kingdom. The Romafeller demands toward the Archangel Team, on the assumption they are under obligation by our request to disarm and/or surrender, has no bearing on the Sanc Kingdom and should be sorted out between the captain of the Archangel Team and Duke Dermail himself." A fourth stir came from her comments on the Archangel Team, though it was minor and settled itself quickly.

"Fourth, in following with my previous point, any independent or mercenary formations of combat units who believe the freedom of the world to be justified against the risk of doing battle with the Romafeller Foundation are requested to make haste to the Sanc Kingdom to aid in its defense. We will do what we can, but any men or women who value their freedom and right to self-governance as much as we do would be welcomed in our forthcoming effort to defend ourselves from Duke Dermail. Supply, compensation, and salvage rights are all negotiable to any formations or forces who join us in defense of the citizens of the Sanc Kingdom."

A few reporters jockeyed for position in the area behind the cameras, intent on getting as close to the Representative as possible to possibly force the issue on the questioning, but the boundaries of the press pool were pretty much set. The serious-looking dress-clothes guards she kept were more than ample to silently enforce those boundaries, and nobody in the press pool believed that Relena did not have a fast reaction team to protect her. Some even assumped (incorrectly) the special forces team of the Archangel Team mercenary unit was waiting in the wings to mete out defense for the Representative.

"In closing, I will be the first to say the above course of action is in direct counter to the teachings of King Peacecraft. I will also be the first to say I do not want to follow this course of action. In the final analysis, however, the choice becomes truly simple: either we resist and take our own chances on the outcome, or we stand by and watch as a nation becomes casualty to an ongoing war for no other reason than the personal whim of Duke Dermail. After several nights of consideration of this position, this is my conclusion and this will be the course I take. I understand that many persons in the Sanc Kingdom will not agree with this position. If any people wish to evacuate the Kingdom, please evacuate to the west along Highway 355 and follow all law enforcement officer instructions to reach safety. Any civilians who do not wish to evacuate are strongly urged to take shelter in the public evacuation locations.

"There is an old phrase that best sums up what shall be the coming hours. I quote: "if you want peace, prepare for war." May God protect us all in the coming hours, for we all shall need it. This concludes my official statement. Any questions?"

-x-x-x-

(19 November AC195, 1030 hours)  
(Romafeller Command Post, invasion of Sanc Kingdom territory)

The main monitor was turned off at the conclusion of Representative Peacecraft's speech. "One does have to give her credit for calling out the Romafeller Foundation in such a blatant fashion," one of the younger Captains said with a nod.

"Not that it will do her much good. I don't see Duke Dermail showing her any leniency after that." If the speaking Lieutenant could sound any colder, how she could was lost on the other commanders in the post.

"Expected leniency or not, we have some very real problems to deal with now. We have suspected for some time te Sanc Kingdom has a small collection of expatriate Earth Alliance mobile forces piloted by some veteran troops. We have also suspected the Kingdom was in collusion with or had possession of a minimum of two Gundams. We now have confirmation by intelligence assets inside the Kingdom those fears are correct. Gundam 01 and Gundam 04 have both been confirmed with the mobile forces inside the Sanc Kingdom. Heads up." Viscount Kessler reactivated the main monitor, this time with a table of organization and equipment for the Sanc Kingdom.

"Holy Mary, Mother of God, we have to face that? How do they expect us to survive fighting that many Gundams in such a small area?" The fear in the voice of the Major was echoed inside the minds of almost all of the staff in the room.

"In a normal engagement, there would be no expectation of survival." Kessler twitched his mustache, which he had worked hard over the years to pattern after Bismarck. "This is not a normal engagement, this is a rapid assault. The Earth Alliance has done enough trial and error work for us that we can successfully conclude any normal attempt at an engagement with a Gundam is only going to result in a lot of dead machines." There were a few grim chuckles around the room, given the implication of the phrase 'trial and error' really meant failures in tactics and leadership that were in no small part endemic to the entire Earth Alliance. "For our part, the trick is deciding and implementing a plan that does not allow the enemy forces to pin us in place and thus prevent us from achieving our objectives. By all technicalities, if we can do this operation with achieving all of our objectives and not seeing a single trace of any one of their Gundams, so much the better."

"Wait, we do not want to engage the Gundams? Is this a travesty?"

"If you feel we cannot complete this operation without attempting to destroy the Gundams, Captain, then you may consider yourself relieved of your command. Either get with the program, or call your second-in-command to take your position. You have 30 seconds to make the decision, and the same goes for the rest of you. Thirty seconds to acknowledge chain of command or call your relief." After said 30 seconds elapsed, no man or woman had left the room. "I take it this means you all understand that this is specifically not an attempt at glory?"

"Yes, sir," the chastised Captain replied warily.

"Duke Dermail gave us a clear order that we are to suborn the Sanc Kingdom. Under conventional terms, it is specifically impossible for us to achieve that objective if we sally forth with the intention of getting our asses kicked by the Gundams. Period. Therefore, since we have to take the contrary, and we have to avoid doing direct battle with the enemy Gundams as much as possible, the only real way to achieve our objective is to basically hit their territory so hard and so fast the enemy machines cannot react to every incursion we give them." There were a few grumbles around the room, but nobody said anything clear enough to stand out in the crowd. "I know this is not going to earn us a place in the history books, but you need to keep in mind that names such as Rommel, Schwarzkopf, Cornwallis, Napoleon, Zhukov, those are commanders who did not earn their place in history by charging headlong into a battle they could not win. And, unlike three of those five generals, as of right now we are not in a position where our backs are against the wall. We do not have to force a battle whereby we go out in a blaze of glory; all we have to do is force the Sanc Kingdom to surrender. Eyes on." He highlighted several entries on the TO&E listing.

"Those would be the Gundams that we avoid at all costs, correct sir?" a fresh-faced Second Lieutenant asked in a perfectly earnest voice.

"Absolutely correct, Lieutenant. Buster, Duel, Strike Freedom, Mercurius, Vayeate, Aquarius, Wing, and Sandrock. All eight of these machines are extremely powerful and if presented an opportunity shall destroy your forces. Still, these eight machines are not the entirety of their forces; the conventional and special machines they have are just as frightening as anything else you may have nightmares about."

"Sodding lot more of them," a Lieutenant from the Falkland Islands commented crassly.

"All analysis points to these units being less effective in battle, though in the long run that will not count for much more than a consolation prize to any small units unfortunate enough to be caught under their guns." Again, Viscount Kessler twitched his prominent mustache. "By the numbers, yes, they are less of a threat. The first datum point, you can expect for them to make up for that 'lack' of threat with force of numbers. Second, in a defensive stance you can expect even the old first-flight Leo machines to be easily capable of taking out 5 or 10 Virgo Mobile Dolls from a fortified position. Most prominently, the Maganac forces are some of the best outside of the Gundams themselves; expect that where they stand, we will not be able to move through with any chance of success."

A Taiwanese Major took a shot from an unlabeled and nondescript hip flask; nobody around him could smell alcohol, but few in the room suspected otherwise. It never impaired his judgment, so they were willing to overlook it to an extent. "And that leaves only four, the three you just highlighted and the ship."

"Indeed, Major, and these three are a particularly frightening breed of their own. Windam, Rayearth, and Seleste are a type of non-mechanical mobile weapon called a Rune God. Our intelligence on this one is a bit fuzzy, but let me be the first to warn you not to underestimate these things. Just because they are not mechanical does not mean they cannot chop your asses up and send them home parcel post. In fact, we have reason to believe the second listed, Windam, was responsible for no less than a quarter and as much as a half of the casualties in our German field base, all executed with one attack. It should not surprise you, then, we have to assume that said Rune God is easily capable of repeating such carnage on demand; if such is the case, our estimate is that this one unit is capable of destroying an entire Regiment of Mobile Dolls in roughly 5 minutes. It would behoove you all to avoid this thing at all costs."

"Good God, sir, what is that things supposed to be?"

Viscount Kessler simply grunted at the question. "If our intelligence source is to be believed on this count, these three units are Living Gods. If that is true, it is fairly safe to say there is no conventional way to defeat them; it may require a special operation using nuclear arms to bring these three down. Again I repeat myself, but in this engagement is not necessary to do battle with or even defeat these mobile forces; our concern is taking our objectives and nothing more. If we have to, detachments will be detailed and assigned operation zones to block enemy forces while our main effort continues on to the objective. If we get bogged down, we lose by default."

"The ship alone could bog us down. How are we going to get around that when the shooting starts?" Coming from one of two colonels in the room, everyone paid close attention to the question and everyone equally anticipated the answer.

"The ship is, hands down, their most powerful asset. By caveat, the ship is also their Achilles' heel. The Archangel Team is dog meat without their ship; it goes without saying they will do their utmost to protect the ship during the engagement, which will necessarily draw forces away from any attempt to engage our multiple strikes. The operation plan is counting on this fact, as we will use the engagement against their ship as a method to draw heat off our three-pronged assault."

Many heads nodded in the room; no one man relished the thought of doing battle with the floating gun battery known as the _Archangel_, but no one man denied the sheer wisdom of considering that ship as their fatal weakness.

-x-x-x-

(19 November AC195, 1110 hours)  
(_Archangel_ bridge, Sanc Kingdom underground base area)

"Conn, Control, Yzak reports all camouflage netting has been removed. Ship has no obstructions for clear lift off."

"Newman, take us up slow. Once we are clear of the treetops, make your destination rally point one."

"Roger that, Captain. Levitator is coming live, bringing ship up at half power."

"Miriallia, anything?" Captain Ramius asked.

"Nothing yet, Captain. We're not close enough to sense any human minds." The disappointment in her voice was clear enough to anybody listening. The one great mystery of the coming battle was exactly how the Romafeller Foundation would go about doing the invasion, given that the _Archangel_ had seriously screwed up their OrBat (3) in Luxembourg.

"Sai, picking up anything yet?" She continued after a moment.

"They have a few air defense radars active, low-frequency long-range search radars, well below detection values even for our ship's size. Six contacts, nearest one won't be a threat until we get pretty close to rally point two. I think I have a cut to some kind of a recon plane to the southwest, but it's inside a commercial traffic lane so it might not be a threat. Nothing else worth talking about."

Murrue nodded twice, significantly impressed with the professionalism of her crew even despite the slapdash nature of their assembly or the circumstances leading up to this battle. She could feel more than she could guess that she had one of the best crews she could ever hope for, and she would readily put this crew up against anything the Earth Alliance of her homeland could ever turn out. Today would be yet another test of this crew, and though she worried about how well her battle plan would go down, she had little doubt the enemy would definitely feel their presence. Even if they lost, bleeding the enemy of two divisions of Mobile Dolls could theoretically cripple the enemy's ability to continue campaigning.

"Miriallia, status of the Strike Freedom?"

"Awaiting launch authorization, Captain."

She took a moment to dial up the Strike Freedom to speak to the pilot. "Kira, you know the plan already. We need hard intelligence on their movements as quickly as possible. The faster you get it, the better."

"If only we had another day, I could finish a sonar picket around the nation's border," Kira replied to the captain's request on his radio channel. As it stood, the Eastern, Southern and Northern borders were protected by a series of high-power sensor systems connected to the operations control center in New Port City and to the Strike Freedom. The impromptu sensor network would give them some forewarning about incoming forces; depending on how close they got to the sensors it would even cross-type the units for easier identification. This left the assumed attack vector to be covered by manned units, which from a strategic standpoint gave them the fastest reaction time to the obvious but extremely likely enemy attack vector.

"An 'if only' quandary is not a good way to start an operation; surely by now you've heard the old 'if only' joke haven't you?" She semi-teased.

"Yeah, it's one of Murdoch's favorite lines. 'If only my aunt had balls, she'd be my uncle.' The more I think about it, the more I think the family in question is pretty screwed up." The pilot's impression of Murdoch was fairly accurate, despite the extensive difference between the two.

"I don't think you are supposed to think about it, pilot. But I do think you are right, I wouldn't want to be there for Christmas dinner, it might be hazardous to my health."

"I hear that, Captain. Anything I need to be aware of?"

"Sai thinks he has a contact. May be a reconnaissance plane acting as commercial traffic. About the time you get to position, it should be right over you. If you have time, intercept and verify."

Kira tapped out a few commands on a console. "I should have plenty of time to check, intercept, and return to ground to begin sonar sweep."

"Good luck, Kira. You are authorized for launch."

-x-

Tolle stood silently by as his friend shot out of the catapult and began his Southwest track towards a suitable reconnaissance position. To an extent, it irked him that Kira was going it alone potentially in the face of an ambush or worse individually having to face off against the enemy onslaught. On the other hand, if there was any one man in the unit that ran the risk of surviving going head-to-head with a mass of Mobile Dolls, Kira was on the short list of people who could do it. He had the skills, the training, and the best equipment to do it. The rest was in the hands of whatever God was overseeing this engagement.

For the pilot of the Buster, with the beginning of the reconnaissance battle only two things remained in the forefront of his mind: the main event, and his plan to finally put to voice something he should have done quite a while ago. On the execution of the second, he had made sure that what he was about to do was kick it off with a private conversation between himself and the captain, a necessity of the plan. Kira had given him a special communications code that would route his communication signal only to the small monitor and growler phone at the captain's chair. This would prevent any spoiling of the surprise and/or any potential embarrassment from having it heard by the entire bridge staff.

After he entered the routing code, it only took a second for the captain to pick up. "Ramius," she prompted immediately.

"Buster, Tolle speaking."

"What's on your mind, Ensign?" she asked immediately.

"If she is available, I was wondering if Miriallia could come down to the hangar deck. I found an interesting little item in town that I'd like to give to her." He held up a small ring case with a rather stunning diamond ring in it where it could be seen by the camera in his cockpit.

It took about three seconds for what Tolle was requesting to properly register with Captain Ramius. Once she got the message, she smiled. "Oh I think I can see to that," she replied. "Make it quick, though. We're less than two hours from a shooting war."

"Roger that, thanks Captain." The connection lingered for a moment, then he continued. "Shall I check and see if the commander has found anything 'interesting' like this thing?"

"Your call on that one, I don't think it's necessary but verification may not hurt," Murrue replied. She had a sneaking suspicion that Commander La Flaga was working himself up towards it in the courage department; an example and/or a pep talk likely would not hurt his process. "I'll have her moving here in a moment."

"Thank you, Captain. Thank you very much."

"Bridge is out." Captain Ramius hit the link terminate button on her console.

-x-

"Miriallia, you're wanted down in the hangar deck, cubicle seven. And make it quick, we have a war to orchestrate but this is just as important."

"What? The hangar deck, Captain?" Miriallia asked with a significant amount of shock to voice.

"Serious, Miriallia. Bay seven, you will get further instructions when you get there."

"Roger that, Captain," Miriallia replied warily. In less than two seconds, she had her harness released and was moving towards the door.

Due to the geometry of the ship, and mostly due to the sheer size of the ship, the journey from the bridge to the hangar took two minutes even for a reasonably fit person jogging at a brisk clip. Still, even with the ship on full battle alert nothing slowed her progress. The one Elemental she encountered readily stepped aside and allowed her access to the hangar deck.

Once out in the hangar, it was a hard thing to correlate her otherwise measured in rational actions to the sheer chaos and bustling activity of the mechanics and catapult crews in the cavernous hold. To her it was disorienting; as an operator, she very rarely ever had a glimpse of the hangar deck during a battle alert, given that she was almost always at post in the bridge. She had a little trouble understanding how the mechanic crew survived in such an environment and retained their sanity, at least until she remembered that most of the mechanic crew was not sane by most common definitions of the word.

On the other hand, it was not particularly surprising to her to find out the present resident of Bay seven happened to be her boyfriend and his massive Gundam. It also wasn't surprising that he was presently inside said Gundam, so she simply took a parts elevator up to the machine along with a stack of ammunition that was destined for the 75 mm Vulcans in its head. In a minor violation of the rules, she hopped off the moving parts elevator on the cockpit level of gantries even as the ammunition continued its track upwards; if anybody was in the mood to give a crap that action would have been a written reprimand, but the ship operated on different rules during wartime and certain safety rules tended to go under the rug before or during times when lead was flying.

She peeked inside his cockpit, and sure enough he was sitting there looking at one of his side monitors and the information displayed on it. "Hey, Tolle, what's up?"

"Oh, hey Mir, I found something interesting in town yesterday and I figured I should give it to you before the battle today." The pilot reached up to the console and grab something that he wedged up there. It looked like a small black box, though Miriallia couldn't recognize what it would be for immediately inside his mostly-darkened cockpit. It wasn't until he used a single practiced gesture to open the box and presented it toward her did she realize she was looking at a ring box and the diamond ring inside. "Miriallia, will you marry me?"

By the operations countdown timer on his communications console, Tolle gauged it took her precisely 8 seconds to respond. "I – of course I will! I will! I will!" Tolle was expecting some manner of reaction, and he even was expecting a rather excited reaction, but he was not expecting Miriallia to dive into is cockpit to join him and embrace him. "Damn, though, your timing is horrible. You should've asked three or four days ago, I'm sure we could have found a quickie place to get married before today."

"Well, while you're here," Tolle removed the ring from the case and slipped it on her finger. "I was talking to Nicol about it, he suggested it would be best if we waited until after the shooting is over. I am thinking we could probably find a suitable church after we've beaten the hell out the Romafeller Foundation."

"I'm liking the way you're thinking." Without a further word Miriallia and Tolle shared a long kiss. It would be their last physical contact for some days.

* * *

**Author's Chapter Afterword**: Long time, no squeak...

So, long and short of my silence: remodeling, lateral transfer at work with shift changes, another lateral transfer at work with even more shift changes, a promotion at work with possible rotating shifts, some bizarre problems at work, relatives in and out of the hospital, equipment problems, source file damage, shifting priorities, contracting work, some days I should have just stayed in bed and called it quits. Strictly speaking, the first 5K words took roughly 4 months, the next 2 K words took 2 months, and the last 9K words took about 2 months. I'm not going to sit here and blow sunshine out of my ass, this chapter has been far too long in the coming, and I am proud to now be done with it and have it out for you.

On that note, MERRY CHRISTMAS! My gift to you, and my apologies for taking so damn long to get this one out of development hell.

Now that the pro forma intro is done, on to the chapter. The big thing I want to lead off with is Relena's Sudden Spine-Growth Syndrome. The dice played that one real hard, Athrun shocked her into realizing that being flattened by the Romafeller Foundation would only make things worse. A second check was required of her to make the leap of thinking to actually stand up and do something about it. There is a big difference between thinking and doing, though the dice in the sky declared 68 for the realization and 85 for the action, so she just jumped over the whole 'peace at all costs' schtick and went straight to the Relena that told the people of the world not to fear the battle with Mariemaia. You can expect her to have some second thoughts in coming chapters, but when she sees the results of her choice she may think otherwise about stopping it.

Romafeller is playing a very interesting game here. They know they can't win by going head-to-head with the Gundams, so they won't. **Necroblade**, my eternally-helpful beta reader, pointed out that a siege with hit-and-fade assaults would also work, and he is correct. The difference being that while Romafeller has all the time in the world to lay siege to the Sanc Kingdom (or so they think), they don't want to expend time and resources on a siege when they think a lightning blitz on five or six vectors will do the job. Sun Tzu speaks clear on this one: never lay siege when a target can be bypassed or defeated by other means. Last I checked, Sun Tzu is still very valid in this day and age, so...

On the personnel front, well, I'll just say what is written is what stands. Expect a good-size ceremony for Tolle and Miriallia, as the ship's crew is not likely to spare any effort in making it an occasion to remember. All I can say is it will be a serious experience for some church somewhere yet to be determined, based on the size and compliment of the crew. As to Murrue, well, I'll let the reason for her ill-fitting clothes go unstated for today. Part of it is as stated in that section, but there is almost always more to the story... Lastly, expect Sai's actions to come back to haunt the crew for some time to come. He picked up some seriously old-school bubblegum pop for the music rotation, and it will come back to haunt him.

Strictly speaking, I do not believe I have any outstanding technical matters to explain at this time. Archangel TO&E will be listed at the end of the chapter, so anyone who wanted to see the full compliment of whoopass can look below. Expect a revised Ship TRO in the next couple of chapters; I still have a possible mod or two to make to the Archangel, so I'll hold off for that decision point to ensure completeness.

Now, for the authoring points. First off, I would like to thank the myriad of readers who continue to peruse this story. As of this publishing (23 December 2011), this story now has 60,900 reads and 351 reviews. I wasn't expecting much traction on this story when I began writing, and it took a while to gain momentum, but the sheer amount of reads and reviews I have received – almost all positive – is definitely welcome. Anything you want to comment on, please do so. I can always use the ideas.

To any of you with the hallowed title of Troper, you can probably recognize that I have tossed around a few sayings from TvTropes. I have been an avid reader of TvTropes for some time, though I will be the first to admit that I don't use it for ideas so much as I use it for turns of phrase. I must admit, however, there are a lot of good ideas lurking in the site. **Mega 1987** posited a review with an interesting suggestion: he requested that anyone who knows how to add to TvTropes should add this story to the site. When I read that, I was extremely stunned that anyone would suggest such an honor as to be posited to the site.

I consider it a significant honor that I have a FanFic recommendation on TvTropes (For Legend of the Jokers Wild, no less) and a quote from said story (OC Gerald Lightbringer had a harsh one for Kira in that story's 12th chapter). To have Archangel's Amazing Adventures on that site would be a significant honor as well, though I will not make it an open request. If anyone wishes to add it, I would welcome it, but I'm unsure if a given fanfic author should be pimping his or her own works on the TvTropes site. Not sure if that counts as affair of honor / acceptable conduct on the site.

Incidentally, I am thinking about setting up Trope pages for a few of the FanFics in the Gundam SEED fandom, and will probably set up a page or two for some of the stories I beta for other writers on FFN. May also do some other work on TV Tropes; there is a whole universe of stuff to add to the site, it just takes someone with the time and motivation to do it. In particular, there is one story I can think of that needs more love...

That's all for today. Work beckons; I must begin my preparations...

**NEXT UP**: The Sanc Kingdom goes head to head with the Romafeller Foundation. Sound and Fury will signify something before the day is up. Shadows move from around the world to join the efforts for peace and freedom, leaving one to wonder: who is ally, who is foe?

* * *

**Review Replies**: A total of 28 reviews plus a slew of PM conversations came in since I posted chapter 33 some months ago. Even more surprising is the sheer numbers of reads that I received in the 8 months since I posted the last chapter; more than 10,000 hits in 240 days.

As always, I reply in the order that they were received, and though I responded to each question initially my answers now may be slightly different.

**Evil Manic X**: The Archangel is capable of exceeding 4.5 gravity continual thrust for extended periods of time (weeks, on a full fuel tank). Maneuver options are limited only by the size of the ship.

As to Epyon, well, I'll hold that surprise in abeyance for the next chapter or two.

**Takeshi Yamato**: The ECM capabilities of the Aquarius won't last forever; Nicol is facing off against a whole army of electronic warfare specialists, and it is only a matter of time before he slips up and someone gets an opening on him.

I hope I wasn't 'teasing' anyone on the relationship action in this chapter :)

On the Fire Emblem series, all I can say is probably not. I don't have access to any of the FE games, and I won't piss on a fandom by trying to fake it. Not on my watch. (NOTE TO BATTLETECH PURISTS: The BT section was based on the cartoon, which is readily available to anyone who looks, and I have been at BT4 gamer for over a decade. Any inconsistencies with the novels were not deliberate unless I stated so.)

JW2 chapter 3 and MMC chapter 11 have begun writing at this time. Stay tuned for a lot of action to come on all fronts. And where is that OC IJA defector you were talking about? The more material, the better!

**Knives 91**: Antimatter is one of life's little 'problem-solving tools' that you just shouldn't leave home without. Of course, have Positron Cannon, will travel :) Cruise missiles are a possible static upgrade, in addition to the beam cannons added to the ship for AA / AG defense, it would be a wise addition.

**One Village Idiot**: I need to point out that all the official Gundam material says that Virgo MD units are Gundanium armored. That being said, much like any form of armor in Gundam, it is VSPA: **V**ariable **S**trength **P**lot **A**rmor. The Entire Gundam franchise is inconsistent on how effective armor really is, so I have to rationalize it somehow, and I use real-world (or close to it) damage models, so...

On their MD drops, I'll be showing you that angle in the coming chapter. It won't be pretty.

**Knightowl 4183**: I went over this in PM, but the weapon is considered a ballistic weapon in canon. Additionally, its effect is mostly ballistic in show, so that is the way I go with it.

On the certain fic authors insisting that certain not-so-gay characters actually are gay, the only rationale I can put to that is wishful thinking and personal projection. With zero hard evidence to back up their claims and only very thin circumstantial evidence, any theory they put forth on this subject would get them laughed out of a court if they tried prosecuting it. Hell, any of the common 'evidence' they use has a far more common and easily plausible explanation that actually makes sense without having to do mental acrobatics to come to that conclusion.

**Flawless Cowboy 2552**: My apologies for this delay, my notes section above details what I've been through in recent months. It ain't been pretty, but I do not surrender.

I don't think the Phase Shift armor is powered from a central point, since military units are designed to avoid a single point of failure. I think it has a generator for each section of the suit or possibly a small generator for each individual plate section. The rest of your ideas I've covered in PM.

**C0dy88**: The Perv gets to anyone in short range to the pervos, but to someone who is psionically sensitive such as Quatre, it gets him at an even more extended range.

You are technically correct on the shape charges, I was oversimplifying them when describing for my end-chapter notes. I'll just say QUOTED FOR TRUTH on your explanation at this point.

By technicality, the Archangel does have its own resource gathering and processing abilities...that it hasn't put to that use as of yet. You will see them in action, though, never fear on that note.

As to going places where the Archangel and mobile army machines aren't _needed_, well, there might be a few of those. Keep in mind, though, it may not be _needed_, but it may be _helpful_...

**Manta Arms 1989**: I am actually working on a to-be-published book just as much as I am working on Fanfic.

Sorry for the delay in writing, but as I explained in notes, I've gone through a lot of crap recently.

**Rabe Adler**: You have a perfectly valid point with the Valiant cannons, and I think Chandratta may have to demonstrate what you are talking about...

**Deathzealot**: As I said before, any comedy elements in the story are plausibly deniable and Stravag is not responsible for equipment damage resulting from discharged drink.

Pytor and the Maganac units will be playing a pivotal role in this coming chapter. They will get some serious screen time, just as will the Elementals. I think I can demonstrate why the Inner Sphere 'mechwarriors learned to fear them...

Next chapter of JW2 is in wiriting. Stay tuned!

**Lord Sia**: There is some delicious irony to what ideas you mention. I may need to review those possibilities...

**Mega 1987 (Repeat Anon Review)**: That was a little more than a run-of-the-mill pr0n nosebleed, amigo. He got the mental side of two men's and two women's bedtime experience, so basically it was like he was experiencing four persons at once. I don't think there is a being in Existence (even my wildly screwed up rendition of Existence) that could take that kind of mental punishment.

On your TVTropes thing, well, your request earned a place in my notes section above. 'Nuff said.

**Fraser Mage**: Aegis is down, but no loss is going to keep the Archangel down forever. You just can't stop 385,000 tons of raw determination.

**DHWG Dragonblade**: Fear not of your English skills, I am a computer technician by trade and can understand just about any form of English you throw at me.

On Treize, that issue will come to a head in the next couple chapters. Trust me.

**Gulping (Anon Review)**: As the Fire Emblem suggestion above, I don't have any of the SRW games and I won't piss on the series by trying to fake it. I have heard they are good games, though, so I may look into them.

**Avtar Angel**: I believe this is a first review, so welcome to the party :)

You are right on the engine output exceeding the resistance hindering them from escaping atmospheres. The engine output is consistent and maxes out at 4.5 Gravity continual acceleration. Trans-planetary flight is easily possible for the Archangel, if they had a reason to go the distance.

**Etienne Of The West Wind**: Oh, I'm sure he has a few good contingency plans...

**Strata Assassin**: I don't think the Author Notes take up half a chapter...okay, maybe a goodly portion. There is quite a bit of meat to them, though, so...

Expect the fact that they are continually fighting to start burning them out shortly. Crew fatigue will eat someone up eventually, and it is only a matter of time before you start seeing it here.

Newman is the resident sniper / ship's pilot. It may be a while, but given the happenings of this chapter he may have to take Heero out to the range for some friendly competition...

Treize is definitely not through, so hold on to that thought. He will get some serious mileage, as will Dorothy Catalonia and Zechs. Haven't even introduced Zechs yet...

**Nylana Lily**: Another first review, welcome to the party!

Killing Dearka like that was a tough one, but I do let the dice do the talking, and I listen to my dice when I write. Sometimes, chance is not a friend to the major characters, but everyone can press on if they want to. I try to minimize the chances that a character takes, but it isn't always that simple. Next chapter will prove that.

Zoids is a possible, and it is on the list. Not sure which subdiv of the series I would want to do, though probably not as tournament fighters. The Archangel Team would mop floor against competition duelists, having slogged their way through some pretty serious outright wars...

**Skywalker T-65**: I believe this is another first review, so welcome to ye as well :) Also a SW fan, kudos to the old-school ref :)

Libra versus Archangel is a possible battle at this time, Barge versus Archangel is an even more probable battle. I can't pass up this kind of naval action and call myself a Gundam Analyst, so you can expect some SERIOUS space warfare to come...

**Hellhound DOW**: Thanks for the paygrade info. Internet sources aren't all that reliable, so...

**Anon Dude (Seriously ANON, he didn't even include a name!)**: FMP is an interesting thought, and it is on my list of series to see sometime soon, so...

**NEB Sparky 86**: Oh yes, I will keep it up. Now that I have a more thorough plan for writing, and a kickass writing tool in voice recognition software, I can get some serious mileage. It just takes a lot of work to get voice recognition to work right with my old-school phrasing and modern military concepts.

**Gregory T. O'Haver**: The real world comes with all manner of limitations, and I try to write as close to real-world application as possible.

Welcome to the series, Gregory. The fun is just getting started :)

**NEB Sparky 86 (Review 2)**: UC Gundam is pretty high on the list of possibles, definitely since this a primarily Gundam crossover. On reviving the Strike, I dunno, depends on whether or not someone thinks of it and it is approved.

**Devil Dog**: Welcome to the party, amigo. New Strike Packs are a possible, and the Strike Freedom MP has the capability of mounting the packs, so there is motivation. I'm thinking possibly the Serpent as a model for a new pack, given its flexible arsenal, but Heavyarms would also make for a damn good slayer...

**Axccel**: Another first review, I seem to have picked up a lot of greenhorns this chapter. More is the better, and welcome to the fun house!

Sorry for the delay on this chapter, but circumstance and time make for a hellish pair of enemies. I'm hoping the next chapter isn't delayed by remodeling, job shifts and crazy crap.

**THANK YOU ALL FOR THE REVIEWS**! The more, the merrier, and the more gasoline is added to the bonfire! Of course, with the inferno to come in the next chapter, there will be much need for gasoline, so keep it coming!

* * *

The Gripe Sheet: No gripes, no problem. Much thanks to my beta readers **Strata-Assassin** and **Necroblade** for the assistance.

* * *

Footnotes:

(1): **S**and **T**able **E**xercise

(2): **B**oundary **L**ine South

(3): **Or**der Of **Bat**tle, a listing of forces to be used in a given campaign or battle.

* * *

ARCHANGEL TEAM TABLE OF ORGANIZATION AND EQUIPMENT

1- WARSHIP ARCHANGEL (Captain Murrue Ramius)

1A- Archangel Mobile Forces (Archangel Team) (Commander Mu La Flaga)  
1A1- Mobile Suit Division  
—1A1a: Strike Gundam (KIA)  
—1A1b: Aegis Gundam (KIA)  
—1A1c: Buster Gundam (Ensign Tolle Koenig)  
—1A1d: Blitz Gundam (KIA)  
—1A1e: Duel Gundam (Pilot / Ensign Yzak Joule)  
—1A1f: 105 Dagger (Lieutenant Morgan Chevalier) (voluntary demotion)  
—1A1g: Strike Freedom (Lieutenant Kira Yamato)  
—1A1h: GuAIZ (Unused)  
—1A1i: GuAIZ (Unused)  
—1A1j: Gundam Aquarius (Pilot / Ensign Nicol Amalfi)  
—1A1k: Gundam Mercurius (Pilot / Lieutenant Athrun Zala) (Unofficial Section Leader below La Flaga)  
—1A1l: Gundam Vayeate (Mechwarrior / Petty Officer Pytor)  
1A2- Battlemech Division  
—1A2a: Timber Wolf (Mad Cat) (used by Mu La Flaga when not in Skygrasper)  
—1A2b: Stormcrow (Ryoken) (KIA)  
—1A2c: Mad Dog (Vulture) (KIA)  
—1A2d: Warhawk (Masakari) (Unused)  
—1A2e: Stone Rhino (Unused)  
1A3- Rune God Division  
—1A3a: Rayearth (Magic Knight Hikaru Shidou)  
—1A3b: Windam (Magic Knight Fuu Hououji)  
—1A3c: Selesce (Magic Knight Umi Ryuuzaki)  
1A4- Air Support Division  
—1A4a: Skygrasper 1 (used by Mu La Flaga when not using Timber Wolf)  
—1A4b: Skygrasper 2 (KIA)  
1A5- Ground Support Division  
—1A5a: Light vehicles section (20)  
—1A5b: Heavy Vehicles Section (Transports, low-boys) (10)  
—1A5c: Mobile Field Base vehicle (1) (unused in story so far)

1B- Archangel Ground Forces  
1B1- Reserve Marines  
—1B1a: 1 platoon (Ship's crew)  
—1B1b: 1 platoon (Murdoch's Madmen)  
—1B1c: 1 platoon (Engineers)  
—1B1d: 1 platoon (Gomer's Gophers)  
1B2- Elementals (2 points / 10 troopers)  
1B3- Magitek Reserve (20 units, all HeavyArmr)  
1B4- Special Operations  
—1B4a: Assault Element (7 men)  
—1B4b: Sniper Element (1 sniper)  
—1B4c: Tonberry Reserve (10 Tonberry, 1 Tonberry King)


	35. By Any Means Necessary

(Archangel's Amazing Adventures, Section 4, Chapter 6: By Any Means Necessary)

(19 November AC195, 1145 hours)  
(Recon Point 1, western border of Sanc Kingdom)

"_Archangel_, Kira, on station at Recon Point 1, requesting vector to known contact."

"Kira, _Archangel_," Miriallia replied immediately. "Contact one possible ELINT or AWACS flight vector 0-3-0 altitude 6500 meters AGL (1). It's inside a commercial traffic lane, you'll need to get close and verify it. Probably physically wake them up, see if you can't scare them off."

"I'll see what I can do, but I'm not sure how much play I have here," Kira answered after a moment of contemplating it. "If they're in a commercial air route, with a legit flight plan, I don't think...am I even close here?" Kira asked in something of a daze. International airways law was not something he studied in depth in his school days, lo those years ago, not to mention he was on a completely different _planet_, and anything he thought he knew on the subject would not likely have been accurate.

"Sanc Kingdom does not allow any military aircraft from foreign powers to fly over our territory except by direct authorization," Commander Noin answered for Miriallia, who was just as lost on the subject as the pilot. "We have not issued any authorizations in over a month. If it is a military craft, it is in our skies in direct violation of air travel laws."

"Roger that," Kira responded. "Strike Freedom moving to intercept. Estimate 90 seconds to contact."

Kira consciously did not put on his full thrust or maneuverability to close with the enemy craft, mainly because he didn't want the enemies to get a clear read on the performance abilities of his machine. Even at half airspeed, closing with the rogue ELINT plane was dead simple. It was also painfully obvious to the Gundam what it was looking at.

"Kira, craft identified by silhouette as RC-135 Rivet Joint ELINT and SIGINT aircraft. That's not a commercial bird," the Gundam's artificial intelligence system declared.

Kira hit his radio button. "Command, Freedom, verified threat is RC-135 ELINT craft. I'm going in to shake 'em awake now."

-x-

"Flight Deck, RAVEN Lead, we have possible activity close aboard by SIGINT. Is there anything in our airspace?" the Intelligence Chief asked the pilot of the RC-135 over the intercom.

"RAVEN, Deck, I'm not seeing anything in our immediate vicinity. Do you have a bearing?"

"Possible behind, possible below, hard to pin this sucker down," the Intel Chief noted.

"You have a type?"

"Unknown, heavy-encrypt traffic on multiple frequency-hopping band sets. Whatever it is, they don't want to be heard."

"Do you have a line on their warship?" the pilot asked, clearly (and rightfully) deathly afraid of blundering into the ADA dome of the nightmarish white ship. They were not in a fighter plane, and pretty much a single good hit from any weapon system would tear apart the old United States electronic warfare relic they were flying in.

"Nothing clear, but some heavy sensor sets to the east. Could be them, could be something else." The Intel Chief had hedged his bets for the recorder by phrasing, but his tone told the pilot that he wasn't worried about what his staff was detecting.

"Keep an eye on — HOLY SHIT!"

In terms of prompting, a pilot shouting surprise epithets on the intercom ranked very high on the sphincter scale for anyone listening in. In this case, the Intel Chief took only five seconds to bound up a staircase and he was on the flight deck. It took a further three seconds for the Intel Chief to locate the source of their angst. "Is that —"

"Attention Romefeller Foundation RC-135 in Sanc Kingdom Airspace, you are in violation of sovereign territory. You are advised to depart airspace heading 2-7-5 immediately or you will be downed. You have 3-0 seconds to comply."

"Not good," the pilot said with a clear hint of worry to tone. "Here's your contact behind or below us, RAVEN. What now?"

"If they're offering us a chance to run, take it," the Intel Chief replied immediately. "I know what the mission orders are, but I don't think any of us are here to provide an excuse to invade, follow?"

"I roger that," the pilot answered emphatically. Romefeller was not paying him enough to give them an easy casus belli. He reached up to the overhead console and changed radio channel sets. "Sanc Kingdom Gundam, this is RC-135. We acknowledge order to depart airspace and will comply. Check left, setting heading to 2-7-5 to depart. Have a nice day, Gundam."

-x-

"Command, Strike Freedom, ELINT craft is headed away from Sanc Kingdom territory," Kira reported after the pilot settled down on the ordered course.

"One less set of eyes," Miriallia sighed. "Kira, begin your recon, we'll go on your results."

"Got it," Kira said. "Beginning sensor sweeps in ten seconds."

After landing on a hill he picked out for the purpose of a clear line of sight, his machine dropped to one knee and speared its fingers into the soft ground below. It took a few seconds for the SAPS (2) to filter out background noise and seismic anomalies, leaving only the sounds of mechanical devices to sort through. Some of these mechanical contacts were easily filtered out — the turbines of a nuclear power plant were not likely to pose a threat to a 380,000-ton multipurpose warship, after all. Some contacts were on the wrong bearings to be anything but civilians — New Port City had a lot of civilian vehicle traffic, though a clever enemy would drop Mobile Suits off the shore of the city and march in through the shallows. After several more passes through SAPS, the only signal left for the system was Mobile Suit traffic. After receiving a clear cut to the enemy formations, all that remained was to count and triangulate the contacts.

It would be several minutes before Kira had the information he needed, and altogether dreaded. The SONAR systems in his Gundam's sensor suite had near-continental ranges and accuracy, and at closer ranges (within 1000 kilometers) could accurately place locations and movements of anything detected. As the AI unit in his machine detected units, it began displaying formations, directions of advance, and enemy numbers. "Command, Kira," he began, but hesitated after the final count came up.

"Kira, Command, read five by five," Miriallia prompted, wondering why he hesitated after beginning his transmission.

"Count two enemy axis of advance at this time, total of 1 brigade enemy force. Uploading sensor picture to CIC now."

"Understood, Kira," Captain Ramius answered for Miriallia. "Continue tracking until your position becomes untenable, then return to the ship. We'll work out how to bring them down on the fly."

-x-x-x-

(19 November AC195, 1205 hours)  
(Forests west of Sanc Kingdom border, Headquarters Section, Task Force Black Mace)

"Kessler, Whyune," the second ranking officer in the formation prompted on the command net.

"Go, Tania," Viscount Kessler replied immediately.

"2 Brigade is on the move. I had the regiments jump off at the same time but by terrain it's going to come down to a ladder-north pattern. Should I delay my southern fronts to compensate?"

Jacob did not immediately respond to her advisement but simply looked over his maps. A ladder-north strike pattern would mean that the southernmost forces would be in combat first, with units successively engaging in battle farther north as time advanced. In a classic showing of arcane principle dictating modern warfare thinking, the term 'ladder-north' dated back to the Cold War, as it described the way nuclear missiles would hit the ground to avoid fratricide by flying through each other's debris cloud

"Tania, what's the book on this Ramius lady? Hothead, even-keel, airhead, what?"

"Aggressive but highly-disciplined. Some of our analysts think she fits the 'mama bear' type as well," Lady Whyune replied evenly.

"Do not delay your southern fronts. If she fits her book, she'll begin moving forces south in anticipation of that being our primary effort, which allows us to hit her from the north without issue."

"Understood. Should I plan on doing the same with my other brigades?"

That question became more of a judgment call than the first one. They enemy was likely to fall for the trick the first time, but it would not take them long to wise up to it. Repeat offenses would be handled differently, possibly even with timed counterattacks or preemptive strikes. The book (intelligence reporting) on Ramius may have put her as hot-headed, possibly even the 'mama bear' of the Sanc Kingdom defenses, but nowhere in that assessment did it call her stupid or foolhardy. It was extremely unlikely she would make the same mistake twice.

"Negative, Tania. She'll not fall for that one twice," Kessler gave voice to his own analysis of the coming conflict. "Have your other regiments hit the point of departure simultaneously or as near to it as humanly possible. We want massed firepower on their defenses as much as possible, but the first thrust gives us a chance to string out their assets into smaller formations."

"Understood, Jacob," Lady Whyune answered after she considered the logistics of what her commander intended.

"Do you have any other reports at this time?"

"No further reports or intelligence. I will keep you posted as we encounter enemy forces."

"Understood. Kessler is out."

In response to his changing orders, the map officer shifted around the miniatures that represented individual regiments and squadrons in the map table used to control the invasion of the Sanc Kingdom. With two simple orders, he changed the entire tempo of the invasion. Only time would tell if such changes were to his benefit or his demise.

"Mike, any sign of the enemy warship?" Kessler asked after a few moments of contemplating his positions and axis of advance.

"Possible sensor detection from enemy warship, triangulation puts it north and slightly east of New Port City, sir," his primary ELINT controller answered immediately. "Also, sir, I think I have something unusual here. Possible contact with some kind of forward recon asset transmitting on encrypted bands, but it may be ground-bound."

"Not much of a recon posting, if that other yellow plot is what you think it is," Viscount Kessler mused. "That whole area is forest, they would have extremely limited visibility even if they were on localized high-ground."

"That's the thing, sir. It doesn't make a bloody bit of sense for a recon unit to be sitting in wall-to-wall trees with their thumbs up their butts, but ELINT says there is something there with a, erm, I'll quote the signals analyst here for brevity: 'fucking huge bandwidth oh-my-god radiohax' if that makes any bit of sense to you, sir." That Captain Mike had read the SigAnt description with a straight face was testament to the sheer insanity of the entire campaign.

Kessler took in hand the analysis sheet from Mike, and read over the portion described by the Captain. It did indeed say what he quoted, which almost caused Kessler to giggle at the complete lack of standardization...or descriptive discipline. "Okay, we have an unknown recon asset of dubious effectiveness, and we have the warship itself. What do we do about it?"

"Send a platoon of Taurus units to deal with the recon boy, hit 'em at range with space lasers," his operations officer said. "Should we send a unit of Mobile Dolls with to reinforce?"

"Yes," Kessler mused, thinking while staring at the map. "We can possibly divert enemy assets into that area and trap them between the movement axis of two of our regiments."

.-x-x-x-

"Conn, sensors, reporting feed from Strike Freedom is active and showing all enemy formations. It looks like this southernmost attack vector is spread out due to terrain, but the northern attack vectors are all grouped together."

"Sensors, aye," Murrue replied immediately. "Miriallia, status of forces?"

"Us or Kingdom forces?" Miriallia asked in response, since effectively she was the controller for both forces at this time.

"Both," Murrue requested after a second's hesitation. "Or, is it really that bad?" she asked cautiously, dreading the inevitable answer even so.

"It's bad," Miriallia replied. "Right now, Sanc Kingdom Tac-Com is busy having kittens all over the radio band. The Maganac forces and the northern guard have already authenticated to us for command."

"Interesting way to put it," Commander La Flaga said over the radio with an ironic tone.

"Political hacks, suddenly ass-deep in a bad situation," Yzak griped on the radio. "I was anticipating this, but I wasn't anticipating it before a single shot was fired."

"Oh my," Fuu said by way of Windam translating her normal semi-telepathy to radio transmission. "Can we make it without the central command section?"

"It won't be any easier," Kira answered. "Captain, we may have to strike preemptively. I show two regiments on the move from the north now."

For Murrue, this decision was not as simple as the military necessity would seem to be. The major problem was political; fire too soon, the enemy could use that as propaganda to reinforce their position with the civilians. Fire too late, the impact was less effective over time due to less time for long-range bombardment before close combat had to be used. The proper balance between both factors, at least in Murrue's purview, was the border itself.

"Kira, have any enemy forces passed the border yet? Is the invasion official?" Murrue asked.

"Checking now," Kira answered. His report was ten seconds in the coming: "Confirmed, enemy lead elements on the southern front are half a kilometer inside the Sanc Kingdom and pushing forward. It's official."

"Chandratta, prepare missiles for long-range support fire," Murrue ordered.

"Already ahead of you, Captain, but I think we have another option as well," the gunnery officer confirmed his position.

Murrue grimaced, unseen by the rest of the bridge crew. "What do you mean?"

"Yzak, with a little debug help from Athrun and Kira, has written a new targeting interface for my console, allowing me to use the direct-fire weapons as indirect fire support. Mainly for the Valiants, but it is also usable at long range with the gauss rifles, autocannons, and Igelstellungs."

"Has it been tested?" Murrue asked warily.

"Simulated out, it hasn't crashed the mainframe systems yet." Chandratta hedged his position with near-complete confidence. "I'm only suggesting this right now because using the Valiants as mortar-style KEWs (3) would save the missiles for in close...and we need more missiles."

"I noticed," Murrue groused. Since they left Vector, there had been no resupply for the _Archangel _- and prior battles had forced the expenditure of over half the missile stock of the ship. The growth of the ship had increased the magazine size for the launchers, but adding storage space to an already-half-empty ammo magazine did not give you more ready missiles to use in common practice. "All right, you have authorization. Use the Valiants, but keep the missiles ready just in case."

"Roger that, uncaging Valiants now," Chandratta reported as his hands danced across the control panel. "Valiants are open, targeting systems are online now. Stand by," the weapons officer gave a running monologue of his actions.

"Fire three salvos, let's see how well it does. Miriallia, have Kira track those shells and do a damage assessment after impact."

"Kira, Command, can you verify shot placement from where you are?" Miriallia relayed the Captain's orders.

"I'm on it," Kira replied immediately. "Does the Captain want a kill count on the hits, as well?" he asked after a few moments.

"Roger that," Miriallia answered.

"Fire one," Chandratta said. It was fifteen seconds before he declared "Fire two," and another fifteen before "Fire three," before he stood down the guns to cool off.

"I confirm six rounds in the air," Kira said from his scouting position. "Good track, shells headed for southern fronts. Forested area, we'll lose some impact from the slugs."

"Splash in ten," Chandratta noted as his own systems did estimation on impact of the rounds aloft. "Five seconds." In the interim, he ran a check on a secondary system that he figured he would need soon. "Splash now."

"Two hits," Kira responded. "Four hits," he reported fifteen seconds later. "Six hits, stand by for damage assessment."

"Moment of truth," Sai said to nobody in particular.

"Confirmed two Mobile Dolls downed, one crippled but still mobile," Kira reported. "Look like Yzak's code is spot on."

"I hope it is, that program has maxed out available quantum computing power," Sai reported.

"Is this going to be a problem, Sai?" Murrue asked plainly.

"We'll lose long-range sensor effectiveness temporarily while the program spikes the mainframes," he estimated, given how much it had cost him in sensor range to fire the first shots. "Beyond that, I can't guess what it will do."

This decision - continue using the long-range fire program or restore normal functions - was a bit easier for Murrue to decide. Killing these soulless Mobile Dolls at range was a hell of a lot better than trying to knife-fight them. "Chandratta, continue long-range bombardment at a slower fire rate until enemy forces approach within direct fire envelope."

"Roger that, Captain," the weapons officer said with clear trepidation. "Kira, Chandratta, do you need any support fire at this time?"

"Yes, sir, looks like I have about a company of enemy forces headed right for me. I think someone doesn't like me today."

-x-x-x-

(19 November AC195, 1215 hours)  
(Second Southern Front, Sanc Kingdom Western Border)

In another one of Murphy's little 'modifications' of the battle plan, the relayed order to Lady Whyune to challenge the recon asset did not include the request to use Taurus machines with space lasers. Thus, Lady Whyune sent one of her more reliable and skilled Leo teams with a company of Mobile Dolls to do the job.

"Lady Whyune, Captain Torgue, reporting I have crossed the line of departure. Estimate contact with enemy recon asset in 90 seconds."

"Captain, be careful," his commander told him sincerely. "We don't know what kind of asset they have doing recon, but if it is one of their mobile weapons, it will be extremely dangerous."

"Understood, Lady Whyune. 75 seconds to contact. Going silent now, wish me luck."

When the comm screen cut out, Captain Torgue began looking up and around in the general direction of the unknown enemy recon unit. "My unit, radio silence until we engage. Mobile Dolls, advance on line and search for enemy machines. Engage and destroy all encountered enemy forces."

The half-dozen Leo Mobile Suits stopped in their tracks, allowing the Virgo Mobile Dolls to move forward and begin their search. For what it was worth, each of the Leo machines were equipped with the best beam weapons available to Oz for their model - the standard beam rifle paired with heavy shoulder-mounted beam cannons. Against a lower-power Mobile Suit, the beam cannons alone could chop it down to size; the operational hope was that six Leos and a company of Mobile Dolls with overcharged beam cannons could chop down one enemy Gundam.

Captain Torgue thought he heard some manner of whistling sound, but passed it off. It was only in the movies that one heard artillery incoming by way of some manner of whistling; in real life, the lightest artillery used by Oz or the Earth Alliance left the gunbarrel at roughly mach eight — _eight_ times the speed of sound — and still was moving mach two (twice the speed of sound) by the time it hit the ground. The shell would literally hit the target before the sound of its flight arrived at the target. It was a phenomenon not uncommon on the battlefield: snipers as far back as World War Two took advantage of the same principle to surprise their targets, given that most of the battle rifles of the era were easily supersonic weapons and it only took ~75 yards for the bullet to outpace the sonic boom it made.

"You hearing that, sir?" a Lieutenant asked.

"I am. Someone have a pneumatic leak?" Torgue countered. It was rare, but hardly impossible to pick up someone else's machine suffering a high-pressure air leak using their external sound sensors.

"Nope," the same lieutenant answered immediately. His other four subordinates chimed in after a few to report no pneumatic their machines.

"Then what is that whistling sound?" his most junior officer asked. "Artillery?"

"Don't be daft. You'll never hear the sound of artillery in flight, they hit the ground supersonic and still outrunning the sound they make," The platoon sergeant for the manned MS answered coldly.

Their assessment of it not being artillery was only partially correct. Common field artillery weapons did loft their projectiles at such speeds that they still struck the ground supersonic. The _Archangel_, however, was using a relatively high-velocity weapon - only twelve times the speed of sound at muzzle - though the flight time the projectile had was ample that the Valiant slugs fell below the speed of sound on their way down from their high arc. Bluntly stated, they could be heard by forces on the ground as they came down from their mortar-style arc.

A second after the Sergeant made his pronouncement, the Mobile Dolls directly in front of him were shredded apart by the incoming projectiles. The strikes were purely kinetic, owing their damage to some very large object simply slamming into the Mobile Dolls and hammering them into scrap. In one case this simply left wreckage all over the place; in the other case, the engine in the Virgo detonated sympathetically from catastrophic shielding breach. The vented plasma fireball from the second machine gave off the same blast effect as 6500 pounds of TNT, an impressive blast that took out several more Virgo Mobile Dolls and knocked the manned machines down.

"What the hell was that?" one of the rookies asked.

"That was a reactor explosion, jackass, something hit and destroyed one of the Mobile Dolls," the Sergeant grumbled as he levered his Leo to standing. "Captain, you all right?"

"I'll live, but my Leo is trashed," Torgue replied blearily. "Gimme a second to bandage this gash on my face. What's left, Sergeant?"

"Me, two of the boys, and roughly half our Mobile Dolls, sir." It was obvious from the wreckage of the lead Leo that the Captain would have a letter to write after this battle was concluded. Two others were clearly crippled, one having lost most of a leg and the other had lost its head and shoulders. How the reactor in that Leo had not detonated, the Sergeant could not guess.

"All right, reorganize and spread out our forces. I don't want another reactor cookoff to do that much damage to us again."

"Wha — OH SHIT! It's a Gundam!" the unit rookie shouted. "Captain, Gundam to our fro-" he did not complete the sentence before his machine was downed by a pair of beam rifle shots to the torso. Neither shot struck the all-important reactor, but nobody maintained illusions that his machine was still in the fight.

"Sergeant! Get the men out of —" Captain Torgue was stopped cold as the lifeless Leo piloted by his sergeant slammed into the ground next to his own Leo. "Not good."

Torgue took a few moments to clear out of his downed Leo by way of the emergency escape handle, though the few seconds changed the course of the battle even further into the deepest recesses of futility. The Gundam in question — it was one of the Archangel's Gundams, the large white one — was using vulcan machine cannons and a pair of hip-mounted rail guns to bring down the Virgo Mobile Dolls. It wasn't so much that one or two shots of rail gun or a burst of machine cannon would knock down a single machine, but how quickly the pilot was mulching the Mobile Dolls. In months past, it took dozens of Leos several minutes of fighting to bring down one Virgo, and often at cost of most of their strength. This one machine was killing a Virgo roughly every three seconds while defending against shots from the other machines, a testament to the skill of the pilot and the power of his Gundam.

"I thought this was supposed to be a recon asset," the sergeant griped over the radio. "Who knew we'd blunder into the hunting patch of a Gundam?"

"Not I," Captain Torgue sighed. The last of the Virgo machines went down in the seconds thereafter, hammered by high-velocity rail guns. "I'm going to play a hunch here. You listening, Gundam pilot?"

"I have been," the pilot answered as the Gundam turned to look at him. Face-on and not moving. Torgue could tell this machine was of extremely-different construction from the Colony Gundams that had been terrorizing Oz for months.

"What's your stake in this game? I mean, the Archangel Team, that is," Torgue asked.

"You were right the first time, as well," Kira answered. "The Archangel Team is in it for stopping Romefeller before they do something stupid or omnicidal. I, personally, am in this because I don't like aristocrats, I don't like bullies, and I don't like people shooting at me. That's three strikes in my book, so you're out." Torgue reacted with a jolt, thinking he might have to face the guns of a Gundam on foot. "Don't worry, I won't shoot someone unless they can actually harm me, and without your machines you're out of the game. Hitch a ride to somewhere and get lost, before any more fire support comes down through here."

Without a further word, the Gundam jumped off with impressive speed and dropped into the forest somewhere west of the battlefield.

-x-x-x-

(19 November AC195, 1220 hours)  
(Second Southern Front, Sanc Kingdom Western Border)

"How shall we start?" Fuu asked of the other two Magic Knights.

"Hit them with magic attacks, then come in behind with swords and clean up?" Umi posed as one suggestion.

"I'm not seeing any other choice," Hikaru reluctantly confirmed after a few moments. "We'll do fire on the left, wind in the center, water on the right - don't want to mix a fire and water attack, that won't work well."

"I got it," Umi declared. "Say when."

"Rayearth? Any recommendations?" Hikaru asked after a moment, given that the enemy would be primarily shooting at the Rune Gods, and the Magic Knights only by extension.

_This is the only effective plan at this time_, the Rune God confirmed. _The enemy outnumbers us to a degree where elegant solutions are not usable_.

"Rayearth says no other options, guys," Hikaru noted with a dour tone of voice. "Plan on hitting them in ten seconds."

It was seven seconds before the Magic Knights began their offensive, to make sure their attacks were timed for best effect. "_**Inferno Shell**_!" Hikaru chanted, aiming forward of her with her mind to where the enemy was supposed to be.

"_**Whirlwind of Blades**_!" Fuu chanted at the same time.

"_**Hurricane of Ice Shards**_!" Umi completed the series a mere second after the other two.

With magic of the scale intended, each spell took a handful of seconds to initiate, but in less than a sixth of a minute the destruction was in full effect. Hikaru's choice of spell was a single attack, albeit massively powerful, and had no control options. Once the shell dissipated all that remained was slag and char, nothing of note and nothing capable of resisting.

For Umi and Fuu, each spell had a duration of effect and could be directed with the assistance of the Rune Gods. Naturally, the two Magic Knights moved the massive bulwarks of destruction directly through the enemy column, aiming for as many manned and unmanned Mobile Suits as could be shredded by their spellcraft. On the left flank, the blades in the wind tornado chopped the Mobile Dolls into smaller and smaller bits of salvage, to eventually throw the detritus far and wide around the forests of northern Europe. To the right, the hurricane of ice picked up a Mobile Doll and skewered it with meter-long rods of ice moving at tornadic speeds, damage to which even a Mobile Doll was not designed to withstand for long.

After a bare sixty seconds, the first phase of the destruction was done. A total of four companies of Mobile Dolls had been scattered around the forest to be picked up later. Given the possibility of civilians in the area, it had been decided before the battle that area-clearing attacks would be minimized unless absolutely needed. _The destruction is wrought, Magic Knights. Let us close for hand-to-hand battle_, Windam declared by telepathy and with the utmost of gravity. Nobody maintained illusions on this matter: three Rune Gods could take out a Regiment of Mobile Dolls (168) and manned Mobile Suits (42), but it would be painful for everyone involved.

"Ready to go," Umi acknowledged a second after Windam's recommendation.

"Let's do it." Hikaru lead the charge off herself, shield forward as she dodged between trees toward their swath of destruction.

The spells had begun their damage some several hundred meters ahead of the Rune Gods, and moved progressively away from their position. With a swift sprint forward, the three Rune Gods emerged into the area they had cleared with their magic attacks to find what exactly they had done. "What terrible price," Fuu lamented as Windam vaulted over the shredded and charred torso of a Leo land MS.

"Someone has to pay for this," Hikaru replied, though even her voice was tinged with sympathy.

"Emerging enemy units, a kilometer ahead," Umi indicated where by the point of her sword.

"Head for the forest to the sides!" Hikaru changed the plan immediately. "If we charge this field, they'll shred us! Use the trees as cover!"

"Right!" Fuu immediately bolted left with Umi, a scant two paces behind Rayearth. Hikaru's change in plans was timely; the advancing column of Mobile Dolls had definitely recognized them as hostile and began firing on them at a kilometer's distance. The wreckage of trees and machines between the enemy and the Rune Gods absorbed their fire, but a few beams came close enough to get the attention of the Magic Knights.

"We'll run half a kilometer forward and turn in on their side," Umi judged.

"We should be close enough, I hope," Fuu voiced her fears of being caught in the open and a lot closer to the enemy.

"We will be," Hikaru put in her opinion to voice on the assumption that the enemy would continue their advance.

Umi ended up taking the lead due mostly to the variance in the trees, though she didn't realize that Rayearth and Windam had fallen behind her to a significant extent. When she emerged from the forest and into the side of the enemy column, wholly half their guns were oriented in her general direction, the other half were aimed forward of their advance. "Oh SHIT!" she shouted unceremoniously as Selesce back-winged to clear back into the forest and specifically away from the wall of fire.

"They anticipated that move from us," Fuu grumbled as Umi cleared far enough into the forest that the enemy could not track and fire on them. "Now what?"

"Whatever we do next, they're on to us, so it will hurt," Hikaru groused.

_They rush the forests! Be on your guard!_ Selece warned the three Knights.

"It gets better and better," Hikaru declared at her most cynical. "Follow me in!"

Hikaru never had the chance to begin an advance into the teeth of the enemy — those fangs found her fast enough. A pair of Leo Mobile Dolls sighted in on her and began laying down suppressive fire with 105mm high-explosive machine gun rounds, while two more Leo MS took position with Dobergun heavy cannons. Rayearth braced his shield forward and weathered the explosive rounds, but the first shot from the Doberguns knocked the Rune God backwards into a tree and down to its haunches. With the first Rune God downed, even if briefly, fire shifted from Rayearth to Windam.

"Hikaru! Are you alright?" Umi half-shouted as she watched Windam crumple in much the same fashion as Rayearth had. Before fire could shift farther down the line to her, Magic Knight Ryuuzaki put her namesake to good use. "_**Water Dragon**_!" She used her basic attack spell, and aimed not for the Mobile Suits but the trees around them, since a Leo could withstand water pressure but not being slammed by trees.

"I'm alive, I think," Hikaru answered meekly at the same time the water spellcraft was ripping the trees up and slamming them into the intrepid Leo land MS.

"Up and at it!" Umi shouted fully. "We can't let them hammer on us!" She charged forward into the gap her water attack had created, first intent to stop the Leo MS from recovering. Before a single machine could stand, her sword had found the torso of their company commander and disabled it handily.

"I'll be there shortly," Fuu commented on her own status.

Umi finished the series with an impaling attack that silenced the last of the dobergun-wielding Leos. Before she could take a step forward, her vision crossed the muzzle brake of one of the Doberguns, dislodged from its carrying platform and readily available for 'reallocation' by an interested party. It did not take Selesce much effort to pick up the Dobergun, as it weighed not much more than his own sword. Shouldering it was also a simple task, and once in place Umi could tell how they were supposed to be aimed and fired intuitively.

"I see what you're doing!" Hikaru said in excited realization. She had clearly not considered the utility of carrying a mobile suit weapon before, though Fuu had done so in past battles.

"Come on! We can finish them off from here!" Umi paced forward to the edge of the treeline again, this time more cautiously and intending to use the old forests as cover. Once in position, she brought the weapon up and sighted in the nearest Virgo MD. She never remembered the conscious choice to squeeze the trigger, all she could remember was the massive blast directed outward from the gun by the muzzle brake, and the horrendous recoil of the monster 350mm cartridge as the gun slammed back into her shoulder. It was the work of a second for her to shake the fuzzy effects from her head, but when she looked up there was a gaping hole in the chest of the Virgo she was aiming at. "Yes! I can do this!"

Umi jumped at the sound of another shot, this time from the other Dobergun held by Fuu. Her shot had achieved the same result on a different Virgo, though now return fire forced her to hide behind the tree she was using for cover.

_Fight to your right, not straight ahead! Keep cover behind the tree_, Rayearth gave them a solid suggestion to avoid taking fire while giving it.

Fuu fired next, this second shot went slightly high of her intended target and did nothing more than splinter a tree on the far side of the damage swath cut by her own spell. Umi fared better with her second shot, this time removing the right arm and sympathetically detonating the beam cannon generator on the shoulder of her targeted Virgo.

"We still lose if we stand here!" Hikaru declared coldly. "We have to close in! Follow me!" Rayearth pushed forward of the trees Umi and Fuu were covering behind, her shield braced forward and one of the Leo machine guns in her right hand and stabilized against the right edge of the shield. As she cleared the trees, Rayearth looked down the sights of the 105mm machine gun and centered in on a Taurus MS. The targeted enemy fired a shot, another, and a third that actually struck Rayearth's shield, but all for naught. The Rune God was able to retain positive control of the machine gun to a better extent than the Leo MS it was designed for, and Hikaru's skill at aiming sub-machine guns allowed her to walk a ten-round burst across its torso. Several electrical arcs danced across its chest plate and hip plates before it collapsed forward, assuredly downed and no longer a threat.

"We're behind you, Hikaru!" Umi shouted as Hikaru walked another burst across a manned Mobile Suit — this one a Tragos artillery unit. The older machine was heavily-armored, but not well enough protected to withstand a shelling from the weapons carried by his own comrades. Umi darted forward to Hikaru's right side and stopped fast with her cannon braced, then fired a shot at 500 meters into the waist of a Virgo MD. The dual-purpose penetrator round hammered through the armor on the girdle plates, then detonated inside the structure and caused the hip of the machine to give out. The MD collapsed down onto its own legs, then began smoldering as the chest plates glowed cherry-red from excessive internal heat.

"Only a few left!" Fuu went left of Hikaru and snapped a shot off at the Mobile Dolls of a different Platoon. The round missed two forward Mobile Dolls but slammed into the knee of a middle-line unit and blew the lower leg clear off the machine.

"Wha — are they retreating?" Umi asked nobody in particular.

"We spooked them!" Hikaru whooped. "They're heading for the hills now!"

"Command, Windam, central thrust on the east side is retreating at this time. Requesting orders," Fuu made the change in enemy status official.

"Windam, _Archangel_, good op," Miriallia answered immediately. "Captain wants you three to return to the ship and take a quick breather. That was one regiment out of five the enemy has for this battle, and they've still got four more to put in play. You'll be busy again shortly."

-x-x-x-

(19 November AC195, 1235 hours)  
(Forests west of Sanc Kingdom border, Headquarters Section, Task Force Black Mace)

"This is INSANITY!" Viscount Kessler literally heaved the map table through the back panel of the command tent. "Three school girls, in command of biologic mobile weapons, just totaled nearly a whole regiment of Romefeller's best Mobile Suits and Mobile Dolls!" He scratched angrily at his hair, his face staring down to the ground. "What the hell is wrong with this picture, people?"

"We're fighting schoolgirls to begin with, for starters," his aide-de-camp answered bluntly. "Never mind that we just got our ass kicked by them pretty hard."

"I'm not looking for smartass answers, comrade," Kessler replied just as bluntly.

"If I was being a smartass, I would have said that Hello Kitty is next in line to beat our asses raw and steal our lunch money. Unfortunately, we're rapidly heading in that direction. Sergeant, recover the map table. War's not over yet."

"Yes, sir!" The indicated Sergeant exited the tent by way of the front flap, and was back in twenty seconds with the aforementioned map table and two separated legs tucked under his arm. As both Aide-de-camp and Kessler took a few moments to cool down from the brief rage fit, they watched as the non-commissioned officer used 100-MPH tape to reattach the missing legs and properly right the table. "Set and ready, sir!"

"Excellent," Kessler replied heartily, thankful for at least a small gesture of something going right, even if it was directly victim to everything else (so far) going wrong.

"Okay, we know they hold here and here," and the aide, Major Wirth drew two hasty circles on the map where forces prior had encountered and were defeated by Archangel Team forces in direct combat. "Our southern force was shelled by unknown artillery units, and these were ballistic, not missile, so that is likely not the ship."

"Fair enough to say," Kessler misjudged.

"Given a smart enemy is not going to dense-pack his forces, especially critical support like artillery, the ship is probably somewhere between here and here," and the Major drew two lines representing a fair estimation of where the ship should be, in the north sector of the invasion areas. The lines ended up encompassing roughly half of Sanc Kingdom territory west of New Port City. "They probably know by now where we're coming in by land, so they will have forces in these areas," and three more circles were drawn on likely favorable terrain, "ready to hammer us flat. With me so far, sir?"

"I was thinking along those lines, yes." Kessler nodded twice. "What are your thoughts, Major?"

Wirth scratched his head briefly. "So far, they have the field; they knew we were coming, and there really isn't much we can do about it. We need to put some serious damage down on their teams before we can advance further, since it looks like we won't be able to bypass anything at this point, not even a latrine, lest it attacks us."

"Damnit," Kessler groused. "If that bastard Tuberov had not completely devalued the support services in favor of his little fucking toys, we would have options." The Viscount was referring specifically to the support service that most people knew as Artillery — contrary to some circles of belief, artillery was hellishly effective even against something such as a hardened Gundam. "My damn left arm for some decent artillery — forget the kingdom, I'd trade parts of my anatomy right now for a good battery or two of MLRS units. Use the Mobile Dolls to localize and fix them, then hammer on them with MLRS until destroyed. But nooo, that half-Russkie bitch-boy of Dermail's has deprived us of even that," Kessler spat his contempt of the Mobile Doll engineer. "Some days, I swear the REMF (4) crew is trying real hard to deny us the victory they want us to achieve."

"Wouldn't be the first time in history an aggressor party was shafted by their own commanders," Major Wirth sympathized. "Rather than Artillery, what about a composite strategy of Mobile Dolls forward with a rear-line of manned hunter-killer MS armed with Space Lasers? Let the dolls absorb their fury while the hunters pick them off from afar?"

"That may be the best option, now," Kessler said. "Radio, raise Lady Whyune," Kessler ordered.

"One moment, sir," his operator answered.

"Lady Whyune," the radio set squawked after a few seconds of static. Something in the area was interfering with comms equipment, and it was beginning to get frustrating to the command staff.

"Whyune, Kessler," the Viscount prompted. "Your northern front is likely walking right into the waiting gunports of their ship. How do you have your space laser teams dispersed?"

"Mixed in with the reserve companies, so I have a weighted fist to use on that damned ship," the subordinate field officer answered. "I was planning to fix in place with my front, then bring the reserve up to drop the ship," she noted.

"You've got greater problems than the ship," Kessler said. "You're also walking into area we estimate is held by their mobile forces. We have a plan for dealing with them, but it requires the use of the Space Laser weapons and not on the ship."

"How so?" Tania asked plaintively. If there was any one thing she wanted to be rid of, it was the Archangel Team mobile forces, especially after the damage caused to her force structure already.

"Use your Mobile Dolls to distract them, while the Space Laser units knock them down from afar. We can worry about the ship after their striking arm is dealt with."

"And if I have to deal with both?" Tania asked.

"Then we're screwed," Kessler admitted. One of the two groups was bad, both at once was outside the ken of most of Oz, including his ragtag force.

"So reassuring," Tania admitted candidly. "It will take me ten minutes to reorganize my lines to execute this plan. I'll get on it right now. Whyune, out."

"Good luck," Kessler said to the disconnected radio. "Operator, status of the second engagement wave?"

-x-x-x-

(19 November AC195, 1245 hours)  
(Sanc Kingdom, Northeastern forested areas)

"Mercurius Team, _Archangel_, be advised we have detected enemy movement in your sector. They may have stopped to reorganize their lines in preparation for something."

"_Archangel_, Mercerius, got it," Athrun answered immediately. "All right, boys and girls," he continued to the rest of his ad-hoc team, even though there were no ladies in his area, "we've got a regiment-sized column headed our way. Time to play fast-and-loose with their front lines."

"We may want to call in for support, Pilot Zala," Pytor made his opinion known. "Much as I am loathe to admit, a regiment is an unreasonable force for us to engage without support of some kind, or without the advantages the Magic Knights possess," the aged Jade Falcon noted uncharacteristically. His opinion was directly against Jade Falcon teachings on three levels: a Mechwarrior never asked for help, a Mechwarrior never considered artillery or air support to be a valid form of warfare (except against Dezgra (5) forces), and a solahma (6) warrior always looked for a good way to go out in a blaze of glory. Asking for support from the _Archangel_ flew in the face of all those tenets, showing how far Pytor had become ingrained into the culture and methods of the Archangel Team.

"Agreed," Heero Yuy chimed in. "We can reliably do a little more than half their regiment, but more than that is unlikely."

"Hard to argue with that thought," Athrun agreed. "_Archangel_, Mercurius Team, what support options do we have?"

"Athrun, Chandratta just said if you ask for it, he will dish it," Miriallia responded almost immediately. "You fix 'em, we'll flatten 'em."

"Man, I hope Tolle knows what he's in for if he ever marries you," Athrun noted with gravity after he thought he had his finger off the radio switch...

...when in fact he did not. "I'm pretty sure I can keep him in line, and vice versa," Miriallia freely admitted. "You worry about the battle, I don't want to explain to Lacus what went wrong. Nor does the Captain, and the same for the rest of you."

"Aff, Operator," Pytor answered hastily. Heero simply grunted in response.

"Mercurius Team, Captain Ramius," Murrue prompted.

"Read five by five, Captain, go ahead," Athrun replied a second thereafter.

"I'm sending the Skygrasper in your direction with the IWSP pack for extended combat against ground targets. Mu has not been able to detect any sort of assault wave to the south or east, so might as well put him where it will do the best good."

"Roger and happy to have the support," Athrun admitted. "We'll move to contact location shortly, requesting _Archangel_ be ready with hot guns and missiles for imminent support missions," the veteran Gundam pilot requested.

"Roger and good luck, Athrun."

"Alright, guys, this is where it gets direct. Heero, I want you on the left flank; given that we just reamed out a regiment on that side, their guard to that side is likely to be thin. If you find a hole, exploit it. Pytor and I will hold them on the front. Pytor, you fire hard and fast, I will spot calls for artillery and missile support. Commander La Flaga, time until you are in the area?"

"Mission accepted," Heero acknowledged. Without further word, he began the trudge toward the area of the encounter between the Magic Knights and their demolished regiment; he was smart enough not to try flying, due to the enemy being hellishly effective in Triple-A operations.

"Athrun, Mu, I'll be in your neighborhood in roughly four minutes. Wrong striker pack to go supersonic, or I'd be there sooner."

"We shouldn't be in heavy combat for a few minutes past that, Commander. Pytor, stay behind me. I'll cover both of us with the Planet Defensers. You worry about putting accurate fire downrange."

"Not unlike my days as a Solahma 'mechwarrior. Lead the way, Athrun."

The Mercurius set off first into the forest areas northwest of Phase Line Indigo, the second defensive phase line in the seven-line operations plan the commanders had finally settled on. The enemy had their own plans, but the _Archangel_ had been hired for the express purpose of fouling those plans in their entirety, and Athrun intended to make it a reality.

"La Flaga reporting, I'll be over the battlefield in 2 minutes," Mu noted at the same time that Athrun began picking up the magnetic anomalies caused by fusion reactors in the forest dead ahead of him.

"Roger that, and good timing. We're getting close."

-x-

"Command, 1 Squad, not a damn thing going on ahead of us. Visibility is patchy, 100 meters to a half-kilometer. Recommend slowdown and more deliberate search, sir," Major Yang Torgue broadcasted on the command frequency.

"1 Squadron, you are authorized to slow down advance. Make sure your Dolls are forward to catch the brunt of whatever the hell we're walking into," the Colonel answered. In truth, he thought the request from Lady Whyune was asinine on the face of it, given the terrain made charging forward at a breakneck pace something of a Leeroy Run. His purpose wasn't to get his guys killed, so he had no problem reducing speed of advance to better cover everyone's ass.

"Way ahead of you, boss," the Major answered. In truth, he had started out with his Dolls forward, he expected casualties and he wanted those to be material casualties, not manpower. Contrary to some opinions way above him, he considered his men to be less expendable than the Mobile Dolls in front of him.

"Erm, Command, this is Lieutenant Abrahams, I have sighting on two unknown Mobile Suits dead ahead of me, sir, somewhere around 1900 meters or so. One red one, one blue one, neither in my machine database. Pics are up on Channel 7, sir."

"Oh shit, that is Mercurius and Vayeate," Colonel Frederick Brekaus bemoaned. "Treize had those built by the Gundam Engineers on the moon. The beam cannons used by the Virgo troops are derived from the beam cannon on the Vayeate — and make no mistake, the original is going to be a lot more powerful."

"Orders, sir?" Captain Nevada Sturmburg requested in the stead of his direct subordinate (Lieutenant Abrahams).

"Move to and engage, have your manned machines hold back and take a clean shot with space lasers," Major Torgue answered immediately. The change in process was a welcome one — the enemy used advantages of speed and defensive strength, all he could do is pick them off at range.

"On it, sir," Captain Sturmburg noted grimly.

"Major Torgue, this is the supporting Infantry formations! We're under attack on the right flank by Gundam 01!"

-x-

"This is Wing, I have engaged on the left flank," Heero declared as he hit the supporting column of enemy infantry with his vulcans and machine cannons. Under normal circumstances he would not have even bothered looking hard at them, but in a defensive civilian guard operation infantry was a major threat to the protected persons.

"Roger that, we have the enemy held at the front," Athrun noted. "Be advised, I have the first wave of missiles inbound, targeting north of your position 700 meters. Avoid if possible."

"Acknowledged," Yuy answered simply. His machine had detected several mixed formations of Leos and Taurus Mobile Suits with a blend of weapons, a hazardous combination even to his machine. The question became who reacted first — him on the flank strike, or the enemy in counterattack?

The answer came clear enough to him before the Gundam advanced another hundred meters into the flanking strike. A pair of Dobergun rounds shredded trees nearby him, followed hotly by a trio of beams from lighter beam guns. The piece d' resistance was a single shot of a Space Laser headed in his general direction — the pilot had haphazardly aimed where they thought the Gundam was, which mercifully put it twenty meters off target. Even still, the thermal bloom of such a powerful weapon was enough to buffet his machine briefly.

It was fairly obvious that he had their full and undivided attention when a second Space Laser came a lot closer than the first, followed by rather accurate harassing fire from a Leo's 105mm machine cannon. "Athrun, time until missiles?"

"Forty seconds," Athrun answered. "Ballistic fire should be on target in five."

"Rog — AAAARRRR!" Heero accidentally overstrained the word due to inertia and partially due to surprise. Even as he was maneuvering for a good shot on the enemy formation, a Taurus had struck a lucky shot with the Space Laser weapon, blowing the left leg of his machine clear off at mid-thigh. Less than a second later, he slammed into the ground with a bone-jarring impact. "Wing is down, critical leg damage," Heero reported immediately as he levered his machine to sitting up.

"Wing, _Archangel_, acknowledged down and damaged. You have priority for support, call the shots," Miriallia acknowledged his status.

"Support request, target is 2-3-5 at 335 meters from my position, requesting 2 missiles common warhead, attack direction west, 2 salvos."

"Laid in and launching in five. Missiles on target in sixty seconds," Chandratta answered.

Heero made his presence known with his vulcans and machine cannons once again, but without a clear line of sight to the enemy units, all he could do was take partial shots at the enemy. The same applied to them just as readily; he took the odd hit here and there from 60mm chaingun and 105mm machine cannon rounds, but none of the heavier stuff came close to him without striking trees long before reaching him.

North of his position, the first salvo of missiles crashed into the ground and let loose their fury, with results unseen to Heero. He could only guess if those hits would tear rents in their lines or distract them, but his options were limited right now. Given that missiles would deal with the group nearest him, he decided that the second target in his flanking attack was a good opportunity right now. Even despite the terrible fall, Wing had retained possession of the monstrous buster rifle, and this he raised to aimpoint northeast, the second formation of enemy Mobile Suits he intended to assault before his leg was forcibly removed. A switch on his console changed the rifle over to full volley, and a pull of the trigger unleashed a particle blast fifteen meters wide and roughly a thousand meters long. How effective it was after chopping through trees and part of a hill was obvious by the paltry three kills delivered, but in all reality there was no expectation for him being able to do more damage at all.

More harassing fire and more movement from the enemy nearby formation brought Heero's attention back to the nearby force. He moved the buster rifle into position to cook some forest and enemies, but before he could sight in a likely enemy formation he had to stop and shield against incoming beam rifle rounds. "Where are those missiles?" he asked in a frustrated tone.

"Twenty seconds out, Heero, and next salvo is fifty meters west at five seconds behind," Chandratta answered immediately. Interest on the bridge had turned to his condition, apparently.

"Too slow, most of the enemy will be out of the area," he groused. "Support request, target 2-1-5 my position at 160 meters, requesting 2 Valiant slugs, attack direction west, 3 salvos," he called for another (faster) round of fire support.

"On the way," Chandratta declared after three seconds.

Once more, Heero aimed and prepared to take a shot, intended to kill a few of his aggressors and drive the rest into the path of the artillery, but it never happened. An Aries MS came into view at an off-angle briefly enough to hock four missiles in his general direction, then ducked back behind trees for cover purposes. The missiles themselves were not a huge threat to Heero, but to his Buster rifle they were a major problem. One round hammered into the exposed charge canisters and destroyed them, preventing a second shot from his main weapon. With that destroyed, the best he had was the machine cannons in the shoulders of his Gundam — lethal if used properly, but woefully underpowered in this shooting match and difficult to use when sitting down.

"I could really use some support here," Heero opined after a few moments of watching the enemies come ever closer to him with increasing accuracy and volume of fire.

"Splash in two," Chandratta answered his request. Three seconds later heralded the first pair of kinetic impacts from the Valiant slugs, two seconds later another pair, and the third impacts a slight gap later. Of six slugs, two direct hits and one indirect hit knocked out a total of four enemy machines, including one of the vaunted Space Lasers.

What victory he had gained with a timely support call was short-lived, as another Taurus was available to capitalize on his being immobilized. Heero was thankful that it lacked a Space Laser to end him quickly, but slightly disgusted that it would have to be a slapping match between his Vulcans and the paltry beam rifle the enemy carried. Both sides engaged for several seconds, neither side gained a definitive advantage even as his Gundam was knocked flat from the impacts.

The sensor suite warned him of a critical threat approaching, which could only mean a Virgo MD or Taurus with Space Laser. True to the warning, a Taurus broke cover some 200 meters away from him, a dead simple shot against a downed and immobile enemy. "Heero, _Archangel_ Operator, stand by for support," Miriallia said.

It was eerily calm, Heero considered, that he was staring down the barrel of a weapon that was easily capable of killing him, but he still didn't react. He did blink when something struck the enemy MS at very high speed and fragged it down to shredded scrap. "La Flaga, splash one," the Commander reported in the seconds thereafter. "I show two remaining machines, one Aries and one Leo, both appear to be moving toward enemy rear lines."

"Cut 'em loose and fly orbit over the WIng until we can recover," Captain Ramius ordered. "Heero, hang tight, we are moving in now to recover you."

"Worry about the mission, Captain," Heero reminded her of her duty.

"There are multiple missions here, Heero, and you are on one of those lists," Murrue answered definitively. "Duel, Buster, prepare for long-range engagement."

-x-

"Duel reporting ready for action," Yzak acknowledged the Captain's orders.

"Buster here, I'm good to go," Tolle chimed in seconds later.

"Engage free," Miriallia ordered the two pilots on the foredeck of the ship. "Suppress enemy forces as possible, direct support of Wing until we recover him."

"Got it," Tolle answered; Yzak simply clocked his microphone button twice as acknowledgement.

"Athrun, what's your status?" Yzak asked after a minute of flight time.

"We're good for now, only about two dozen Mobile Dolls remaining in our area of operations. See to Heero, then swing by for close air support if possible," Athrun requested.

"We'll be by shortly," Miriallia assured him. "Duel, do you have line of sight to Wing yet?"

"Negative, too much forest in the area," Yzak responded after a few minutes of searching with the magnifier scope.

"We will be over the target area in 90 seconds. Be ready to drop in and recover ASAP."

"Contact right," Tolle half-shouted before he swung his combined weapons in that direction. The enemies were moving in and out of thickets of trees, but to more powerful MS weapons like the Buster's combined rifle, trees were only a small annoyance. A single shot was loosed, and though nothing was visible of the result, Yzak was assured he had struck.

"More contacts, leakers from the engagement over by Athrun," Yzak appended to Tolle's tango call. "Chandratta, on the ship's 2 o'clock, down in the weeds."

"I see them," Chandratta said with a savage tone of voice. "I have an angle for ten beam cannons and two of the Gauss Rifles, plus some of the LRMs are active. Wait one," which turned out to be no more than seven seconds before the patch of forest was inundated with raw firepower. More of the forest itself was cleared out by at least one Mobile Suit engine cooking off; fusion powerplants tended to be very hostile when the plasma toroid inside was vented to open air.

"One straggler from that company. You or me, Tolle?" Yzak asked.

"Your turn, Yzak." Tolle stood down his combined arms to allow Yzak to take the shot.

"Come to papa, scumbag," Yzak groused as he brought the EM Rifle up to aim. It was designed for the Lightning Strike, but that Striker Pack was rendered useless by the proliferation of fusion reactors among the Mobile Suits. "Hot track, firing!" One shot went downrange, leaving the characteristic rifle-swirl of slug particulate as resistance with the air ablated part of the outer casing. It tracked stead for a second before the slug slammed into the upper torso of the wounded Aries MS and caused it to collapse backwards, unflinching. "He's down."

"We're approaching recovery point, I want Buster on the ground to recover Wing, Duel return to hangar to help reel them in," the Captain ordered. In the distance, the Skygrasper loosed another missile which resulted in a spectacular explosion of some kind to their north; Yzak figured it an ammo explosion, since it wasn't the bright white-yellow of a fusion reactor blast.

"Rog — we're going to try a winch recovery?" Yzak asked in semi-shock.

"Nowhere to land, Yzak, we don't have a choice," Miriallia pointed out.

"Winch won't be necessary. If someone can stabilize me, I can fly up to the hangar." Heero brought that part of the methodology to a close.

"Jumping now," Tolle declared as he dropped down between the 'legs' of the _Archangel _toward the forest canopy below. "Oh, this is gonna — " his sentence was cut short by a combination of banging and shearing sounds over the radio. "Ouch."

"Tolle, are you alright?" Miriallia asked frantically.

"I don't feel real good about that one," Tolle answered with a sigh.

"Why, what's wrong?"

"I just had a tree rammed up the ass of my Gundam, Mir, how am I supposed to feel?" Tolle asked with a bit of frustration to voice.

"This will be a day I'll tell my kids about, many years from now, and they will ask 'why was it so strange' when the tale is done," Yzak grumped.

"If I planned on having kids, I would agree," Heero commented dryly.

-x-x-x-

(19 November AC195, 1300 hours)  
(Forests west of Sanc Kingdom border, Headquarters Section, Task Force Black Mace)

"DAMN IT!" This time, not only did the map table evict itself from the command tent, but three chairs went the same direction as well. "A whole God-damned Brigade! By less than a full Company of enemy assets and one bloody Warship! This is so fucking impossible, and yet it's still happening!" Nobody in the room could ever attest to seeing Viscount Kessler this pissed off, and it was truly frightening to the staff. "Can anyone raise Tania?"

"No, sir, last report was from her 3-I-C, she was chopped down by Mercurius, beam saber across the cockpit. No hope," the bravest of the radio officers commented.

"God damn it!" A fourth chair left the command tent at high velocity.

"Sir?" his aide-de-camp asked.

Kessler sighed, trying to release some of his frustration without trashing any more furniture. "New Port City is the linchpin. What do we have on the number two wave?"

"First Regiment will be dropped in on the southern shore in roughly two minutes. Third regiment will be coming in by way of the east, along their proposed evacuation route. There are no assets capable of ranging to either of those formations before they descend on the capital city."

"And Second Regiment?" Kessler asked.

"Unknown, sir. We lost contact with the headquarters company of Second some twenty minutes ago," Major Wirth admitted. "I dispatched a scout team from 3 Regiment, with orders to break off if they are fired on by anyone."

"Damn good plan, bad karma that we had to even do it," Kessler admitted. "Estimated time to arrival at 2nd Regiment's last known location?"

"Five minutes, give or take," the Major answered diffidently. He wasn't worried about the matter; this was war, and things like communications failures tended to happen from time to time. It didn't mean that shit happened until it could be confirmed that shit had actually happened, and the Major was determined to worry about that manner of shit happening only after he knew he had to worry about it. It would be his fatal mistake to let such a problem go without a response.

"I expected a contest of this matter, but these guys are truly dying hard."

"When you tell someone their death is on the morrow, it tends to focus their efforts to a very sharp degree," the aide-de-camp quoted an old lament.

Kessler chuckled at the grim truth behind the statement. "And in reality I can expect no less than that from them," Kessler admitted. "But, as is always true in warfare, time and space are the ally and providence of only one side. So, where is my map table?"

"Outside, again, sir," Major Wirth noted wryly.

"I believe you said the war wasn't over, so we may still have use for it. Sergeant, if you would?"

"Yes, sir!" the same sergeant as prior moved to and reclaimed the table once more. This time, he had to use 100-KPH tape on two legs and substituted the lower receiver of an assault rifle for a third missing leg. For the damaged chairs, cheap folding chairs were put in place rather than attempting to tape the originals back together.

"Viscount, 1 Regiment is reporting beginning of aerial drop operations. No noted resistance in area of New Port City shorelines."

As the two senior officers leaned over the newly-rebuilt map table and began gaming out their assault patterns, they were forgetting that time was adroitly against them. The patience of a planet is not infinite, and fear eventually becomes rage when a people is pushed too far.

-x-x-x-

(19 November AC195, 1310 hours)  
(Southern shoreline, Sanc Kingdom)

"This is way more than I expected for an airdrop operation!" Commander Noin half-shouted, half-groaned even while firing on the descending enemy Mobile Suits.

"I expected this," Quatre admitted a moment thereafter. "The shoreline is the Sanc Kingdom's one great terrain weakness. Everywhere else, we have space to absorb an attack and forest to hide in, but not here. New Port City is called that for a good reason, and now we get to fight over it."

"Do not worry, Commander Noin," Rashid tried to allay her fears. "Where the Mobile Dolls land, so can we." His next was on the unit's open band. "Maganacs! Close in, fight them hand-to-hand! These Mobile Dolls are not set up for melee combat! Shields and heat hawks!"

"Yes, sir! We move in sections!" Auda ordered.

"Shields forward! Jump now!" Ahmad ordered of his troops. As one, his team of ten machines jumped up and forward, their shields braced to hopefully block any fire coming from the now-bogged-down Mobile Dolls in front of them.

"My team, jump now!" Auda ordered in the seconds thereafter, angling towards the left flank of the airdrop lines.

"Third section, charge!" Abdul completed the pattern, bringing his unit to bear against the right flank.

The maneuver was not without its problems, as four of the thirty Maganac pilots found out the hard way. The shields blocked a monstrous amount of ground fire, but the shields the Maganac carried were not full-coverage shields and some hits were expected. Even with the losses, though, the effort to close the gap was critical to the success of the defensive operation.

Rasheed was the last to hit the ground, and consequently the last into the fray begun by his men. His heat tomahawk came out and began pre-heating, a process that was necessary for combat against the Virgo Mobile Dolls and their gundanium armor.

In close, the process was incredibly simple and brutal. The Maganac troops, brave to the point of fault, would simply charge the gap between their suits and the Mobile Dolls, using their shields to resist as much of the beams coming their way, then whence in close they would hack into the generator on the right shoulder of the Mobile Dolls. In seven cases of ten, this was enough to cripple the Mobile Doll's one offensive option, the beam cannons. Once disabled, a Mobile Doll would simply retreat for repairs, effectively out of the battle. This further made them vulnerable to a beam rifle shot to the back, since they also recalled their Planet Defenser networks during their retreat. This would be a programming fault later corrected by Romefeller, though not to any avail.

In the other three cases in ten, the Maganac pilot made the mistake of chopping into the beam generator while it was active and spinning. The blade that entered the generator while at speed would become lodged and revolve with the generator as the device tore itself apart internally due to conflicting forces. More than one pilot had described such a happenstance as a 'demonic blender' or 'demonic fan blade' in the brief moments before the Heat Hawk was sent for a flight out into the waves south of New Port City. It still resulted in a mission kill, but had the unfortunate side effect of temporarily disarming the hapless pilot.

"Pilots! Use your beam rifles in close, point blank-shots!" Quatre suggested as more of the Maganac troops were disarmed by whirling generators. His own Heat Shotel blades were more than ample to chop apart a Mobile Doll without resorting to an easier mission-kill tactic, though some of the more enterprising Maganac troops had found out that burying the tomahawk in the skull of a Mobile Doll was just as lethal and didn't randomly relocate said weapon.

Of course, any such strategy was not without faults. In close, there was no time to react to enemy actions, just brace your shield toward the most likely threat axis and hope it was enough. The first wave of Mobile Dolls was silenced with aplomb, but the second line started the renewed dance with two kills of its own: a soft-kill of a missing right arm, and a hard-kill across the torso and a likely dead pilot. Again the Maganac remainder jumped in to force close combat, and once again two of their rank had their legs sheared off by beam weapons fire, but the remainder landed in good order and once more confused the Mobile DOlls by forcing close quarters.

"Maganac Forces, this is Archangel. ELINT suggests that the Mobile Doll Control Systems are in an aircraft due south of your position at 110 kilometers. Can anyone intercept?"

Auda's personal unit did not have the Heat Hawks that the rest of the unit was using; he had customized it with a monster left arm and a gundanium three-finger claw that allowed him to rip apart a Mobile Suit with mere arm strength. It was even useful against these Mobile Dolls, as he found he could pimp-slap the head clean off a Mobile Doll. "A hundred kilometers south of here? I can't even see the damn thing from here! No way we can intercept!"

"Stand by, I can vector in," An unfamiliar voice declared on the radio channel.

"Huh? Who said that?" Quatre asked nobody in particular.

-x-

"Looks like I made it in time. Relena really did make the right choice this time," the pilot of the unidentified unit said mostly to himself. With a practiced flair, he shoved a control actuator on the roof of his cockpit forward until it engaged a mechanical latch, which began the process of transforming his machine from flight mode to combat mode. It was a similar system to what was in use in Wing Gundam, but for a different airframe...

"Unidentified craft, this is restricted airspace. You are ordered to declare squawk and turn course 0-9-0 to egress this area or you will be shot down," a Romefeller pilot declared on the open aircraft control frequency.

"Feel free to try," the pilot of the incoming craft half-taunted the interceptor formation of Taurus Mobile Suits.

"Your funeral, bub," the Taurus pilot answered. "Wait, what the fuck? What is —"

"Oh SHIT! Command, Wing Zero identified course 0-6-5 from the transports!"

"Shoot it! Shoot it down!" Zechs frowned slightly, wondering if ZERO had broken into their command frequency (as it had the Sanc Kingdom command frequencies) or if they were using piss-poor radio discipline and transmitting in the clear.

"Sir, I — I —"

"You have already failed!" Zechs half-shouted in response to their hesitation. His left arm jammed the throttle to the end of the line, putting on a burst of speed that no Taurus could ever hope to match. His right hand flipped over to beam saber control as the distance to the control aircraft closed by the second. Ten seconds, five seconds, no enemy craft was close enough to even take a decent shot at him before his beam saber clipped the command aircraft at the port-side wing root and came out behind the starboard-side wing root. What was left of the craft fell toward the craggy German coastline below in two pieces, each half spiraling in a different direction due to conflicting aerodynamic forces.

"This is Wing Zero, enemy command craft has been shot down. Requesting vector to the next front, over," Zechs requested, given that he figured the Archangel Team was the hottest formation in this op and they had the effective command of the Sanc Kingdom forces themselves.

The answer to his call for orders took ten seconds. "Wing Zero, _Archangel_, manned Mobile Suits are still active south of New Port City. Move to and finish up, then stand by for further orders. We're confirming a possible fourth attack vector at this time, over," the operator from the _Archangel_ passed down the change in mission with aplomb, even despite her being younger than he was.

Zechs had no way of knowing he had been 'checked out' telepathically in the brief gap between his request and her change in mission profile.

-x-x-x-

(19 November AC195, 1320 hours)  
(East of Sanc Kingdom territorial bounds)

"Viscount Kessler will certainly be throwing a major fit by now," Colonel Treize Khushrenada said ironically. "For an officer with such skill as he has, the temper and inability to cope with stress is unbecoming."

"And facing the _Archangel_ is certainly a rage-inducing stress test of any being in Existence," one of his sub-officers completed the thought. "Erm, I know we're here to finish off the last of the Romefeller forces, but we're not here to also go head-to-head with...them, right?"

"No," Treize answered succinctly. "The Archangel Team are mercenaries and vagabonds, not our enemy. We may be hiring them for our own purposes after this phase of the conflict is done."

"Understood, sir," the sub-officer answered curtly, and quite happily. Any day they did not have to challenge the _Archangel_ was by definition a good day.

"Colonel Treize, forward elements are reporting contact with the rearguard elements of the enemy unit, sir," his designated radio adjutant relayed. "Rearguard forces are scattered and disorganized, we have them by surprise, sir!"

"Much as I expected," Treize said. "They are busy with their eyes forward, trying to achieve an impossible conquest. Only the most savvy commander would expect us, and unfortunately the most effective commander on this battlefield sits in command of a certain floating warship." It pained him to have to admit it, but the truth was clear to anyone who watched. Captain Ramius routinely hit far above her weight class, and mer mercenary formation were not exactly lightweights to begin with.

"Your orders, sir?" the radio adjutant requested.

"Drive forward against the enemy rear. If they have assets between us and New Port City, we will have no trouble finishing them off before further trouble begins. I will take to the front."

"Yes, sir," the radio adjutant began the process of relaying orders for the advancing assault. She also made it clear that the Colonel would be moving forward to engage as well.

"This is where the next revolution begins. All forces, Treize Faction, begin the assault!"

-x-

"This is Kira, approaching engagement area. Density of fire is increasing," Kira reported before he dropped off his engine thrust to drop into the forest.

"Roger, watch yourself Kira. Mu is out of fuel, so your nearest reinforcements are the Maganac troops," Miriallia said.

"Soulless Dolls," Kira spat his contempt of the inhuman weapon platform Virgo. His descent onto the road network in front of them was sudden and fast, giving him a key — if brief — advantage. The paired beam rifles of the Strike Freedom spoke several times before the Virgo machines responded with their Planet Defensers; six Mobile Dolls fell under his fire, leaving a small but crucial gap in the front line.

"Kira, Archangel is out of range to support," Chandratta declared. "We'll be in range in three minutes, don't stick your arse too far out in the breeze!"

"Won't be needed," Kira answered as he charged into the gap he created. "We have some unlikely support on this side. My machine is detecting a large column of Mobile Suits from the forces that we saved in Luxembourg."

"Lux — wait, what?" Miriallia asked unprofessionally.

Kira did not immediately respond as he let his beam sabers do some talking on the enemy Mobile Dolls. Such a rash offensive was possible only because the forests that blanketed the Sanc Kingdom reduced the effective combat range of Mobile Suits to no more than 300 meters, and often barely 50 meters. At such a range, Kira could close a gap and saber a Virgo down to pieces in less time than the battle computer in the Mobile Dolls could recognize him as a threat.

Just the same, he was not immune to the 'tender ministrations' of the enemy machines. In the process of chewing up the first rank of Mobile Dolls, he took four hits, each one causing a noticeable voltage drop on his Quad Phase Shift charge indicators. The scenario had been gamed out in sim, and Kira had found that four direct hits in a second would leave him vulnerable for three seconds thereafter. Four direct hits for the Virgo machines was a simple task for their ranks, so long as roughly ten enemy machines could take a shot at him. Even for a computer, they were surprisingly limited in their ability to aim properly.

Kira's next move took him farther into the forests of the Sanc Kingdom, and with it his quest for mechanical blood. "Damned Dolls, and a leavening of manned units hiding behind them," he groused while weaving between thickets of trees used to obscure his location. The second line was more Dolls, and Kira had the proper answer for them on his hips. A quick brace of Xiphas rail gun slugs knocked four Mobile Dolls out completely and rendered two combat-ineffective; unlike the Maganac, Kira did not waste effort on an otherwise defeated Mobile Doll.

"Strike Freedom, this is Treize Faction scout, come in!" Someone requested on the _Archangel_'s tactical frequency.

"Scout, this is Strike Freedom, I read you. Talk fast, I'm neck-deep in Mobile Dolls right now," Kira veritably ordered of the pilot.

"Roger that, Colonel Treize has asked me to relay to you that we have batteries of Tragos and MLRS units, and he wants you to call the shots. Their frequency is one-five-seven-dot-seven-five, callsign Eisensturm (7), over," the Scout answered.

Kira did not respond for another long moment while he made an effort to drop a trio of Mobile Dolls from range. His shots dropped one, but a second cell of Mobile Dolls hammered him three times in the space of two seconds — a result that had his undivided attention. Return fire broke their attempt at controlling the pace of battle, allowing Kira to resume his conversation. "Got it, Scout. If you're not engaged, fall back. I've got this area." Kira took a moment to set a radio button to the new frequency, which he intended to make use of to the best of their abilities.

"Roger that, Scout is out."

Clear of the second line, Kira charged further east toward the assured Manned Mobile Suits that controlled the short-leashes of the Mobile Dolls. "Eisensturm, Strike Freedom, come back," Kira began the call for fire.

"Strike Freedom, Eisensturm, read you five by five. Send your request, pilot," the Treize Faction Fire Direction Center officer requested.

"Eisensturm, requesting fire support mission, target zone 100 meters north of Highway 117, area width from County Road 33 to Highway 82," which encompassed a swath of ground and forest nearly three square kilometers in sweep, and covered most of the remaining Oz Mobile Dolls in theater. "Area saturation attack requested by all available assets. Attack direction west, fire for effect," Kira completed the fire mission order.

"Fire for effect, roger that," Eisensturm answered immediately. "First salvo is on the way, ten seconds to splash. Duck and cover, pilot!"

"Acknowledged," Kira said, though he did not duck nor cover, he simply hammered his jets to head south of the said highway. While the artillery forces chewed up anything to the north, he could help finish off the remaining enemy manned MS by driving them back into the waiting gunsights of the Treize Faction.

It was a merciless solution to the problem, but it had to be done. What the Romefeller Foundation wanted for the planet was nothing more than continual slaughter. Such was the way massive, corrupt states retained their authority over the people, and Kira wanted no part of it.

-x-

"This is where your campaign ends!" Treize half-shouted at the screens in front of him, though he was referring to the last few battalions of enemy Manned Mobile Suits that had not been caught in the artillery barrage delivered by the Strike Freedom. It had been something of a shock on first sight, but the artillery barrage took an entire Squadron of enemy forces and their supporting infantry under fire, a hammering that was neither expected nor could be defended against.

Colonel Treize, operating alone in the same fashion that the pilot of the Strike Freedom was, charged forward into a gap created by his own Taurus units. When inside their maneuver area, the power of Epyon became painfully apparent as he whipped through their Aries and Leo MS with the heat rod on his shield. Machines fell to the superheated chain whip and to the dedicated high-power beam saber, disappointingly not providing any measure of challenge to Treize.

"Colonel Treize, from the right!"

"I see him," Treize replied immediately, his shield coming up to block the single shot from one of the rare Space Lasers. It was the work of a bare second to close the gap and put paid to the Romefeller Taurus that was trying to drop him, and once again not a challenge. Farther to his right and into the northern expanse, Treize MS chopped into the last few companies of MS with fury unseen since Operation Daybreak, mostly because the enemy knew they were trapped and could not surrender.

A specter of movement in the forests to the east drew Treize's attention in that direction. It did not last long, as the unknown machine cleared the forest at a breakneck pace toward the last hold-outs. A beam saber dropped the last enemy Taurus as the Strike Freedom literally bowled over it and proceeded to bring out its beam rifles from storage on its back armor plates. By the time the Gundam hit the ground, the beam rifles were aimed in two different directions at two different machines. The last of the Romefeller machines collapsed to the ground before any save Treize could figure out what hit them.

"Eisensturm, Strike Freedom, secure barrage. This last formation appears down."

"Ah, the best of the _Archangel_'s best," Colonel Khushrenada noted with a wry smile unseen by anybody else. "It would appear you have chosen a costly path, pilot. Why?"

There was no response from the Strike Freedom for several seconds. "If that is you asking, Colonel, you should know the answer already from Umi. If that is ZERO asking, I don't know what answer to give you. I don't know what the future holds, and I don't think it knows, either."

Treize simply smiled, again unseen by the outside world.

-x-x-x-

(19 November AC195, 1330 hours)  
(Sanc Kingdom military command center)

"_Archangel_, this is Home Base, what is your status?" Commander Noin asked over the dedicated command frequency.

"Home Base, _Archangel_, wait one," Kuzzey gave an immediate reply.

"I think we got 'em all, just waiting on confirmation," Quatre commented. He was still wiping grime from his face and arms, as a beam cannon round had caused something in his cockpit to cook off; he figured it was the heating and cooling system, though Murdoch was looking over it to be sure.

It was thirty seconds before a more proper answer was forthcoming. "Home Base, _Archangel_, I am relaying through from Strike Freedom."

A popping sound heralded the new entrant to the frequency. "Home Base, Strike Freedom, do you read me?"

"Read you five by five," the radio officer in the command room answered. "You have a crowd listening, Ensign. What's the word?"

"I've identified two companies of stragglers, mostly to the west, and all are retreating hard and fast. I confirm no active hostile military forces inside the Sanc Kingdom borders or approaching the border. Repeat, no active forces inside or approaching Sanc Kingdom borders."

"Yes!" Noin half-shouted, allowing herself a lapse of proper military decorum in the aftermath of this hard-fought battle. She was not alone in the brief celebration.

"Home Base, Strike Freedom, requesting status of New Port City. Did any enemies get inside?" Kira asked, voicing the question that was running rampant through the _Archangel_'s crew. The largest concentration of defenses had been put on the shoreline (the Maganac forces), primarily because a shore landing was expected, but there was no depth of space to provide a safety zone.

"Some enemy fire hit the city, we have scattered reports of casualties and a few killed, but nothing major," Commander Noin answered.

"Roger that," Kira answered with a sigh. "Looks like we beat all the odds on this one."

"Don't forget, knocking them out of here was only the beginning," Captain Ramius explained over the command radio channel. "We bloodied them now, but they still have most of the world and they still hold the Moon. We will not have a choice but to take the fight to them, or they come back with another three or four Brigades to finish the job."

"One round was not enough, two would be entirely too many," Mu La Flaga joked. In testament to the seriousness of the matter, nobody laughed.

"I will announce the all clear from the Press Room," Relena decided on a whim. "Commander Noin, would you please inform the press pool that it is all clear and that I will be holding a conference in fifteen minutes?"

"Yes, ma'am," Noin gave a curt bow and headed out the secured bunker toward the air raid shelter for the administration building.

Relena was next out of the room, though she did not get far in her travel. "Dorothy? I thought you went to the shelter for the students," the Chief Representative asked after a moment's hesitation.

"I had brought up my personal vehicle, in case you would need to surrender to the forces, but my fears of your defeat were happily unfounded," Dorothy replied calmly as she fell in step with the head of state. The door guards to the bunker, part of the Special Forces complement of the _Archangel_, surged forward of the two as a vanguard.

"When the shore landing began, I was afraid of the same, but the Archangel Team are certainly proficient mercenaries and capable to the task they offered," Relena allayed the possibility of surrender. "My one regret is the necessity of the conflict, but I am convinced now of the necessity of resistance."

This answer somewhat shocked Dorothy, who had spent the past month in class learning the ways of pacifism from this very same person. "Why such a change of heart, if I may ask?" Dorothy inquired after a few seconds of walking toward the main offices of the Administration.

"Simple. A certain pilot reminded me of the cost of doing nothing, and another pilot showed me the wages of doing something. Both are costly, but only in one case does something meaningful happen."

"And I will forever wonder which pilots told you so," Dorothy completed the thought in a rather unusual fashion. "Now you are set on a course, and a world watches you with baited breath. What shall your move be?"

Relena simply smiled. "I am a leader, not a professional. I leave such decisions to the real leaders," and she pointed toward the north, which ended up being down a hallway and directly at a certain person of interest, "Such as..." her sentence trailed off.

"Your brother?" Dorothy completed the thought once she realized who it was Relena was pointing at.

"Today I am no leader," Milliardo Peacecraft (Zechs Marquise to most Oz Officers) dropped that thought hard. "I am just a soldier answering the call to duty of my homeland. I guess my esteemed sister was referring to the Captain of the _Archangel_, though I would venture to guess Captain Ramius would also beg to differ."

"And her subordinates would disagree," the Soup Cook / vanguard Special Operator answered adroitly. "Captain Ramius is downright humble about nearly everything she does, but one thing's for sure: the entire crew and mobile complement of the _Archangel _would gladly follow her on a charge against the gates of Hell. Romefeller front lines is another day on the job for us."

"Which proves Lady Relena correct in referring to her," Noin finished off the circle of thought.

Dorothy agreed, at least in part: "Average persons do not engender that kind of loyalty in their troops. As much as I have no position in this coming conflict, I will warn you that my grandfather has the same loyalty from his subordinates."

"Then I guess we'll just see what we'll see," Chief Ryback noted with a hint of detachment. Commander Noin smiled internally behind a poker face, convinced that it would take a crew of hardasses to show a world how to live on their own terms again, and convinced that the Archangel Team was the interdimensional team for the job.

"Lady Relena, your press conference is scheduled to begin in ten minutes," Pagan reminded her from the back of the pack, having received confirmation of the network's readiness from a technical officer.

"Now I go to give the people their outcome, but remember one thing, Dorothy: regardless of who wins this conflict, everyone loses, at least in part."

-x-x-x-

(19 November AC195, 1500 hours)  
(Forested area west of the Sanc Kingdom)

Defeat was impossible, Viscount Jacob Kessler had raged, but it was writ to anyone who looked. He had lost for fair, he had failed to pacify Treize and he had failed to bring compliant the Sanc Kingdom. Wholly three Brigades of forces between Luxembourg and the Sanc Kingdom, all smashed by the combined forces of two principalities and a mercenary unit. By all measures of the word, he had failed.

He had done a meager job in rallying the surviving forces to himself, so he could beat a hasty retreat back to Romefeller and present himself before Duke Dermail for his punishment. Such a blunder could not go unanswered. He had no way of knowing that other parties had a different design for him, given that all of his available early warning assets had already been stood down for departure to Romefeller bases...

-x-

"One minute!" Chief Ryback shouted back through the body of the transport chopper he had hijacked from Treize. With that said, the remainder of the Special Operations Squad readied their weapons and pulled down dust goggles; they were officially getting in on the action after the longest hour guarding the Sanc Kingdom administration. "Strike Freedom and Skygrasper will sanitize the area ahead of us, so we can drop in relatively unharassed. Remember, this is a capture mission; I want this Sod alive so he can answer for his crimes. Good to go?"

"AIRBORNE, SIR!" the rest of the unit shouted in response.

"Thirty seconds!" The OZ loadmaster shouted before he began lowering the rear door for the team to exit once the pilot landed.

"It's showtime, girls!" Chief Ryback half-shouted as he stood up and grabbed a hand-hold on one of the load straps above him. The remainder of the unit followed suit in the seconds thereafter, the margin was seconds, but seconds played a key role in fast assault actions such as this.

The chopper slammed down roughly, in fact quite a bit more than Ryback expected. Nobody lost their footing, since all had a grip on something solid in the helo. "Go go go!" The Loadmaster waved them out the back door, which they were all too happy to oblige.

The first man immediately went left of the chopper door and took a knee, his M60 light machine gun already raised and searching for a target. Of threats there were plenty, even after Kira and Mu had dealt with all the assets more powerful than a staff car. It was no surprise that infantry were milling about the area, and even some were trying to fire on the Strike Freedom or Skygrasper, though such efforts ended with the first bark of the M60.

The Thompson SMG was the favored weapon of the special forces unit for close quarters, and this was the right environment for the tool. Infantry body armor was scarce, and ranges were short enough that a good burst would put at least two rounds into a target. When the team began moving and shooting at anyone with weapons, it created a wave of panic in the enemy forces. Fear from the severe beating they received from the Sanc Kingdom, compiled with fear of the Archangel Team, then instant panic of having a Gundam assault the leftovers, and now added to the fear of a Special Forces assault, it all became a cocktail of panic and rout that no officer could ever hope of stopping.

Before the first Commando had to change out magazines, wholly two-thirds of the surviving enemy infantry were running away from the sound of the gunfire. Those that stood and tried to fight back were cut down without reserve by troops far more proficient in CQB than Romefeller drill sergeants would ever consider training for. The panic was only enhanced by the unfamiliar and deep bark of the Thompson, the metallic clanging sound of the M-60, and the mechanical chatter of the AKM assault rifles in the unit, all unfamiliar and somehow sinister sounds from an altogether frightening enemy unit.

A single strongpoint was able to put up a measure of resistance, a heavy machine gun crew that made the mistake of firing on the chopper before the Commandos. Their rounds found the side of the helo and actually punched through, but caused no notable damage to it beyond holes in one side and out the other. The Commandos immediately moved to suppress the strongpoint with concentrated fire, while the pastry chef threw a grenade into the machine gun pit. After the first detonated, a second grenade was thrown in for good measure albeit redundantly; the first blast had ended that phase of the fight without survivor to tell the tale.

"Move to target!" Ryback shouted his order, though allowed his subordinates to take the lead while he covered the left flank and the routed infantry that were running hard and fast toward mama.

As the team approached the command tent and stepped over the remains of a map table, a lone figure emerged from the tent flap with a pistol raised to the sky. His reactions were good, and he even managed to fire once in the general direction of the approaching commandos, but his one miss was answered by two Thompsons and the M-60; what was left of his head and torso was an unrecognizable mess before it struck the dirt and began leaking a puddle of blood onto the ground. A second later, a flashbang grenade entered the tent flap and detonated just past the downed officer, temporarily blinding and stunning the entire command staff.

The first of the team shoved through the side of the tent, not the doorway, lest someone inside be covering that entrance and simply spray it down to counter an assault. Inside, only one guard was present with a weapon, and his day ended with a burst of .45 ACP rounds to the chest. Once that was down, the soup chef used his Thompson to clothesline a lady radio officer down to the ground and pinned her to the dirt with the muzzle of his gun to her sternum. The number two man had done the same with an administrative officer immediately inside the tent, allowing clear ingress for the remainder of the team.

Ryback was the fifth inside the tent, and it was he who identified their target first. "Jacob Kessler, you are hereby under arrest for war crimes. Surrender immediately!" Ryback ordered as he brought his AK up and centered on the Viscount.

"Like hell I'll surrender," Kessler answered defiantly. His hand went to his holster, though when he drew his sidearm he did not take aim at the Commandos; his weapon kept going up, higher, higher...

"NO!" The soup chef shouted, his left hand reaching for a man who would not hear the plea. A half-second later, a single shot was fired.

"Holy fucking shit, that dude really didn't want to be captured," the bread specialist on the team groused with some reverence.

Ryback hesitated a moment before he dropped his aimpoint from the deceased Viscount. "_Archangel_, this is Cookie. Negative capture primary objective, tango dropped himself with one to the brainpan. We're going to bring in the rest of his staff and any collectibles from the command section."

"Cookie, _Archangel_, acknowledged negative capture. Salvage what you can and bring it in. I figured it possible he would refuse to be taken alive, so ."

-x-x-x-

(19 November AC195, 1800 hours)  
(Sanc Kingdom Administration Building, major banquet / meeting room.)

"It was definitely a lucky one," Pilot Tolle Koenig admitted to some of the students that had clustered around himself and Miriallia. The engagement ring was conspicuous on her hand, given that Miriallia was not one for finery and certainly not when on duty, but today was a day for dress uniforms all the way around. "They had the numbers to crush anyone, but the terrain was against them the whole way 'round. Forests like in this country, you don't rush in and you don't expect to use overwhelming firepower, it just doesn't happen."

"It was mostly the ship on the west," Miriallia noted. "They were slowed down so much, the enemy lines were easy pickings for our missiles and long-range guns."

A couple of the students shuddered. "How did you take it, lady Miriallia? Being shot at, that is?"

"I didn't even notice," Mir answered, creating the illusion that she was harder than most. "I was so busy keeping the ground units on target and moving, I didn't have time to think about the ship getting shot at." Here she nudged her fiance from the side. "And with Tolle and Yzak on the front deck as snipers, anyone that got close enough to shoot at the ship didn't live long enough to tell their buddies about it."

Again a couple of the ladies shuddered, but only on their over-romanticized fancies of Tolle being a stone-cold killer among a unit full of them. They both were and were not correct about it, but Miriallia wasn't going to spare them that illusion. Such an illusion might even keep them safe by way of keeping them away from such a soldier as her newly-confirmed fiance.

As the conversation turned away from the battle and to the future, Miriallia looked around to see how the other officers were doing. Her eyes crossed over Captain Ramius and Commander La Flaga, the 'command couple' as some were beginning to call them. Theirs was not a group of school-age, but a gaggle of Treize Faction officers...

-x-

"For what it was worth, my reserve was Aquarius and the 105 Dagger," Murrue admitted semi-sheepishly. "It is really bad form to commit to battle with little or no reserve, but I do not have much in the way of depth of forces. Really didn't have a choice in the matter."

"Even a couple more high-power machines would have done wonders, especially in the south shore battle," a Major noted but not harshly. "Even still, the striking power of your forces is beyond belief, were the results not easy to see."

"I would never look forward to taking your team on, not even if I had command of Romefeller and an extra Gundam or two," a Lt. Captain said in a hushed declaration. "And all you guys are trying to do is find a way home?"

"Right," Mu answered. "This is our fifth 'universe' so far, and we've been on six different planets not counting our home world or the nuked colonies." This time, it was three of the soldiers that shuddered at the thought of what happened when a colony was struck by a thermonuclear weapon. Murrue had made sure that anyone who wanted to see their video logs of that nightmare would have access to them — and more than a few Oz soldiers had reviewed that footage already. It was already a 'viral' record, the deceased PLANT colonies torn asunder by nuclear arms, and the descending continents of those colonies headed to the surface of Earth, and soldiers on both sides of the war had seen the files already. There were still contacts between friends in the Treize Faction group, and counterparts in Romefeller, and stories like this had a morbid fascination among military personnel...

"The problem we have right now is two parts principle and three parts practicality: Romefeller shot first, no warning, no parley, nothing. Right to the guns, and right to the swamp-em-with-numbers battle."

Mu reinforced the thought, since he was the officer in charge of the ship when the first shots had been taken. "One moment, silence, next moment, someone is trying to give our ship a new engine port by way of torpedoes. Murdoch had some choice words for that," Mu nodded, his expression grim.

"Murdoch? The mechanic that some people are referring to as 'Madman Murdoch'? The same?"

"That would be him," Captain Ramius confirmed with mock severity. She had to restrain herself from laughing outright, given that Murdoch would most likely take such a name as a compliment. Briefly her eyes ranged the crowd looking for the Petty Officer, but her sight crossed Relena first...

-x-

Relena's crowd was by far the largest in the gathering, but neither comprised of schoolgirls or military officers to be regaled with such tales as the Archangel Team could provide. Hers was business, and business was booming this evening.

"The weight of action, the price of inaction, no head of state can escape these questions," Relena segued into her next point from the last. "Neville Chamberlain had to weigh the same options as I did, in centuries past; he chose inaction, and his choice simply emboldened a very noisy neighbor to attack his homeland. His successor, Churchill, called in some favors and put forth a true weight of action. For centuries afterward, they were known as 'the greatest generation' by everyone involved, friend and foe. Mind you, I am not after glory or title or pages in a history book; all I want is an end to the social engineering that is being done by way of continual, unrelenting wars. I ask you all, is this such a hard favor to ask of the old-world aristocracy?"

"For us, no," one of the younger representatives answered in the short silence after her rather direct and penetrating question. "People like Dermail, yes, definitely so. They are high-functioning megalomaniacs, obsessed with power and the use of power, but otherwise rational in their actions...you disagree, miss Catalonia?" he directly asked Dorothy, who was operating as Relena's 'wingman' for the soiree.

"Not so much a disagreement as I do not take kindly to anyone speaking ill of my grandfather," Dorothy replied softly enough to count as an insult in its own right.

"Well, if you will excuse me for calling a spade a spade, milady Catalonia, your grandfather intended to use the pacification of the Sanc Kingdom as a loud example of what defiance of Romefeller authority would cost people. There is no good intention in that kind of action, only power and fear. These are not the actions of a moral, rational man, and I am not inclined to excuse them when my homeland would be on the list of nations to use such fear factor on."

Dorothy relented, understanding intellectually that he was right, but still bristled at the accusation. Had anyone bothered to profile Dorothy, they would have found the same measure of megalomania as her grandfather combined with a rather callous sociopathy, but both at a higher level of function than her Grandfather. She was the needling type, far less given to direct actions than her grandsire, but she desired to see war in all its glory and had a few thoughts on how to go about it even as Relena brought a temporary halt to war on this planet.

"Understandable," Dorothy finally answered. "Still, control exists at some level somewhere in any State; it is a necessity of government. The only question is how much control, and how much the illusion of fear. The same plays out on the international scale just as much, even if it is not always acknowledged."

"And that is a goodly part of the problem," Relena used Dorothy's position to bring the conversation back onto her course. "Fear, suspicion, disdain, these are the tools that states use to manipulate each other, but these are not constructive methods. We need to begin moving toward respect-based actions and policies if we expect to move forward and begin advancing as we can see from other's exploits," and Relena meant to nod toward the rather prominent Archangel Team pilot Pytor, but instead drew attention to Treize Khushrenada...

-x-

"I make no excuses for my actions, or those of my former subordinates," and on this Treize was referring to Zechs, who had donned his mask once more for appearance's sake. "I was under the impression that Romefeller's actions were with the intent of bringing about a new era of prosperity and proper transformation. When it became clear to me that all they desired was to shift power from one variation of tyranny to another, I balked and was dismissed to Luxembourg. Like-minded persons gathered to me, and Romefeller decided it expedient to silence my opinion. Thus my position here."

"I find it mildly hard to believe that one of the greatest champions of the aristocracy would shift opinion so readily," an older independent statesman noted with a thick dose of irony.

"And I do not cease my champion of the position, but the matter of the end result is my concern. I cannot sit idly by and watch as the nobility toys with the lives of the civilians for amusement and power-shifting. Such was the concern of the nobles in the medieval times; those days are long gone, and I propose they remain long gone."

A Countess nodded thoughtfully. "Staunch words, Colonel Treize, and I look forward to you following through with them to the letter," she used the last bit as much as a challenge as a delimiter.

"We shall," Zechs / Milliardo answered curtly. "We have both paid in blood, mistakenly in many cases, to feed the unseen ambitions of Duke Dermail. I am not willing to let the game go on; this is not a tragic opera he plays out on the world stage, this is a sad reality that too many suffer for his manipulations."

"I hear even the colonies stir to Lady Relena's banner today," Treize transitioned smoothly to a new and interesting topic. "While Romefeller would have turned their noses to the colonies in years past, it is impossible to discredit them now as a notable force waiting in the wings; the five guerrilla Gundams originated in the colonies, and even the _Archangel_ was a product of those who live in space." He stretched the truth deliberately on the last to amplify his point. He knew well the history of the _Archangel_, born in space to a nation that was primarily on the planet, for another planet-bound nation, but he figured the heart and soul of the ship was spacefaring to a fare-thee-well. They certainly did not conduct themselves like planet-bound persons, Treize had to admit.

"The one unknown right now is the Moon," Zechs moved toward a conclusive thought so he could begin milling around. "Romefeller still holds it, and still holds the colonies ransom with the Mobile Dolls. What happens on the moon could well decide the course of events to come."

"Though, in the end, the war will be won or lost here, in Europe," Treize brought home the point. "Romefeller, based in Paris, versus Sanc, based in Sweden; between them, a continent, a mercenary force, a future everyone wants control of but nobody should pay for. This is our Sophist tragedy of our day, but maybe the other players could change the course of the play?"

"I salute that thought," a younger dignitary replied with a raised glass of chardonnay; others in the crowd followed suit quickly. "Though, if I may ask, when the future is decided, what shall you do then, Colonel?"

"I am reviewing options for that time," and his gaze passed over the two betrothed Archangel Team members, Miriallia and Tolle. If anything, he intended to see to their wedding after the conclusion of hostilities, as a measure of gratitude for changing the inevitable and bloody outcome of the wars here in the Earth Sphere.

* * *

**Author's Chapter Afterword**:

And thus ends my semi-funk and writer's block. I have done over 30K words in 2 months, which is a real breaker for any major loss of motivation I may have been under. If I can do that much in that little, even on the arse-end of a nasty schedule I have kept for the past couple weeks, I have no recourse but to officially declare myself back in the game.

On the other hand, I didn't exactly do myself any favors by jumping into the deep end of the quagmire with a straight warfare chapter. I will admit, this was rough as hell to go in full bore into one of the nastiest mobile warfare campaigns I have ever put to paper. That said, it is both a good refresher and a good preparatory write; I am headed for some bloody waters in all of my stories, JW, DFA, MMC, and AAA are all going to get real bloody real fast.

You will notice a lot of very rapid changes in the battle actions in areas; this is by design and by dice. Real life is a very unforgiving mistress in warfare, and I aim for that dynamic content in my writing. Granted the advantage swings one way today, but it can swing another way tomorrow. This battle was a pisser for the Archangel crew; fatigue can lead to mistakes, and mistakes can get costly.

One thing I did not like about the canon Sanc Kingdom battle was the compression and lack of options. Granted, with only a handful of MS and one gundam until Quatre tried pulling a big damn heroes moment, there was little to no hope for the Sanc Kingdom and rightly so. Circumstances changed to a significant degree in the chapter before this one, so the outcome changes with it. Again, this is where the true dynamic showing of interdimensional adventuring comes into play: add a new element and subsequent events will change. I've seen a lot of people mash disparate elements together and try to run it through a pre-written history line, and to me those things always struck me as more artificial than saccharin. It tastes good until you realize that what you're eating is empty and impossible to digest...

Well, now, I do believe I have not completely covered all my bases as to material that may or may not have come up in the past couple chapters. Necessarily I had to bury a few things due to the direction the narrative needed to go, but a few threads I am leaving hanging at this time, for the purpose of pulling them loose and revealing all in coming chapters. There were some outlandish guesses made in reviews that may or may not be accurate; I am not going to comment on that directly, but as always I will reply to reviews and the definitive answers will come of the story in chapters soon.

For now, though I wish to thank all of my readers, greenhorn and veteran, for hanging in there and showing patience with me over the past couple of years. Where the lifespan of most fics on this site are measured in weeks, I have readers that have been reading this since its inception in 2009, which is 4 years running and still not done. My plans remain unchanged, I still have several sections to go and a couple revisits to enact, but as the relevancy of material changes, so do my plans...and the bizarreness of the necessary outcome. I have sworn a personal oath to complete, and so long as I have the ability to write I intend to do so. That said, I have my fears at this time, a genuine concern that circumstances at large may compromise my ability to write or may even kill me. The world around us is not as friendly as we are led to believe from day to day, trust me on that if nothing else. Given that I had several attempts at my life before I even turned 16, I can attest to how unfriendly the world is. I will do what I can, as quickly as I can muster it; if I suddenly go silent and fail to respond to even PMs, wish me well in Valhalla. I figure I'll be in good company in those lands.

Enough of that morose crap for a day. NEXT UP: The campaign to move against Romefeller begins in earnest, as circumstances among the minor players begin shifting. Even the best strategists will have a hard time predicting the results of the shifting bands of power...

* * *

**Review Replies**: A grand total of 29 reviews spread across several different chapters, the bulk being to Chapter 34. Thank you one and all for the replies, and like usual, first review, first replied :)

_**Nightblade 1021**_: Oh yes, several of the Archangel crew have summon skills, but in a dynamic mobile engagement Summons are mostly at a disadvantage. A few of the highest Summons would be hellishly capable in battles like the one in this chapter, but the only summon on that list in the hands of the Archangel is Phoenix and said bird is more of a noncombatant than an offensive measure.

_**Artguy0123**_: It is an accolade I would honor.

_**2ndsly**_: A bummer to hear your life was/is going to hell. How goes things nowadays?

Well, I've changed around my dice procedures since the major FUBAR in JW1-12. The dice decide the course, now I put a helluva lot more effort into making it reality without it seeming artificial or contrived. Good to see things are starting to work out in that favor.

On the Captain, well, be wary on your guess. There are more than a few things that could cause problems of that nature.

Should the dice come up bones for Tolle, well, them's the breaks. Crap happens and all that. You will note that no such problem happened here, all misplaced trees notwithstanding...

Thank you for the review, and no worries about missing the review for 33. I expect hit-or-miss reviews, and any input whenever you can is a good thing.

_**Infinite Freedom**_: Be wary your bet, amigo. I just set up the preconditions that can be one of multiple problems, and let the dice decide at a later time what it actually is that is causing the issue. You may be right, you may be wrong.

On the gophers, yeah, I got rid of that batch, but a new warren of the ground-destroying asshats have moved in. Time to break out and sight in the old lever-action .22 again...

_**CHM01**_: Always a pleasure to get a review in from you. Your questions in series:

1. Murrue may or may not be. Keep in mind, she may not be stacking up larger than prior, I don't think I mentioned why it was happening for a reason.

2. The Shuivan variants may show up in later chapters, but not as Archangel-side units. Remember, those machines were piloted by some pretty bad chicks in service of one real omnicidal asshole, so...

3. I left that thread hanging for a reason. Someone will pull on it, eventually.

4. I have had more than one request for Code Geass, but where we go next is classified.

5. Metal Gear Haro? That would be almost as creepy as Metal Gear Kirby, though with some added annoyance.

_**C0dy88**_: Ain't that the truth; in a world gone mad with power, those who have none or use none are simply targets for those with the power.

That _was_ their plan. Nope :)

Well, Murrue's plight may have a more simple explanation, or may be a bit longer, or may be what you guessed. I'll leave that up to your imagination for now.

You should come hang with us whackos on the Best Warship forum for SEED. We get some pretty raucous debates going.

_**NEB Sparky x86**_: Not sure if you sent those new models to me or not. If you would, please send them again? And do no concern over depowering them, I natively do not play fair.

_**Takeshi Yamato (BETA)**_: Patience, grasshopper. Kira or Hikaru might make a move, or they might not. The dice shall answer.

_**Necroblade (BETA)**_: I wonder, is it possible to do a wiki for free? I could certainly do so for the MMC / JW series.

As to Zechs, well, here's his opening move. I think it will get better for him in coming chapters...

_**Knightowl 4183**_: Oh yes, it can be done, building new units. Ask yourself one question: why put forth the effort to build new units when you can salvage and modify ones captured in battle?

Another thing to consider is that maintenance of a machine does not require full blueprints all the time; in fact, a blueprint may be counterproductive when planning maint or upgrades. Sometimes, all you need to know is a certain bits of structural or technical data. Aircraft mechanics typically use a minimal set of schematics and work from general understanding of the process, just as one example.

_**Skywalker T-65**_: Relena is a linchpin in the story, and she did have a shown propensity for growing some spine (Endless Waltz, anyone?), but it took her to the end of the Wing timeline to do so. Athrun just happened to jumpstart her blossoming into someone capable of holding her own.

_**Dustin (Anon Review)**_: Welcome to the party and thanks for a first review!

If I can get my hands on the Zoids CC anime, that may be a possible. Thanks for the consideration points!

_**Flawless Cowboy 2552**_: Damn good review and thought amigo. Only issue with the thought is, _Archangel_ already has the alternate reality jump capability, the problem is something is screwing with the ship's ability to properly determine its current location and destination jump pattern. I have a plan for that one, a sorta creepy plan, but a plan nonetheless.

You are right about Kira's gundam, and it is all about the nanomachining abilities the said Gundam has for the purpose of self-repair. You are also right about the possible uses, of which Kira already uses for building repair components for the other machines. The limiting factors are time and materials; salvage is consumed at somewhere between 1.5x and 4.5x depending on the conversion type, so it is definitely not an easy operation for scrapping and rebuilding. Additionally, to machine a whole new Gundam would literally take months, approaching a year of machining time; not exactly a fast conversion. The systems in the Strike Freedom are for repair, not necessarily for construction even though they can be put to that use.

_**Barricade**_: Keep in mind, I do NOT follow accepted or expected literary norms when I write. What you think is a death flag for a guy may not be any big thing for Tolle in the long run in my writing.

1. Relena is still by nature a pacifist, just a little more realistic about the matter. Don't expect her to deliver a good 'hellfire and brimstone' speech for some time, if at all.

2. Nope, not Athrun in this one, he's just trying to keep it level. And I don't think death would be the result (unless Miriallia found out), but I'm pretty sure bad things will happen to anyone who does get caught in public knowledge of such an incident.

3. Some, but not a huge amount of Espers. And keep in mind the scale of the targets and fluidity of the battle; Espers were not a good call for this engagement due to the rapidly shifting lines and the foes they were facing. Other areas, well, the Espers may show their true strengths.

4. I am actually thinking Wufei versus Yzak right now, but we'll see who gets into it when...

5. It is a good thought, and a possibility for Murdoch's Madmen to get into. Of course, with some Elementals on board, they have a good example even if they tone it down a bit.

6. And people have some mixed words for me about my using dice, but this chapter has some moments courtesy of them...

_**Etienne Of The West Wind**_: Always a pleasure to have you picking at my logic (or in this case, lack thereof).

See, the whole thing is a bit of a red herring. I just set up a series of circumstances; obviously, between you and some other reviewers, you've demonstrated half a dozen things it could be in opposition to the given assumption. I wonder how the dice decides on this subject...

Now, on Tolle dying, well, you should know by now that I don't play by the common ruleset. Have you peeps no faith in Tolle?

Relena is just getting started.

_**Knives 91**_: My apologies for the delay, I hope the carnage was good enough for you :)

_**Mega 1987**_: Val raises a legit question, and with the possibility of new and interesting parties on the way, Terra will get some screen time of the unusual type shortly. I have some significant plans for her.

_**Strata-Assassin (BETA)**_: Duo and some black Haros? That combination is far too munchie, even for me. Add Athrun and Kira to the mix, and it exceeds all FDA and IATA recommended exposures to weirdness that I know of.

I have never considered myself soft or hard, per se. I am simply an arbiter, the purveyor of insanity in this realm. What happens therein, well, I'm just doing my job.

Athrun is just one of the crew that has changed, and you see a good one in the chapter, if briefly (Pytor). More will be changing in coming chapters, in the inevitable march of time nothing can stay the same.

It looks like comic relief, but it may not be funny if that becomes common knowledge. It may get messy.

Well, it was Miriallia and Heero in the range, with Rashid doing his own thing, but actually I beg to differ on the 'don't bring a knife to a gunfight' thing. Militaries all over the world still issue knives and bayonets, and my personal gear harness has a 13" survival knife next to my rifle ammo. There is a time and a place for every implement, but a smart guy doesn't consider a knife to be a primary weapon except in desperation.

On Dorothy and Sai, you may be reading too far in between the lines...or not. Who knows yet?

Relena's got a long way to go still, in my opinion. She's probably going to take a level in hardness before this gig is up.

NP on the opening delay. I know what your schedule sounds like, I have done my time in college. Operate at your own pace, amigo.

_**Dustin (Review 2) (Anon Review)**_: A very interesting thought, and for a very interesting series that has been on my to-watch list for some time. I may have to bump the priority there.

_**Synbad2**_: Now I know this is a first review, so in following with John McLean's quote after throwing Heinrich out the window, "Welcome to the party, pal!"

I have been giving thought to taunting the crew with the UC Gundam franchise, but I was thinking more along the lines of 0083 Gundam; newer and fresher suits and ships, same hardass feel.

_**ZeroBlade 88**_: I don't think you reviewed prior, so once again, welcome to the party :)

FF 13-2 is on my list of games to pick up so I will have to keep an eye out for that tidbit. I figured it inevitable that Square would see that writing on the wall sometime, so it may be purely coincidental...

Or I could do the same with MC and Cortana as you recommend with Noble Team. On the powers that be, well, technically if you've read through the story you've seen hints of them. The Gods of yore are off their thrones, booted by a certain hardass who shall remain nameless. This is pure chance the Archangel runs on, though some of the 'powers that be' are inadvertently making things worse for them...

My apologies for the long space, but as I explained in my author notes, I kinda dropped off into a funk and had no motivation to write. I'm back in the game now, and I intend to stay there.

_**Hellhound D.O.W**_**.**: I hope the chapter meets your expectations, amigo. It was helluva fun writing it out after all this time of angsting over my inability to motivate myself to write.

I don't really have a theme song in mind for the ship, but Ghost River by Nightwish strikes me as poignant. Still and all, I have a respect for Avenged Sevenfold that I don't normally hold for most American high-commercial bands. Not that I live for indie material, per se, my aim is mostly symphonic metal.

On your idea of Phase-shift Gundanium, no dice. Phase Shift is an inherently electric defensive measure, trading electrons for kinetic force. Gundanium is an electrically nonconductive material as per Gundam sources, so you can't combined the two. Of course, there are variations of Phase Shift that can be used, and one exists on the Strike Freedom, so...

_**Kyryst**_: Thank you for the questions. Here are my answers to your thoughts:

1. The units salvaged were sold back to the Twycross Militia for extra profit. Nobody in the crew saw a need for the vehicles, so...

2. It has changed multiple times over the story line, and will change several more. I have some serious plans on that note still to come.

3. Those are all options, but some of those changes are reliant on the dice. Stand by for further. (They are saving the ABDC canisters, of which there are few left, for some real heavy threats).

4. The beam cannons from the Virgos were used in turret assemblies around the ship, but so far most of the salvaged MS were used for parts.

5. That possibility exists, though what method possible is still up for debate. Depends mostly on where they go.

6. I would dare to say yes, it would be cruel. On the other hand, between the initial Clan Invasion and the Jihad are a couple good-sized wars to drop in on, so...

7. I think I can gin up a crew chart. A bit late for this chapter, due to my post schedule, but it will be doable for the next.

REVISION to 7: A crew chart has been drawn up, including my tallies of unnamed personnel and the persons with nametags we all know and love. NOTE: This chart will be subject to change as the story goes on.

_**Tyrant Dragon Knight**_: Oh, there will be some fracas in that direction to come, trust me...

_**Lerris (Review 1)**_: You have a point, but remember that Athrun is a mechanical expert, and I specifically did not give them a huge charge from the makeshift generator.

_**Lerris (Review 2)**_: It is not so much an allergy in my case, but you are right, I should throw it in some more.

_**Flawless Cowboy (Review Chap 11)**_: I have heard that song, but I thought the name fit to a tee, as you pointed out.

_**Cyspark 01**_: When it ends up in water is mostly chance. Remember, this planet is 70% water for its surface. Who knows? They may end up balanced on the peak of Mount Everest in the next jump...

As to the jump pack, well, it is integrated into the ship without issue, but something is interfering with its work...

**Knightowl 4183**: Something similar already exists in the series: Kira's Gundam. Only thing is, it is not exactly a fast process and it eats a massive amount of material for limited use. Don't expect to make a whole Mobile Suit without feeding it several platoons worth of scrapped MS for the purpose, and don't expect it in the same calendar year as when you start the process. The repair systems on the Strike Freedom were not designed for that purpose.

**THANK YOU ALL FOR THE REVIEWS!** I have read these reviews several times since the chapter was released, though as much as I wanted to move forward I could not break myself out of my funk until just recently. Now I am back in the game, and I intend to stay that way.

* * *

**The Gripe Sheet**:

No outstanding complaints from the last chapter. Much thanks to **Necroblade**, **Takeshi Yamato**, and **Strata-Assassin** for the assist!

* * *

**Footnotes**:

(1): **A**bove **G**round **L**evel, which is an altitude check used more often by military pilots than ASL (Sea level) in land engagements.

(2): **S**ONAR **A**lgorithmic **P**rocessing **S**uite, dedicated electronic systems used to declutter SONAR returns automatically for the sensor operators (In this case, Kira)

(3): **K**inetic **E**nergy **W**eapons, any weapon which relies on a solid object moving at velocity to cause impact trauma to do damage. Firearms (shotgun, pistol, rifle), gauss rifles, the Valiants, autocannons (using non-explosive slugs) are considered KEW systems, and even your fist or foot is technically a kinetic weapon.

(4): **R**ear-**E**chelon **M**other **F**ucker, a common disparagement term used for senior leadership. Sometimes also used for support personnel that are less-than-supportive of the front-line troops, though this is the less-common use.

(5): **Dezgra** is a Clan term, meaning disgraced or dishonored. In common practice, it is used only to describe those who are beyond the pale, who have no honor and deserve no proper conduct. It is a severe insult to a Clanner to call them Dezgra, and is usually grounds for a Trial of Grievance right then and there when said.

(6): **Solahma** is another Clan term, This one referring to warriors considered too old to be of value in the front lines. These warriors (Pytor is a prime example) are usually relegated to second-line units with the express intent of them being used for garrison work, bandit hunting, and cannon fodder purposes.

(7): **Eisensturm** is German, translates to 'Iron Rain'. Rather appropriate for an artillery section, IMHO.

* * *

**EXTENDED NOTES SECTION**: The crew of the Archangel & Their home planets (As of this chapter)

Earth (Cosmic Era): 64 remaining crew members, and 9 Special Operations Infantry, including the following:  
Murrue Ramius (Captain)  
Mu La Flaga (Commander, Mobile Forces)  
Arnold Newman (Petty Officer, Spec Forces Sniper and Archangel Helmsman)  
Dalida Lolaha Chandra II (Proper spelling), "Chandratta" to most of the crew. (Petty Officer, Fire Control Officer)  
Sai Argyle (Ensign, Electronic Warfare Officer)  
Kuzzey Buskirk (Warrant Officer 2/c, Radio Operator)  
Miriallia Haw (Petty Officer, Mobile Forces Controller)  
Tolle Koenig (Ensign, Pilot Officer)  
Kira Yamato (Ensign, Pilot Officer / Systems Analyst)  
Kojiro Murdoch (Petty Officer, Lead Mechanic)  
Elian Rigos, "Gomer" to the mechanical crews (Warrant Officer 3/c, Mechanical Specialist / unofficial 2-I-C of hangar crew)  
Casey Ryback (Petty Officer, Head Chef and Special Operations Lead)

PLANTs (Cosmic Era): 0 crew members, and the following personnel:  
Athrun Zala (Ensign, Pilot Officer / Mechanical Assistant)  
Yzak Joule (Ensign, Pilot Officer / Intelligence Analyst)  
Nicol Amalfi (Ensign, Pilot Officer / Infiltration and Recon Specialist)

Earth (CLAMP Continuum): 0 crew members, and the following personnel:  
Hikaru Shidou (Magic Knight)  
Umi Ryuuzaki (Magic Knight)  
Fuu Hououji (Magic Knight)

Cephiro (CLAMP Continuum): 0 Crew Members

Dustball (Inner Sphere): 0 Crew Members

Romulus (Inner Sphere): 2 Crew Members (Enlisted after Twycross battles)

Twycross (Inner Sphere): 28 Crew Members surviving

Clan Homeworlds (Clan Cluster): 16 abtahka Crew Members surviving and 10 Elementals, including the following:  
Pytor (abtahka Mechwarrior, Pilot Officer)  
Natalya (abtahka Elemental, Battle Armor Infantry Point Commander)

Gaia (Final Fantasy mixed planet): 53 Crew Members, including the following:  
Terra Branford (Warrant Officer 3/c, Summoner Specialist, Mage Specialist, and Hot Springs Maintenance Officer)

Earth Sphere (Cosmic Era alternate history): 12 Crew Volunteers from PLANTs, and the following personnel:  
Morgan Chevalier (Lieutenant, Pilot Officer)

Sanc Kingdom (After Colony): 4 Crew Volunteers

**TOTAL**: 133 crew, 38 personnel dedicated to Mobile Forces

**MAX CAPACITY CREW**: 175 Crew + 88 persons dedicated to Mobile Forces


	36. Shipping Interdiction

(Archangel's Amazing Adventures, Chapter 36: Shipping Interdiction)

(20 November AC195, 0600 hours)  
(Romefeller Headquarters, Paris, France)

"This is Channel 9 News, with the hot story of the week, probably of the year: Romefeller forces engaged in fighting in the rebellious Sanc Kingdom territory have been confirmed to be defeated soundly by the Invading Mercenary Hordes. Though personnel losses were minimal due to heavy utilization of the new Mobile Doll system — "

-click-

"The attack centered here, on the western border of the nation," Captain Morgan Chevalier told the pundits on the channel broadcast. He was demonstrating the action against a map of the Kingdom. "We struck against the attack here, and used special assets against the northern fork here, allowing us to stop this entire brigade section with seven units total and a goodly helping of support from the _Archangel_ itself — "

-click-

"Viscount Jacob Kessler is confirmed dead, though details of his demise are sketchy. Romefeller forces report he was gunned down in a savage display of barbarism by the Archangel Team, though the officers involved from the Archangel Team report he shot himself to prevent capture. His body has been turned over to an independent medical team for final — "

-click-

"You can clean your home in a quickie if you use a Schticky — "

-click-

"And we call upon Duke Dermail to stand down his position to prevent further loss of life and property in the European mainland area," the replay of Relena's speech from last night echoed again on the news.

-click-

The infographic of the ship changed from the clear hull shot to a wireframe model. "The major weapon systems on the _Archangel_ consist of two paired naval beam cannons, two naval rail guns, two antimatter siege cannons used for destruction of large targets, and 32 multipurpose missile launchers capable of deploying any missile system up to 5 tons per missile — "

-click-

"The question now becomes, what is the Sanc Kingdom's next move? Now that they have a powerful ally in Treize Khushrenada, they have defensive options and with their existing alliance to the Archangel Team, they have offensive options that Duke Dermail could only dream of — "

-click-

"With the ongoing issues in the colonies, the fate of the Romefeller Mobile Doll program is in jeopardy if they cannot acquire enough Gundanium alloy to armor their machines. Without the unmanned mobile weapons, many analysts believe that the war will have a quick and conclusive end should the Sanc Kingdom or the Archangel Team move against Paris. In other news — "

-click-

"You're gonna spend twenty dollars every month on paper towels anyway, you're throwin' away your money —"

-click-

"We are inside the cavernous Hangar deck of the _Archangel_, with Mechanic Commander Kojiro Murdoch. Petty Officer, what is your opinion of the Romefeller forces, and your estimation of the coming battles?"

"Well, on the Romefeller forces, they're wussies. They hide behind their Mobile Dolls, they can't engage in anti-ship warfare and they can't respond to pressure. They're not going to hold up to our coming operations when the Captain lets loose the leash, follow?"

-click-

The room went silent for several seconds after Duke Dermail finally shut the television off. "Five hundred channels, and roughly a third of them are saying I got my ass kicked. I have not yet begun to fight!" he raged at the blank screen across the room.

-x-x-x-

(20 November AC195, 0700 hours)  
(_Archangel_, Hangar Deck, parked at Sanc Kingdom Spaceport)

"Gomer! Front and center!" Murdoch shouted across the bay in the general direction he thought his 2-I-C was in.

"Right here, sir," said mechanic declared from directly behind Murdoch. The answer caused the chief mechanic to jolt slightly, but he did not turn on the subordinate.

"Get two of the Maganac in repair cubes. We'll cycle them through as fast as possible. No paint jobs, they can worry about that on their own time," Murdoch ordered. "Use cubes thirteen and fourteen, since we don't have any Omnimechs in those right now." In point of fact, the Stone Rhino and Timber Wolf were out and about patrolling around the starport perimeter to prevent a sneak attack from Romefeller while the ship underwent repair and refit cycles.

"Sir, some of these machines can't stand. Who do we call to prop them up until they have a leg to stand on?" Gomer's aide-de-camp asked.

"I dunno, whoever's in the crew lounge, find someone," Murdoch said. "Get it moving! We need to be ready to deploy in 24 hours, tops!"

"Whips and chains, sir!" Gomer answered with a salute and was immediately on the move.

Across the world, millions of live-report viewers paused their DVR boxes and rewound the footage to verify Gomer had indeed answered his CO in that fashion. Still others who heard it right the first time found themselves laughing at the mechanic's odd sense of humor.

"Attention hangar personnel, be advised we are moving 60mm cannon ammunition at this time from explosive stores to cubicles 3, 4 and 6. All personnel are to use caution in the area of explosive handlers," the speakers announced.

"Oi! Will the wanker from Bay 9 please return all tools lifted from the blue cart outside bay 10 at first possible? Some of us have work to do!" Someone else shouted over the hangar intercoms. Again, millions around the world found his accent and his complaint funny.

The camera team swept across the bay, looking around at the various machines and the multitude of personnel servicing them. It was certainly not a small effort to keep the Mobile Suits, Gundams, Battlemechs, and Fighters in operational condition, and a world got a rare look at the inner workings of a warship's hangar area.

"HEY!" Murdoch shouted. "Slow that number three crane down! Those damn things are expensive!"

"I'm doin' it! I'm doin' it!" One of the team leads shouted. "Slow down on crane three! Boss is getting antsy!"

"This is Gomer to all bay personnel: the phrase 'holy shit' is not to be used as an official safety phrase. It may be used as necessary when fleeing imminent danger. That is all."

"Damn good thought," Murdoch said. All too many of his teams had taken to using 'holy shit' as a general declaration of trouble, officially or not, which tended to complicate matters.

"Murdoch, what are your men doing right now to the Duel? I heard it did not see combat," the reporter in the bay asked. She was wearing a hard-hat (as were her sound and camera crew personnel) and safety vest as per _Archangel_ maintenance crew policies.

"Right now, the Duel does not need any extra repairs, so we are flushing reactor coolant and reloading its weapon sets. It may not have been involved directly, but it did fire on enemy Suits multiple times." Murdoch shifted looking angles, and grunted at what he saw. "Tony, you cannibalize any more parts of that GuAIZ and I'll whoop your ass raw for it! That's supposed to be the Commander's new unit!"

"How much ammo will the Duel Gundam carry at a full load?" the Reporter asked.

"Oh, 9 missiles, 1 RPG, fifty rounds of railgun, 40 missiles from the shoulder-carried Aries Missile Pack, and about a hundred EM rifle rounds in its static magazine. Not limited to ammo is the beam rifle and beam sabers it carries," Murdoch replied evenly.

"We've heard reports that the Planet Defenser systems on a Mobile Doll make it impossible to destroy. Care to elaborate?"

"Not hardly," Murdoch said with a growl to voice. "Planet Defensers will stop beam weapons, but they're useless against ballistic weapons. Most of the Duel's arsenal is ballistic, and every unit we have carries ballistic or missile weapons. And, if we really wanted to, the beam cannons on the ship could blow through several sets of planet defensers. We have options, no matter how many Mobile Dolls they throw at us."

"Huh," the reporter found herself left with nowhere to go once Murdoch stated he was less than worried about the evolving threats from Romefeller. "If I may, erm," she began, but faltered.

"Jules! I want the Vayeate full-up and ready to go within the hour or I want to know why!" Murdoch shouted into the distance.

"Almost done, sir!" Someone else shouted back.

"Honey, as much noise as you're making, you keep hanging around and I'll put you and your crew to work," Murdoch told the reporter that was dogging him.

"Oh, okay, one more question?" Murdoch nodded even as he turned back toward the Mercurius maintenance detail. "Why are you doing this?"

Murdoch chuckled grimly. "Why? Simple. Romefeller shot first, Romefeller tried putting us six leagues under the waves, Romefeller even fooled the Sanc Kingdom into jumping us. Someone gets to bleed for this chain of attempted murders, and I'm pretty sure I know who is responsible for it all, so there's my target. You'll get similar answers from anyone else in the unit, so..."

"Wow," the reporter gaped, completely in the dark on that matter. She figured the mercenaries really did not have any reason to lie, given their story of wanting to leave on their interdimensional journey, so they weren't in the running for anything other than just this contract. That made everything that Romefeller was saying about the Archangel Team less than accurate.

"All right, clear this area, honey. I have gear that needs to be where you're standing, unless you want to help around the shop?"

"All right, this is Action Six news, signing off before we get run over," she said to the camera as a cargo exoframe began trudging into view with several stacked crates.

-x-x-x-

(20 November AC195, 1000 hours)  
(Sanc Kingdom Administration Building, Primary Conference Room)

"Please be seated, Captain," Relena said to the Captain. Technically she was Queen of the realm, so the Captain stood at her pleasure as was proper etiquette.

"Thank you," Murrue said.

"Colonel Khushrenada, the Sanc Kingdom extends you our thanks for assisting in the defense of the realm. Please, if you wish to join us?" She gestured to another seat.

"A pleasure, milady Peacecraft," Treize answered.

"So, let us begin," Relena prompted. "With roughly three decades of military strategy experience in this room, I am confident we can bring an end to this omni-destructive war in short order. I am not confident, however, that the pundits on the major broadcast networks have it correct. Is that a reasonable assumption?"

"It is accurate, milady," Treize answered smoothly. "The destruction of three brigades of combat power, though very significant, is not enough to break the back of the Romefeller foundation. These are men who buy armies on their pocket change; the dozen victories as we have won here in the past week would not completely reduce their numbers."

"Control is the name of the game, Queen Relena," Mu La Flaga said in the short silence thereafter. "I have seen it more than once in my career, and on more than one planet. Break the controlling party, you break the apparatus below it."

"And that is the difficult part," Zechs Merquise noted coldly. "These men are entrenched. Not only will it be a challenge to get to them, eliminating them or forcing a surrender will not be easy. They have a sizable portion of the planet under their thumb, and each will have personal retreat plans to be enacted at first necessity. We could spend decades chasing them down."

The comment went to the last in the room to speak. "Breaking their army will be a lot tougher than breaking their morale or leadership. To force a surrender, though, we will need to do all three, and we will need to get a little dirty to make it work right."

"What are you intending?" Relena asked fairly.

"The first thing we need to do is break their supply line of replacement Mobile Dolls. That will involve a raiding strike on the Moon, which we can do easily and quickly after we gear up and reload for it."

"While you are in space, it might also be prudent to decommission Space Fortress Barge, to prevent the Oz Space Force from holding the colonies for ransom while we smash their command structure," Zechs considered.

"Far easier said than done, but a prudent move," Treize acknowledged. "Planetside, the first thing we need to do is consolidate defenses here in the Sanc Kingdom, and rally anyone possible to the banner."

"Could we use the Maganac Troops as primary defenses for the Kingdom, while the _Archangel_ deals with the space-borne threats?" Relena asked, instantly belying her inexperience on the subject.

"Not enough defensive depth milady," Zechs answered.

"For now, my troops will hold primarily in the western forests to prevent another en-masse assault on the Kingdom," Treize decided. "The Maganac forces can handle the eastern areas, given there should be little threat and only small incursions if any. The _Archangel_ is the rapier of the force, comparative to the main gauche (1) duty my forces serve."

"I am good with that," Murrue said plainly. "We have a track record of tearing up Romefeller forces, and right now the only major worry is a desperation attack."

"It will not be easy. Romefeller will do their utmost to defend the existing assets on the moon and Space Fortress Barge. You will have to fight hard for those victories," Zechs said.

"Still, it takes those chips out of the hands of Romefeller, so it is worth the shot," Mu countered. "And the loss of an asset like _Barge_ would hit everyone on their side — and prove that we can win against their hardest assets."

"Concur," Treize answered simply. "It is highly unlikely to force a surrender, but the detriment to their morale will be worth the cost in the long run. On the ground, we need to consider moves against important assets for the coming campaign, once the _Archangel_ has returned from space and refit for ground battle."

"The first thing we want to do is force the issue here in the Baltic," Mu opined. "If we cut down their naval power, the threat to the Sanc Kingdom is minimal at best."

"If we render victory for them impossible, we can move against their mainland Europe bases at leisure," Murrue considered. "We have already smashed more than a few on our general rampaging, but hitting a few more might start causing desertions or surrenders."

"As an opening position, I suggest something else in the way of a grandstand operation," Treize said. "Moscow, Russia, though in the opposite direction that we intend to move, may hold strategic value above and beyond its apparent significance. If we hit Moscow and take it, liberate the city in full view of the world press and make it clear that is what we are doing, we can shift opinion. We then begin taking other major Russian cities, moving slowly westward and holding more land. As more people are freed up we gain more of an army to shore up possessions. Conscripts, mostly, and they will have to be leavened with seasoned fighters or military personnel, but the principle holds. Mostly, it embarasses the leadership of the Romefeller Foundation to see their territory liberated by mercenaries and 'traitors', which will echo in the press and in the hearts of their remaining troops."

Relena considered their suggestion, and decided that it would be preferable to liberate territory as opposed to simply forcing the issue with Romefeller. The time frame required would likely be longer, but it would also take pressure off the Sanc Kingdom across the board.

"Captain, what is your opinion on the matter?" Relena asked fairly.

"It won't be a fast operation, milady," Murrue answered. "On the other hand, it takes a lot of load off the tip of the spear and forces Romefeller to handle hundreds of threats, not just a few. Once we liberate a few states and show the world it can be done, the rebellions will start up globally."

"It will also be the deadliest course, at least for Romefeller. If guerillas were to capture Duke Dermail or his subordinates, don't expect leniency for the prisoners," Zechs noted fairly.

"Don't expect trial by jury, either," Mu judged with an ironic voice. "If we get to them first, after the rebellion is in full swing, we can offer them a clean way out — with the alternative being the very unhappy civilians heavily armed with pitchforks and torches and ropes of varying length."

"Like I said, it will be a dirty end, but if it comes to that then the dirt is not really on us so much as it is on Romefeller," Murrue commented.

"The old-world aristocracy has enough dirt already," Treize said in a soured fashion. "I don't intend to abolish that, or to allow it abolished by others, but I do intend to clean house."

"I expected as much," Relena said. "Name your conditions, Colonel."

"I have no conditions...yet," Treize answered calmly. "When I have a better idea what is required to prevent this problem recurring, I may have some at that time."

Murrue wisely said nothing, knowing that this could be a serious bump in the road to achieving their objectives, but some nagging part of her senses figured it would work out well.

-x-x-x-

(20 November AC195, 2030 hours)  
(Warship _Archangel_, Hot Springs Area)

"This is the Hot Springs area, Colonel Treize, and to the left we have one of our Holovideo Break Rooms for off-duty crew. The room we use for official purposes is up toward the command area and stateroom." One enterprising mechanic had put up a marquee sign that Kira had tied into the system so it automatically updated with the name of the presently playing show. In this case, the Engine Mechanics were doing a horror-film fest with the Evil Dead series. Of course, with how much they were laughing at said film, Commander La Flaga figured the moves less horror and more bloody comedy.

"Interesting," the Colonel noted. "Officially, what can you do with these Holo systems?"

"Well, we use them to replay battle footage to analyze foes and tactics used, and mostly for reviewing training sessions to sharpen our teams up."

"Ah, nothing of the poisonous 'correctness' doctrines that strike armies from time to time," Treize noted as the two officers entered the men's side of the hot springs.

"No, I had to deal with that a few times in my Earth Alliance days, but nothing on this ship. We are definitely not in the 'corrected' category of anyone's army, unless you know of any dystopic piecemeal mercenary units around here?"

"No, no such units in the Earth Sphere. There are some assorted colonies out in the Asteroid Belt, so potentially there, but none that I have dealt with short of this team," Treize noted as he began preparing himself for a relaxing run through the hot springs. "I still find it amazing that such a facility would exist on a warship."

"It's become one of the unofficial gathering points for the crew after duty shifts," Mu said.

Treize turned toward the door, but was stopped by a placard put on the wall by the hangar mechanics. It listed three rules: 1) Rank is invalid, except when judging harassing remarks; all such conduct will be graded by an uninvolved Mechanic and curved for rank as appropriate. 2) No porno flicks in the springs. Bay 34 exists for that purpose. 3) Immortal Warrior, Arnold Schwarzenegger, Chuck Norris, Clint Eastwood, and Sylvester Stallone movies will not be interrupted except for combat purposes.

"Yeah, those rules," Mu noted, looking over them himself. "Those rules are serious. As is the header above the door," Mu pointed to it.

" 'Abandon sanity, all ye who enter,' " Treize read off the plaque above the door. "That is, well, quite the declaration."

"Some days, it is the truth." Mu said before he brushed the steel bead curtain aside and entered. Treize was not far behind.

"Hail to the under-boss!" one of the Weapons Mechanics said as Treize entered the sauna area.

"We have everything repaired?" Mu asked as he moved around the sauna platform and dropped into the water. Treize went the opposite direction and took the dive next to Murdoch.

"Only thing we're waiting for is ammo from a couple allies that have munitions plants. Eighteen hours and we're good to go," Murdoch answered.

"We've mixed offense and defense this whole campaign. I'm looking forward to taking the fight to their turf, see how they like it," Yzak grumped.

"Yarr!" One of the Structures Technicians shouted.

"They'll be getting it shortly," Mu said. "Captain's looking forward to hammering their supply chain flat in space. Reduces the amount of machines they can field in the long run, which makes things easier for us all."

"Less is better, especially in this case," Tolle said heartily. "So not going to feel sorry about their toy factory being smashed."

"Oi, pilot, you got any plans for your wedding yet?" a hangar mechanic asked.

"I...no, not really, no," Tolle answered after a few seconds. "I'm not really going to worry about it until after Romefeller is done."

"That's cool. At least you know it's on the horizon. Hell, when we take Paris, we'll find a good old cathedral to do your wedding in," Murdoch declared.

"When that time comes, there may be a bidding war to see who does your wedding," Treize said as he leaned back to stretch out under the sauna water. "How do you guys heat this? It is excellent," he asked Murdoch.

"Well, we have a regulated heat exchanger coming off the thermonuclear engine system, and the rocks under you are from the planet Dustball, picked up from the first battlefield we fought on in the Inner Sphere. In fact, the rock under Tolle was pulled out from under a deceased Hellbringer omnimech."

"Oh, didn't know that. Who did that 'mech?" said pilot asked.

"I think Yzak did, I'd have to check the records," Murdoch guessed.

"A marvelous setup. I will need to appropriate the schematics from your engineering department for my personal estate," the Colonel noted.

"Hey, nothing special to it. I think I can gin something up," Mu La Flaga commented.

"I've got it," Murdoch said. He reached up to the control panel on the wall and pressed a call button.

"This is the attendant," Terra answered.

"Terra, Murdoch. Can you call the engineering department and have them secure a blueprint of the Hot Springs area only for Colonel Treize?"

"Can do, sir," Terra answered glibly. "Anything else?"

"Nope, we're good here. Thank you," and he killed the attendant call. "My boys'll have it ready in less than an hour," Murdoch replied.

"Much obliged, Mister Murdoch."

"So, what do we watch tonight?" an otherwise-silent Engine Mechanic asked.

"Eh, throw on an episode of Immortal Warrior. Something in the Season Twelve territory," Mu La Flaga decided on a whim. "You'll laugh at how over-the-top this is," he said to Treize.

"To relax and cut loose from time to time is always a good thing," Treize said in a fashion that everyone in the room was sure he was trying to bolster his own opinion on the matter.

He did cut loose and relax, even succumbing to a bit of whimsy pertaining to Immortal Warrior. The Steiner Television Network found a new fan in a completely separate dimension, even if he would never see their shows in the theater as was common on Tharkad.

-x-x-x-

(20 November AC195, 2355 hours)  
(Lunar Base, Mobile Doll Production Facility 3)

The door to the security facility opened as it always did at this time of day. "Damn, shift change already, Louie?" the duty guard asked.

"Yeah, it's that time again," Louie answered in his usual bored fashion. "Anything to pass down?"

"Not a bloody thing. Am I relieved?"

Louie put the suppressed pistol he was holding against the duty watch officer's right brachial plexus, aimed down toward his heart, and fired twice. Both bullets transited his lungs, windpipe, and heart, effectively killing him instantly. "You are relieved."

The White Fang operative rolled the chair with the Oz scumbag out of the way and brought up a new chair. "Eagle, this is Thrush. What is your status?" his handheld radio requested, which was set to a channel different from the normal guard frequencies on this base.

"Eagle is in the nest, I have good eyes and secure eggs. Begin the hatching."

"Thrush copies your traffic. Disable the alarms for this sector."

-x-

"Two pair, home boys," the Sergeant at the card table said. "Read 'em and weep, suckers."

"Eh, to hell with you guys, I'm tired of getting my ass mulched," the fat corporal in the guard team groused as he turned away from the table.

"Sore loser," the Sergeant declared. "Who's up for another round?"

As the Corporal walked away from the table, he noticed a small black object rolling into the room from the doorway, something that looked like nothing so much as a hockey puck. "Huh? What the hell is this?" he asked nobody in particular.

"What is what?" the Sergeant asked. He looked over toward the Corporal, just in time for the little device to work its magic.

Inside the small black puck, a bursting charge set off several grams of powdered magnesium. Essentially a miniature Flashbang distraction grenade, the concussive blast and light joined a similar device at the opposite end of the guard barracks in stunning the entire platoon of security personnel. By the time the echoes of the blasts faded, the four-man commando team was already inside the barracks.

Suppressed submachine guns cut down the four card players, two men reading books, four in the showers, and a couple dozen men that were asleep or that had been startled awake by the blasts. None of them had a weapon, none of them had a chance to resist. All in all a successful surprise attack for White Fang Special Forces.

-x-

"This is line control, Central, where the hell is my relief? He's five minutes overdue," the production Lieutenant asked.

"Relief is on the way, Line Control. Stand by," the Controller answered. Of course, the guy on the far end of the line knew otherwise...

"Damn well better be," he griped as he slammed the phone down. "Yvette, what the hell kept — " He stopped dead when he came face to face with a pair of assault rifles. "What the hell?"

"Turn around, hands on your head," Yvette ordered.

"What is going on here?" he asked in his native Boston accent, but complied with her orders.

"Down to your knees and cross your ankles," Yvette further ordered of the Production Lieutenant.

"No way," he answered. "Knock this shit off, girl."

"Do it now or I dump half a mag into your sorry ass," she retorted sharply. "Down to your knees and cross your ankles."

"This is insubordination and assaulting an officer, girl! Your career is over!" Still, he complied.

Behind him, Yvette released her rifle to hang on the three-point sling. "This is for forcing me to bed to get a promotion, asshole." An old Ka-Bar combat knife came out of sheath and went into the back of his neck just above the C1 vertebrae and below the base of the skull. Her strike was true and efficient, effectively disconnecting his brain from the rest of his body. The Production Lieutenant was clinically dead before his body finished collapsing to the floor.

"He won't be raping anyone else for job perks," the other White Fang infiltrator took a moment to spit on the decreased. "And damn good riddance to him, I say."

-x-

"How long do you think it will take to get this gantry moving again?" The area foreman asked the technician under the gantry.

"Twenty minutes, give or take," the technician responded in a bored fashion. "Damn thing just froze up, like it does every other Tuesday."

"Okay, so long as we can get parts moving again."

For the technician, just as he was beginning to disassemble the gear shaft that drove the parts gantry back and forth, his world changed in an instant. A burst of automatic gunfire tore through the assembly bay, and the first casualty the mechanic saw was the area foreman as he fell to the ground next to the gantry. The young mechanic froze as he stared into the lifeless eyes of the foreman, even as more gunfire ripped up and down the assembly bay.

"White Fang mobilize!" Someone shouted above the gantry.

"White Fang! Take this bay!"

"We are White Fang! Oz troops, surrender or die!" A lady shouted from somewhere across the bay area.

"Come on out of there, kid," someone ordered before the bolt of a submachine gun was dropped, presumably on a ready cartridge.

The mechanic came out with both hands open and stood up immediately in surrender pose. "Just a civilian contractor," a rough-looking guy commented. "Kid, head for the shuttle bay. Comply and you will not be harmed."

"Yessir," the technician answered before he began moving in that direction.

-x-

"What is happening here?" Colonel Tubarov asked nobody in particular. "Why isn't security responding?"

"That's because they answer to me now," one of the 'technicians' in the room answered. When Tubarov looked to the guy, he had a pistol to his face. "Two fingers, asshole."

"Sedichi, I should have known you'd be loyal to the colonies before Oz," Tubarov said as he pulled his pistol in the requested fashion and handed it to one of the other men in the room. All were wearing the same armband, which meant all of them were in on this.

"Damn straight I would. What did you expect after Oz killed Heero Yuy? We'd just sit up here with our thumbs up our asses while your boys skull-fuck us for resources and manpower?"

"A man is supposed to know when he is defeated," Tubarov said.

"Oh yes, and I hope you know this is your day for it, Colonel. I wonder if they'll give you a posthumous Purple Heart for it." Sedichi looked to the other men in the room. "You're on, boys."

"With pleasure, Colonel Sedichi," the largest among them said before he brandished a crowbar. "Leave the head intact. Deal with the rest."

"Had to take all the fun out of it, didn't you?" another of the base operators said, even though he gut-checked Tubarov with his own crowbar.

Sedichi did not look away for the several minutes the affair dragged on. To him, this was a direct rendition of justice for all the colony citizens killed by Oz.

-x-

"This is Quinze. All subsections of the Mobile Doll Production Plant have been captured. All forces are to stand by for possible Oz counterattack. Communications, send our manifesto."

"Aye, sir," the commo officer said. "Communications Room, begin the broadcast."

-x-

(Warship _Archangel_)

Kuzzey yawned mightily, though he stopped halfway through when his headset chirped to signal an incoming radio call. After he dialed in the frequency and stepping of the transmitting party, he depressed the talk control. "Attention on this net, this channel is reserved for military units only. Clear the channel or contact us on the GUARD frequency," he said after the information panel declared the speaker as a civilian transmitter type.

"_Archangel_, this is White Fang Resistance Group. You haven't heard of us, but we've been watching you. Is your duty officer available?"

"Stand by," Kuzzey answered. "Captain, hot one for you. White Fang Resistance Forces."

"Put them on speaker," Murrue ordered.

"White Fang, _Archangel_, the Captain is listening. Send your traffic," Kuzzey ordered.

"Captain Ramius, I am Quinze, leader of the White Fang Revolutionary Forces. We are working now to liberate the colonies, and we have just completed the takeover of the Oz Forces Lunar Base and Mobile Doll manufacturing facilities. Are you willing to negotiate?"

Murrue blinked, surprised that anyone would have the chutzpah to accomplish that much in secret without serious military aid. "I am willing to talk. We will be in space in the next couple of days for unrelated operations. Will you agree to a meeting on neutral ground at that time?" Murrue asked.

"I agree to your terms. We will contact you with further details in time to come. For now, we will be airing our manifesto to the world in the next couple of hours."

"I will be watching. _Archangel_ is out." Kuzzey killed the connection.

"Okay, if that was for real, our job just became a whole helluva lot easier by default," Newman noted.

"**IF** it is for real, Lieutenant," Murrue acknowledged the possibility that they were being shined on. "On the other hand, I like the idea of the colonies getting pissed off and taking over the Oz facilities on their own."

"It is their land, after all. They might as well reclaim it for themselves," Kuzzey opined.

-x-x-x-

(21 November AC195, 1000 Hours)  
(_Archangel_ Physical Training Room)

"Attention all personnel, the _Archangel_ is now departing the atmosphere. We are now switching over to space operations and gravity augmenters. Please report any malfunctioning equipment to maintenance immediately."

"We're good?" Hikaru asked the four she was training at this time. Umi had six under her training set, including Yzak, and Fuu had five including Miriallia and Nicol.

"No problems, _Sensei_," an off-duty Engine Mechanic said. He was in primarily to train with knives, as everyone in the engine room was already considered reasonably competent with pistols.

Of course, if anyone put an actual, official name to her class, it would be 'Magic Knight CQB 101' since everyone learned how to integrate the three prevalent principles of combat on the ship: magic, blade, and firearm. Naturally, the Magic Knights were the most lethal in such arts, but the students from Vector were not far behind in the affair.

"Now, we resume our skirmishing," Hikaru ordered. "One, begin," she ordered of the first pair.

The engine mechanic preferred his knives for close-in work, relying on defending with his left and attacking with his right — or, in some case, he would trade the knife for a pistol and use SOC-P combat techniques. His foe for this match was a former Imperial Magitek Knight — better trained in sword combat than the average, but not to the level of the Magic Knights.

The two soldiers clashed with wooden knives and wooden sword, and much as Hikaru expected, the first error went to the Imperial. His strike was effective but blocked; the mechanic anticipated the attack, and as the Imperial attempted to reset for a second strike the _Archangel_ veteran pressed the advantage. The speed of two knives against a far larger sword was manifest; even few magic weapons were as fast as a good knife in the right hands, and the mechanic proved it. Because the Imperial did not reset his defense properly, the Mechanic was able to get inside his swing arc and butcher him neatly with several strokes of both knives, ending with a coup de grace strike against the sides of his head.

"Victor, mechanic," Hikaru declared. Both stood to attention and bowed. "Reginald, what was your mistake?" she asked fairly.

"I attempted to press an offense, _Sensei_," the Imperial answered.

"Why did it not work?" Hikaru continued the lesson.

"The enemy was too fast," he answered simply.

"That is only part of the answer," Hikaru acknowledged. "If your first strike had unbalanced him or forced him into a guard position, you could have continued and won the battle on pure offense. When he failed to respond the first time, you should have dropped back to defense and held him at length. Understood?"

"Yes, _Sensei_," the chastised Imperial answered. He knew he was too aggressive and this was the end result, all the result of his monomaniacal confidence due to his years riding the Empire's Magitek armor. For him, part of the class was trying to reduce that aggression and balance his conduct.

"Mechanic advances to final skirmish. Second match — "

"Attention all personnel, this is the Captain speaking," Murrue said over the intercom. "We are ten hours from intercepting Barge. All pilots are to rotate through crew rest periods within the next six hours and be ready for combat within eight hours. Expected enemy engagement profile will be Space Fortress and Mobile Suit."

"Hrm," Hikaru mumbled, then sighed. "Duty calls. Magic Knight class dismissed. We reconvene tomorrow, same time, provided we're not on battle alert."

"_Hai_, _Sensei_," all four of her trainees answered.

Hikaru bowed to the students as would be proper, and turned to leave the physical training room. For her, 'crew rest' meant a good shower and some time in bed, especially after a workout as she was now getting by doing training. She knew Kira preferred time in the hot springs for rest, though Athrun was more along the lines of 'tinker with random objects' kind of thing. Yzak worked hard to keep his machine in top shape and build add-on weapons for it; Hikaru had found out that it was due to limitations of the Duel in battles past, where Kira had defeated him. Nicol could be found in the pilot's lounge at his piano, and lately so could Fuu be found there as well. Neither would admit, but it was fairly obvious to anyone who watched that they were headed for a date...sooner or later, Hikaru figured. Neither of the two were famous for aggression, which Hikaru figured at least partially required for dating.

Her internal musings led over to the shower room, where she always seemed to gravitate after work of one fashion or another. Inside, she expected to be alone, but was somewhat surprised to find Captain Ramius already inside and stripping down for her run through the shower. "I thought you were on the conn, Captain?" Hikaru asked as she moved to her personal storage space.

"Mu took over for me," Murrue answered. "Isn't this the time for your daily training?"

"I cut it short. If I'm supposed to be ready for battle in eight, I don't have an extra hour in there," Hikaru didn't pay much attention to Murrue as she gathered her stuff for her shower; in a BDU clothing set (2), there wasn't much to strip down, and she always trained in BDUs since that was standard issue clothing and what was mostly likely to be on her if she had to go into CQB.

"Right, well, I'm in pretty much the same boat," Murrue noted. "I want a good six hours and a decent meal before we take it to Barge."

_I wasn't being accusatory or anything, wonder what's up with the Captain_, Hikaru thought but did not say. "Any idea what the cooks are offering for the meal before the main event?" Hikaru said while pulling her combat boots off. She had a custom set made for her, with lighter soles and a reinforced upper — she tended to make a lot of wild movements, and needed the support.

Once stripped down, Hikaru was the third person into the showers — at a guess by the clothing, Terra was already taking a shower before either Captain or Magic Knight entered the room. "Okay, Captain, what are we looking at for the battle at Barge?"

"Probably around 200 Mobile Doll Taurus units and Barge itself. Oz did not deploy any of the Virgo machines to _Barge_, they were all sent planetside for the war down below. A little bit of an oversight, given we want Oz and all their heavy equipment off the table."

"And that means we'll have to swing by and render disabled _Libra_ as well, right?" Hikaru asked.

"Yes, we will take a day or two breather between _Barge_ and _Libra_, though. No sense trying to do both in one day, though the shock value of that would be immense." If anything Hikaru could have thought that Murrue sounded like she enjoyed the thought of shock value — something a bit unusual for even a mustang Captain such as she. Still, Hikaru passed it off to the circumstances of having to fight Oz in the first place. "The Mobile Forces will be primarily screening and intercept — on targets that big, the best weapon we have is the _Archangel_."

"And the best weapon the _Archangel_ has for that job is the Positron Cannons," Hikaru completed the thought. "Though, with such powerful guns, will there be survivors?"

"I only intend to disable primaries and cause crippling structural damage. I'm not out to kill them all," Murrue answered calmly. "We'll worry about particulars in pilot briefing before showtime. Rest up, tonight we really make the 10 o'clock news."

-x-x-x-

(21 November AC195, 1500 Hours)  
(In orbit around Luna, nearby the Space Battleship _Libra_)

Quinze knew the affair on _Libra_ would be far more difficult than the Lunar Base — the first attack had surprise as its asset, the second attack would not. A commensurate enemy does not make the same mistake twice, and White Fang had reminded OZ that there were still guerilla enemies out in space, very threatening ones.

Thankfully, the local weapons grid circuits had been cut on the Northern Arm of _Libra_, so there was an easy ingress point for reinforcements coming from Luna. Quinze happened to be part of those reinforcements — Sedichi had requested extra manpower and command staff to help secure the ship and clear out the rest of the Oz resistance, no simple task on a ship with crew requirements numbering in the thousands. Even more welcome a reality was the presence of defectors among the crew.

"General Quinze, we have situations in the south and east arms of _Libra_. Glad you are here," the lieutenant in charge of the area and landing bay said.

"Talk to me, Lt. Ward."

"We have two battalions of troops in the South arm, one battalion in the East arm. Most of the resistance is coming from mechanical personnel and a few holdout security guards. Only problem is, they have entrenched themselves and are using antitank weapons to prevent us from getting close. What are your orders, general?"

"We have grenade launchers and anti-tank rockets on the shuttles. Organize the men into 8-9 man teams and deploy them as siege-breaking teams. Back each team up with no less than a platoon of rifle infantry, and begin reducing or eliminating the enemy fortifications. do we have the command bunker secured yet?"

"Aye aye sir, command bunker and shift bridge are in our control. We are reducing the final defenses around the combat information center at this time."

Quinze nodded thoughtfully, expecting things to have gone a little more smoothly during the assault phase. Still in all, combat was combat and there would always be little unexpected problems to be dealt with. After all, that is the job of a professional combat officer, and he had learned his duties as a subofficer of the Barton Foundation. Dekim Barton was very likely still lurking in the shadows, though for today Quinze would do things his way as opposed to the omnicidal way.

As Quinze left the landing bay, the Lieutenant began organizing the incoming troops and issuing heavy weapons as needed. Grenade launchers were particularly effective in spaceborne battles, as the fragments would slow down eventually (air resistance) but were not subject to gravity. Antitank rockets were also a bit easier to use — with no gravity to drag the rocket down, when you pulled the trigger what you saw is what you got. This duality of weapons handling factoids meant that anyone with bigger guns than average had an extensive advantage in space, and Quinze had planned for this eventuality. Oz was not stupid, just taciturn, and they would definitely want to die hard as a matter of course. At this point in the game, not surrendering was the same result as surrendering, only with the added benefit of company in Hell when they finally did give out.

-x-

On the other side of the ship, Lieutenant Colonel Darkson was sweating his fate. White Fang had literally sprung out of the bulkheads overnight, and so far they had a reputation of being less than lenient with captured officers. In this case, though, it did not matter what he thought they would do to him — he had given his word to Dermail that someone would take _Libra_ only over his dead body. Unfortunately, today looked like the day that oath was about to be probated.

"Lieutenant Colonel, we just lost the #6 defensive bulwark! The defensive team reported they were using antitank rockets on the shields and makeshift barriers," the radio operator announced.

"Well, we certainly weren't expected to win this conventionally," Darkson considered aloud. "Anyone else willing to take up arms?"

"We have a few of the mechanical staff that volunteered, but that's it."

"Get them guns and get them in defensive placements. We need to hold them long enough for the rest of the loyal personnel to pull out." The White Fang personnel may have seen his efforts as nothing more than a stubborn defense, but Lt. Col. Darkson was not running this defense pattern for ego. In such an infiltration scenario, there was no hope for victory in any conventional sense of the word — his bare two battalions would not be able to retake _Libra_, or even hold their positions until reinforcements arrived. On the other hand, he did have an obligation to the civilian contractors and personnel who were on the ship, and getting them loaded onto shuttles was his present priority.

"On it, sir!" His administrative assistant turned away and began running down the hall toward where the remaining civilians were holed up.

"How are matters going in East?"

"The Captain in charge reports he has only two shuttles to release," the radio officer answered.

"Damn good, we're almost down to no hostages. Talbot, issue out the rest of our weps and ammo to the troops. They'll probably make a hard push here in the next twenty minutes. And personally oversee the loading of the last shuttles, I want those civvies off this ship before they push through our last defenses!"

"On it, sir!" Talbot stood to attention and saluted. "Sir, what word should I give to your wife when I get planetside?"

"Tell her to make sure our daughter knows what went wrong up here, and to prevent it happening again," the Lieutenant Colonel answered off cuff.

"It shall be done," Talbot dropped his salute and turned away from the Colonel sharply. Both knew it would be the last time they saw each other alive.

-x-

"Don't worry about the shuttles, they're just fleeing civilians," Colonel Sedichi noted coldly. "The meat and potatoes resistance is in the defensive emplacements. Use the heavy weapons teams to reduce those fortifications!"

Quinze entered the bridge seconds after, as the operators were issuing orders to the various weapons teams to get them in place.

"General on deck!" the door guard shouted after he recognized the entrant.

"As you were," Quinze responded reflexively. "Sedichi, any changes?"

"No change at this time, sir. We've knocked out two of their emplacements, but we're still trying to reduce their other defenses. And, I take it you've noticed?"

"Yes, hard not to notice." Quinze was referring to the increasing air pressure inside Libra. The use of firearms and explosives inside a sealed environment would increase air pressure dramatically, which could affect a lot of things and theoretically even cause Nitrogen Narcosis — a disease more commonly attributed to deep-sea divers than it would be known for in space. "I will take over here, Sedichi. Move out, take local control of the Southern Arm."

"Yes, sir, General has the Conn." Sedichi saluted the much-older General and was out the door seconds thereafter.

"Conn, Sensors, two more shuttles launched from the Southern Arm. They are squawking relief flight status."

"Ignore them. Keep an eye out and about for Oz reinforcement teams or Mobile Suits," Quinze ordered immediately. Retreating enemies were far less of a threat than would be approaching enemies or those already inside the hull.

"Aye, sir. No contacts in vicinity of Libra that are not already identified as friendly or retreating."

"Two major operations in a day," Quinze chuckled grimly after thinking aloud. "Colonel Treize was this bold, or I should say, is still this bold. Thankfully, he's no longer on their side."

"Whose side is he on, sir?"

"Not really sure," Quinze said. "He is a staunch proponent of the aristocracy, but he's right now working with the mercenaries to flatten the Romefeller Foundation. I'm not really sure where that puts him, but for sure he's not helping the bastards that have been screwing us for years."

"Pacifism may be all well and good, but sometimes you just have to slap someone to get their attention." the radio operator said.

"Or kick their ass to force them to leave you alone," one of the sensors operators replied heartily.

"There are many ways to force them to respect you," Quinze said pensively. "We will be taking one of the more direct routes to forced equanimity."

"And what about the _Archangel_? Whether we like it or not, they're in this too deep to ignore," one of the engineering officers asked.

"They're in my plans as well," Quinze said with a smile. Those who were looking in his general direction were convinced it was the kind of smile that psychos used from time to time.

-x-

"Lieutenant Colonel! We've lost defensive advantages here! We have to fall back!"

"You fall back, Sergeant. I will cover your retreat."

The Lieutenant Colonel picked up his choice of assault rifle, and just for sex appeal also picked up two submachine guns as 'drop guns'. He intended to use the extended magazines for all they were worth, and then drop them aside for his primary weapon. To this he added a pair of pistols and several grenades, older surplus 'lemon' grenades. He definitely figured he was going to hell today, and he wanted company when he got there.

Grossly unprofessional conduct, but someone had to make the last stand while the rest of the troop pulled out.

"How many corridors between me and them?" the Lieutenant Colonel asked one of the retreating infantry officers.

"Two, sir. They hold all the intersections beyond that," the Corporal answered as he braced two wounded troops on their way to the shuttle bay. "Don't go through there, sir, it's suicide!"

"Don't wait for me, get out of here!" the Lieutenant Colonel shouted at them before he kicked off down the first hall.

The Lieutenant Colonel moved down to the end of the corridor and stopped himself short at the intersection. With a small pocket mirror, he checked around the corner to verify safe or not. Much as he had been told, it was inherently unsafe; he could easily count over a dozen infantry in the general vicinity of the next two intersections.

With a clear idea what he was about to get into, the plan built itself in his mind. It was a four-phase gig, a plan to make sure they knew they had been kissed. The first part of the plan involved one of the older 'lemon' grenades, and some wildly unprofessional conduct. "Oi! Suck on this lemon, boys!" Darkson shouted as he slung the grenade around the corner, with the clear intent of bouncing it off the far wall.

"SHIT! Grenade!" It was too little warning too late, as the natively lower air pressure and lack of gravity turned the grenade fragments into long-range killing devices, even as the bulk of the fragments killed the nearest four troops.

With the introduction phase dealt with, the Lieutenant Colonel stepped into the fray with both submachine guns. While the common apropos of dual wielding SMGs would have been to advance recklessly while firing, recoil would have brought his assault to a spinning halt. In this case, he let the recoil of his initial burst drive him back against a wall, and simply aimed down the corridor with both submachine guns, letting it all loose with short bursts from both guns in tandem. No gravity meant the bullets only slowed by air resistance, but little of that was in effect in _Libra_. By the time the bolts on his weapons slammed forward on empty chambers, he had killed a third of the personnel in the hall and wounded almost all the rest.

As planned, the subs went aside and he bolted forward with the assault rifle at the ready. Those few troops that survived his initial onslaught had retreated to allow fresh personnel forward, often as they dragged the wounded down a side corridor to get them out of the line fire. These new personnel were met by short bursts of automatic rifle fire. In space, no gravity made it simple to move around but difficult to brace for recoil.

At the next intersection, Darkson pulled his second of four grenades and tossed it down the hall as he cleared past, allowing him to clear his rear without hazard of being shot. Once the grenade detonated behind him, he dropped a quick burst of rifle fire down a hall to the left to suppress movement while he advanced. This accomplished, he unlocked and pulled his rifle magazine since there was no gravity to force a free-fall, and the Lieutenant Colonel pulled a new magazine to load in.

He would never get the new magazine into the rifle before an enemy colonel put three rounds in his chest.

-x-x-x-

(21 November AC195, 1900 Hours)  
(Warship Archangel, approaching Space Fortress Barge)

"Definitely a big sucker," Miriallia groused as she watched _Barge_ on the main CIC screen.

"Bigger they are, the harder they fall," Sai noted.

"They punch, kick harder and carry bigger guns, too, Ensign," Newman added from the helm seat.

"And we punch well above our weight," Chandratta completed the thought. "Captain, I'm close enough now to hit them with the Lohengrins."

"Hold off on the Lohengrins until we get real close. We're here to cripple _Barge_, not completely destroy it." In reality, Murrue was not concerned whatsoever with _Barge_ itself — her concern was the thousand-plus crewmen on board. The Archangel Team counted themselves as mercenaries, not monsters, and were determined to prove it. Avoiding annihilating the entire crew would go a long way to cementing that reputation and garner some after-the-fact goodwill in the process, a win-win scenario in Murrue's purview.

"Aye, Captain. Next option is Valiants, also in range, and Gottfrieds in range in 3 minutes."

"Should I wake 'em and shake 'em, Captain?" Kuzzey asked.

"No, let's see how close we can get without being harassed."

"Got your answer right now, cap'n. _Barge_ is launching both manned and Mobile Doll Taurus units right now. Also showing something else - may be a Gundam, Captain."

"Move our units out," Murrue ordered to Miriallia. "Chandratta, you're on. Capital weapons on Barge, point defenses on Mobile Suits and that...Gundam?" Whatever they were looking at, it did not have much appearance of a Gundam, even by the unusual local standards.

"I'm pretty sure that's a Gundam, but right now my machine doesn't recognize it, and I don't know it," Kira said over the command circuit to the bridge.

"You're on, Kira," Miriallia ordered. "Intercept and suppress new machine. Destroy if possible."

"Another day on the job," Kira groused. "Moving to launch catapult now."

-x-

"So, they did make the obvious move," Valder Farkill said with a savage smile. "One wimpy warship and a dozen units. How in the hell did Oz get stiffed by these clowns?"

His administrative assistant did not answer, since that is typically the only person he talked to during most battles. "Farkill, this is _Barge_. You are to intercept and eliminate the enemy white machines, specifically the Strike Freedom and 105 Dagger. Support the anti-ship operations as possible."

"I intended it, but keep one thing in mind, _Barge_. I outrank you, so don't presume to give me orders," General Farkill corrected the operator.

"Aye aye, sir," the Operator cut the link. "And I hope you go to hell while you're at it," she said to the dead radio system in front of her.

"Looks like they're launching," his administrative assistant said. "First one out is the white one, Strike Freedom."

"Time to play," Valder said with his savage grin again. "Wh—whoa, shit!" he said as a large beam from the combined rifles of the enemy machine came real close to coring out his machine. "If I hadn't dodged his aimpoint, that would have ended me. This guy may be a serious player."

"Where do you want me, Gen-" his request was cut short by the Vayeate, a single beam that put paid to his Taurus MS.

"Damn, need another administrative assistant," Valder groused. "I'll start with you, Vayeate," and Valder put actions to words with his buster gun and beam cannons on the back arm extensions of his machine. Even the triple attack was ineffective, though, with the Strike Freedom blocking all three shots using - "Damn, what kind of shield was that?"

As Valder hesitated in trying to size up this new and unexpectedly effective foe, two more machines left the launch bay on the ship, specifically the Mercurius and Duel. Several of his more aggressive allied machines had also taken the front, leading to some basic and not unexpected carnage as the enemy machines began engaging at range. The ease with which they swept aside the myriad Taurus and Leo machines reminded Valder of himself, as he brought down the United Earth Sphere Alliance just months ago.

He decided on his first course of action as a decent primary — take out the most threatening enemy machine possible. "This is Valder Farkill to all units. I am engaging the enemy Strike Freedom. Do not interfere!"

-x-

"Sounds like someone has a total man-crush on you, Strike," Yzak said in jest.

"Trust me, I don't want the attention from this one," Kira replied while he blocked four shots from the enemy machine. "Computer, cross-reference pilot names to machines: Valder Farkill."

"Standby," the Artificial Intelligence entity in his battle computer answered. "Match on identification, no machine information. Valder Farkill, Oz Specials unit, served under Zechs Merquise during Operation Daybreak. Racked up enough kills to earn the nickname 'Dark General of Destruction' in the process. Believed to be a high-functioning megalomaniac sociopath with psychotic tendencies. Status unknown after Op Daybreak; no confirmed history is known past that."

"Wonderful. It's Kefka in a mobile suit and without the clown makeup," Kira groused, referencing Lord Kefka who served under Emperor Gestahl in their failed bid to take over the world on the last planet they were on.

"Aww shit, here we go again," Tolle continued the thought.

"Why is it we always have to deal with psychotic asshats wherever we go?" Athrun asked while he actively shielded the Vayeate from interception by the growing number of enemy machines.

"Well, this is really a new advent," Miriallia said. "No psychos on Cephiro, and the Clanners are fanatically misguided, so we're running about half and half."

"That is an interesting description for the Clans," Pytor said with a quick chuckle. In a short pause thereafter, he silenced a pair of Taurus that crossed each other using only a single cannon shot. "And, not an altogether incorrect one, I have seen in hindsight."

"I find your lack of faith in my natural abilities...disappointing," General Farkill noted in a clearly soured voice. "Especially your battle computer's assessment. Psychosis and brilliance are separated only by degrees of success, and I have a long record of winning."

"Ghuh? Who left their radio on open broadcast?" Athrun asked. As one, a dozen persons checked their radio consoles. "Oh, shit, it was me."

"Smooth move, Zala," Yzak said at his most acidic.

-x-

"Like I said, megalomaniacal," the Battle Computer reiterated. "A being that thinks success at being a psychotic manslayer is some manner of brilliance also clearly qualifies for the textbook definitions of sociopathy and megalomania."

"Your battle computer has a real mouth on it, Strike Freedom. When I take your Gundam for my personal collection, I'll have to remove it," Valder answered.

"You go before the computer goes, Dark General," the pilot answered. Valder was not able to dodge the snap-shots of rail guns rounds from its hip binders, but the impacts did not penetrate the heavy armor on his Hydra Gundam. They were meant only as a distraction that Valder barely could react to, with a pair of extra beam shots at closer range that Valder barely sidestepped the aimpoints before they were discharged.

_This guy is real good_, Valder thought cynically. "Time to play in my range bracket, puke!" Valder continued to close even while firing, mostly ignoring the other players on the growing battlefield. So far, nobody else was making any moves toward him, meaning that Valder indeed got his wish of a one-on-one with the Strike Freedom.

"More enemy machines leaving the _Archangel_! Count an unidentified erm, pink machine and the Rune God Rayearth!"

"That's orange, _Barge_, not pink. Get your eyes checked," Valder replied sharply. The machine in question was a Mobile Suit, but of a type not common to the (present) Earth Sphere. The Rune God was definitely an interesting thought, but these environs were not suited to the use of their magic skills in his estimation.

"_Barge_ Reporting, we're charging the Barge Cannon now. 40 percent at this time, estimate 65 minutes to firing strength," a different Operator announced.

"Idiots, this battle will be decided in fifteen minutes," Farkill groused. "You're mine, Strike Freedom!"

"Not happening, Dark General!" the enemy pilot easily blocked both beam saber swings, and the beam shield it projected from the left arm was enough to force the buster gun away from firing angle. "We do not bow to psychos!"

"Then you will bow to your betters! You and your worthless ship!" He reinforced his declaration with several swings of his beam saber, all of which were expertly turned aside by the beam shield.

"You are no master of the sword!" A lady shouted nearly loud enough to cause the radio channel to distort. Valder saw the movement of the blue Rune God on his right-side monitor, but not soon enough to stop the direct blow against his right arm. The sword that he thought was simply a steel edifice, a relic of the bygone eras of superstitions in Gods and such, cut clean through his Gundam's arm and even tore off part of his skirt armor on the way past. The after-the-fact dodge reaction to the left and down was pure instinct, but in this case a fatal mistake.

-x-

Kira saw and capitalized on the movement in real-time. After he loosed the right beam rifle, he reached out and grabbed a hold of the extensible beam cannon binders on the shoulder of the enemy machine and forced a grip to the point that the hand on his Gundam crushed in the armor until he was holding onto the structural member inside the binder arm. With that grip secured, Valder could not escape.

The left arm beam rifle did not release, and for good reason. Kira put the muzzle to the left hip armor that Umi had damaged, and fired three shots into the structural plating behind the skirt armor. Two of the shots disabled the main engines under the skirt, the third punched through a fuel tank and destroyed the pump mechanism (3). At this point he did release the beam rifle and spun around the pivot point on the enemy's right binder, to bring his gundam in behind the enemy machine.

"What the — how can this machine be so powerful? Mine is supposed to be the Ultimate Gundam! The ultimate fighting machine!"

"My power is in my team, Farkill. We move as one!" Kira pulled the enemy machine in to the point where the back of the machine was against the chest of the Strike Freedom — and specifically against the muzzle of the Callidus multi-phase beam cannon in its chest. "We fight as one!" Kira tripped the Callidus, which blew a monstrous chunk out of the head and torso of the enemy gundam due to particle scattering from the point blank shot. "We win as one!" What was left of the Gundam, including the untouched cockpit and engine, Kira kicked down toward the _Archangel_'s line of advance. "Chandratta!"

"I hear you, kiddo," the bridge gun-bunny answered coldly. The port-side Gottfried changed angle slightly, elevated up a few degrees, and waited.

"Damn you! I was supposed to be the best!" Valder raged from his drifting Gundam.

Chandratta loosed a single barrel after a second's realignment. The 2.25-meter naval beam cannon blew through the engine encapsulation and caused a wildcat reactor detonation that shredded the remainder of the enemy machine. "You are not the best any more, asshole," he announced on the open frequency.

-x-

"Okay, that's not good," the Operator noted to herself. "He may have been an asshole, but he was supposed to be an unstoppable asshole."

"And the Archangel Team just disassembled him on live television," the Captain of _Barge_ said coldly. It had not taken the ELINT team on board more than a minute to find the signals going out of the _Archangel_ — and several of those channels were broadcast to satellite relays headed to the colonies and Earth itself. If it was not on a thirty second delay, it would have made for a good intelligence tool for Oz. As it happened, it was now being used as a propaganda tool, proof that Romefeller was defeatable even in their prime.

"What are your orders, Captain?" the Executive Officer (XO) asked quickly.

"Prepare hull laser cannons, target enemy warship from extreme range," he ordered immediately. "We can't arm the main cannon before the battle is over, but we can sink them with the lasers."

"On it," the XO answered. "Fire control, arm all exterior laser cannons, target enemy warship _Archangel_, do not hesitate to take a killing shot if you get one!"

"Arm exterior laser cannons, aye sir!" the Weapons Officer answered immediately. "Exterior laser cannons and targeting systems are activating now, two minutes to firing charge in all weapons!"

"Holy crap, look at that," the Sensor officer half-squeaked, which drew all attention back to her or the other view screens. "Is that — how much firepower does that ship really have?"

"I do not know, but with the capture of hundreds of our beam cannons, they've put a lot of them into turret assemblies around the ship for just exactly this purpose," another Sensor operator said coldly. As they watched intently, the Mercurius lost a leg to a Leo, though the very brave soul involved paid for it with his life.

The _Archangel_ had moved into the engagement zone, a move that seemed counterintuitive to the Oz personnel until they realized that the ship was directly supporting the Mobile Forces under it with its own large and diverse arsenal. More to the point, the ship seemed to have the targeting systems and computation power to make the intercepts with at least a third of its shots and likely more, an unheard-of success rate among Oz naval personnel.

"Cannons coming online now, sir!"

"Use them! Good God, put down suppressing fire if you have to, our men are getting shredded out there!"

"Suppressing fire, aye, sir!"

-x-

The one thing Mu did not really like about the new GuAIZ machine he was riding was the lack of a traditional beam saber, though Kira promised an upgrade before they made the next jump.

On the other hand, he found nothing discouraging at all with the rest of the machine. The mounted beam saber on the shield was ample for close-in work against the Taurus machines, and the beam rifle was faster than he expected, leaving a goodly pile of dead enemy machines in his wake so far. "Team, Mu, we need to press the advantage while they reel from Valder's death! Who's with me?"

"I've got your six," Yzak answered immediately as he crossed behind the force commander. As he did so, Yzak popped off two beam rifle rounds and an EM Rifle slug toward a particularly feisty Leo. Only one beam hit, though it was fatal to the machine.

"These gomers are history!" Tolle dropped a shot of his combined weapons to suppress an entire area to the left of the GuAIZ, and scored three kills with two damaged machines for good measure. "Nicol!"

"I've got him," the ZAFT pilot answered immediately. Nicol was quite a bit faster than the Taurus pilot trying to flank him, though it turned out to be Hikaru who chopped the enemy machine in half laterally as she moved forward. "Whoa, thanks, Hikaru."

"Press the line, all forces toward the center!" Mu ordered. He suited actions to words himself, shoving the throttles forward to the stops on his new orange-painted GuAIZ. The surge of speed was significant, given the GuAIZ had been designed for Coordinators to take full advantage of this maneuver capability against the Earth Alliance Mobile Suits. As he surged forward, an outstretched beam saber put down a commander's Leo and scratched a Taurus on the way past. Umi took care of the partial, the claws on the left hand of Selesce easily capable of tearing apart titanium armor.

"Mu, _Archangel_, you punch us a hole, we'll exploit it," Murrue modified his battle plan.

"I'm on it," Mu answered.

"Whoa, guys, _Barge_ is tracking us! Prepare for laser cannon fire!" Kira announced.

"I've got a solution to that," Chandratta announced.

-x-

"Captain, we're down roughly two-thirds of the Mobile Suits, and they're not slowing down." On the viewscreen, they watched as the green Gundam — the Buster — fired off a shotgun blast from its combined weapon, a single stroke that destroyed two machines and crippled four more. He paid for it two seconds later, a laser cannon shot that removed the entire left arm and part of the shoulder, but that was a paltry price to pay for a team whose major fighting strength seemed to be nigh unstoppable.

"Oh, shit! Incoming!" the Operator recoiled from the screen as missiles approached the external camera and wiped it out. A quarter-second later, the room jolted from the explosions, given the distance between the bridge and the front of the ship. These jolts were followed by a second set, and some loud impact sounds that did not cause movement on the bridge.

"Looks like they have the same idea, Captain. That was six missiles and four naval rail gun slugs, and I now show two of our laser cannon sets offline," the Chief Engineer said.

"Ain't this sweeter than shit," the Captain said. "Limited MS and MD, limited firepower, and now we have a flea with some serious bite." A different camera showed the _Archangel_ fired through a clump of Mobile Dolls with its naval beam cannons, with the express target of the _Barge_ as their final destination. This time, no sound, no impact, though more of the damage board lit up bright red from the attack.

"Flea? Except us, _Peacemillion_, and _Libra_, that is the biggest ship in the Earth Sphere!" A slightly-hysterical helmsman half shouted.

"And it's a dedicated anti-ship and anti-MS platform, something we're not, Captain." If the XO could sound any colder, how was lost on the rest of the staff.

"Okay, okay, I see where this is going," the Captain admitted as more missile impacts rang throughout the superstructure of the ship. The MS forces were down to less than a full hundred machines, though the Duel had lost a head and Windam had been forced to retreat. "We can't stop them conventionally. That much is obvious, and if we sit here we'll get slaughtered. Mercenaries!" He slammed one of the radar consoles in frustration, a strike hard enough to cause the screen to black out. "Issue recall orders to all our machines, and issue a surrender proclamation."

-x-x-x-

(21 November AC195, 2100 Hours)  
(Space Fortress Barge)

"Move it up! All of you!" Chief Ryback shouted at the column of marching prisoners headed toward the evacuation shuttle. "Gomer, how many more?"

"Another 400 or so and we're clear here," the XO Mechanic answered curtly.

"Keep your hands where they can be seen at all times!" the sauce chef shouted, looking back and forth across the sea of Oz personnel still waiting to board shuttles. "You! Asshole with the black hair and mole, keep your damn hands up! I ain't got time for your personal shit!"

There had been something of a resistance to the order to evacuate _Barge_, and in all reality the _Archangel_ expected it. Such a massive ship, defeated by the smallest heavy-gun warship in the Earth Sphere? Absurd, many had shouted throughout these halls. Even a few armed press gangs had taken to roaming, prepared to repel boarders should it come to that.

The first _Archangel_ personnel on the ship were the Elementals, sent forward by Captain Ramius to ensure that the terms of surrender were carried out to the letter. As Natalys began organizing the debarkation of Barge, one of those Press Gangs had made the mistake of shooting at her with pistols and a shotgun. Two SRMs and a short burst of needler had put paid to five harassers, and the rest of her point took the liberty to demonstrate what a Battlemech Small Laser will do to a man. Needless to say, resistance was minimal after that incident.

"Make sure the count is accurate, Gomer. We want to get everyone out."

"Aye, sir!" the mechanic XO answered.

"Take over here, I'm going to supervise the placement of demolitions charges."

"Whips and chains, sir!" the radio link cut off after a moment.

Ryback ducked down a secondary access corridor and began the trudge toward the main generator spaces. _Barge_ was no small edifice, easily two kilometers long just in the main superstructure areas, and another 500 meters longer at the cannon muzzles. A couple stragglers were making their way toward the launch bays, though nothing of serious threat now that the Reserve Marines and Mechanic Marines were sweeping the ship.

Partway to the generator room, he came across a dozen men, all walking with hands on the backs of their heads. It did not take long for Ryback to understand why a gaggle was being marched out, or who was doing it. "Found this lot hiding in a cargo bay, Chief," Hikaru reported as she stopped beside him. "A couple decided to attack me, but..." the unmistakable odor of burnt gunpowder was all the explanation he needed.

"In every lot, there will always be some that disobey orders. It's why I cook as a primary job," Ryback admitted. "Keep 'em moving, Magic Knight."

"Aye, sir," Hikaru answered.

Two turns and 300 yards further into the ship, he came across the bulk of his men doing what they did best: preparing to break stuff and look tough. "Chief, just in time!"

"Ah, good! I love this part!" Ryback said cheerily. Without further word, he slung his assault rifle over his shoulder and picked up a spool of detcord to begin wiring the explosive charges together. A combat knife sufficed for cutting the cord that he threw to the baker up on top of the generator. "Full safeties, boys! I don't want to be this close to the party favors when they go off!"

"Way 'head of you, boss man!" the Baker answered. "Jizzy, where'd you put the kryton switch for the top of the generator?"

"Behind you, dirtbag," the grill-master answered.

"Oh, right," the baker groused. With a quick click to connect the detcord to the switchbox, the first line of charges was set for demolition. "Boss, toss me a twenty-meter section for the switchbox to the firing panel."

Ryback spooled out twenty meters of the detcord cable, cut it, and tossed it up to the baker. "Toss me the slack back, jack," and a second later the baker returned the rest of the cable. Ryback plugged it into the fire control panel that would be used to set off all the charges simultaneously or close to it.

"What the — hey!" the Grill Master shouted. As Ryback turned his head to look, the grill-master dropped a brick of pentaglycerine demolition charge and brought his submachine gun up, aiming it into a corner between some heavy equipment. "You, come on out of there!"

"No way! I'm staying right here!" a young lady shouted defiantly.

"Kid, you do know we're wiring this room for demolition, right?" the Grill Master shouted.

"And when you leave, I'll disarm them! And you can't shoot an unarmed combatant!" She shouted in response.

"Kid, we use crush-sensitive detonators," Ryback said calmly. "You try dismantling the explosives after we arm them, you start the party right then and there, and with how much blasting agent we're using there will not be enough left of you to identify by DNA sampling."

"Oh," she squeaked. "Erm, okay, not a good idea," she admitted after ten seconds of hesitation.

"No shit, kiddo," the baker replied sarcastically. "Get your ass out of here and down to the shuttle bay, right now!"

"Erm, okay," she said before she came out of the corner. Ryback directed her out the door and down the hall to the evacuation area.

"Fucking amateurs, all over the damn place," the Grill Master complained heartily.

"World's full of them," Ryback agreed. "And it's a damn good thing you noticed. If she had set this work off so much as a minute after we de-assed the area, we'd still probably be dead."

"No shit, sensei," the Baker acknowledged. "I'm done up top the main generator housing, I'm'a head over to the pressure vent pipes. Where's the cutting charges?"

"Over with my sex toys," and the Grill Master pointed to a pink-striped heavy equipment case that in reality contained detonators, not personal amusement devices. The neighboring container was labeled 'Demolitions charges, Line Charge and Cutting Charge types, 100 units' which clearly indicated what he was looking for.

"We've got all day to do this, people, and we still have to wire up the main powerplant. I want this done right, screw doing it fast for the time being."

"Airborne, sir!" the baker answered. They didn't expect nor want to blow _Barge_ up, as that would have been impossible with the _Archangel_'s limited resources. On the other hand, you only had to destroy a few critical components to turn _Barge_ into an inoperable hunk of metal...

-x-x-x-

(23 November AC195, 0600 Hours)  
(Neutral Colony L4-0522)

In the past day, two parties had gained both fame and popularity throughout the colonies. The Archangel Team was now approaching hero-worship status among the denizens of space, given their defeat and subsequent disabling of Space Fortress _Barge_. Several colonies were now bidding amongst themselves for the right to salvage and dismantle _Barge_, with a 30 percent cut to the Archangel Team to be paid in advance. It was almost as hefty a haul as the team had racked up smashing Clanners for the Inner Sphere.

The second party was the White Fang Liberation Front, and their arrival on the scene had been both louder and harder than the Archangel Team, if that was possible. Their coup started on the moon with the Mobile Doll production facilities, and less than a day later they struck fast and captured Space Battleship _Libra_, a still-being-constructed mega-warship with enough particle cannons built in to put holes in Earth. That ship had been a secret, until White Fang made it public knowledge and said that it would be disassembled entirely after the cessation of hostilities and emancipation of the colonies. Murrue figured that a decent set of preconditions, and further expected the Cosmic Era Earth Alliance could learn some lesson there.

All that remained was tying in the operations together to finish off a mutual enemy. To that end, Murrue had set up shop in a 'neutral' colony in the L4 area, not far from _Libra_. It had taken her not an hour of listening to the people to understand that the only pretense of neutrality in the colony was the lack of White Fang banners to hang from the buildings and paint on the outside hull. In all measures of the word, the colony citizens were definitely not neutral.

Captain Ramius was on her third cup of coffee by the time anyone official showed up, and that was only a SPO (4) for the White Fang lead. He was more cordial than any common guard would be, but still not completely talkative. In reality, he was doing a check-run of the bistro selected for the meet before his principal showed up for the meet. Not that there was a huge amount of persons to examine outside of the crew, given the sea of khaki uniforms in the place, all sporting the same 12-centimeter patch with the silhouette of a certain warship on it...

Of course, the abundance of _Archangel_ personnel in the bistro was part by design of Commander Chevalier, and part pure chance. Not many restaurants were open throughout the colony today, and the _Archangel_ was a ship that ran on its stomach, so those few brave souls running food shops today were inundated by hungry (and well-paid) crewmembers.

A second SPO entered the facility, followed closely by Quinze, Sedichi, and two more SPOs. Surprisingly, it was Murdoch that gave the hue and cry of the day. "General on deck!" he shouted when he realized what manner of brass just walked in. The immediate sound of clattering chairs and standing personnel brought all activity in the building to a halt.

"Whoa, that wasn't what I was expecting," Colonel Sedichi said, rather shocked to see such conduct from mercenaries with a reputation for being unruly.

"Settle down, guys," Commander La Flaga answered. "Colonel, General, if you will join us?"

"Certainly," Quinze answered calmly as the rest of the restaurant began to settle down again.

"So, where do we begin?" Mu La Flaga asked as an open question.

"Well, I requested the meet, and in all reality I have only one major question. How far is the Sanc Kingdom willing to take this?" Quinze asked.

Murrue nodded thoughtfully. "Once we do a brief basic supplies restock up here, we're going to drop into central Russia and just sweep from east to west, clearing as we go and organizing the rebel groups into local militias to retain control over territory we liberate. While we are hammering on Romefeller, Treize will keep them occupied in the Baltic and Scandinavian regions, wasting resources on a force they can't hope to stop."

Morgan Chevalier picked up where Captain Ramius left off. " Week or two, we're into Central Europe and the game is on. Once we start taking their main landholdings, the whole world goes up in rebellion against Romefeller."

"And they get left with nowhere to run to, nowhere to hide, no way out except surrender...or death before the gallows," Colonel Sedichi said coldly.

Murrue nodded assent to his analysis. "That is how we intend to force the issue. Dermail is no idiot; once the provinces flare up, he will know the game is over. We give him a clean out, with the alternative being to take his chances against the civilians without an army to do his bidding. I'm reasonably confident he knows which option to choose."

"Then what?" Sedichi asked, wary of the endgame of the scenario. If they made it bloody, it could echo in the colonies...

"We exile him to an island in the southern pacific, where he can't do anything to steer policy again. Out of sight, out of mind, out of influence and out of everyone's hair," Mu concluded. Murrue looked at him strangely, but said nothing about it. "Treize takes over and cleans house on Earth, the Colonies walk away clean, and we get a brief vacation before we jump toward home."

"I'll admit I have not had much time to examine the history of your ship before this meet," Quinze noted as a qualifier to his coming question. "But, I must ask, have you done this before?"

"Similar," Murrue answered. "In the last case, we had to drop an Emperor that was about to cause some global destruction." Murrue waved her index finger at a different table. "Guy over there, tall one with the throttle-and-yoke armpatch, plugged Emperor Gestahl with a fifty-caliber sniper rifle at 900 meters across shifting winds and terrain. He also pilots the ship. The guy next to him is the officer in charge of the Commando team, Chief Ryback. He organized the demolition of the critical systems on _Barge_."

"And you tell me this why?" Quinze asked after a few moments of silence.

"Give you an idea what exactly you're looking at," Murrue answered calmly. "I've noticed one thing in this Earth Sphere, all too often command personnel are more interested in machines and throw weights than they are concerned for the men under them." She held up a warning hand before anyone could make claim against her. "I don't think White Fang suffers that fatal mentality, or at least insofar as I have seen reports of your actions, but remember that on the other side of your crosshairs is another living being, and all too often they're just in the wrong place at the wrong time, not really a hazard. I'm not out to kill them all, I just want to break them."

"Message received, Captain," Quinze answered. He chafed a bit at the implied moral quandary, but held his peace on the matter. "What do you want from us to make this campaign reality?"

"Can you provide mobile suit support to the rebel groups that will spring up all over the planet?" Mu asked.

"Easily," Colonel Sedichi answered. "We're working on retooling the Lunar Base to manufacture Taurus machines, and we think we can convert the production line of the new Virgo II machines to manned units, so we have options."

"It will be several days before we are ready to return to Earth. Once we do, though, we will need rearguard troops to assist the local rebel groups, and we will need a lot of them," Commander Chevalier said.

"When this begins, Romefeller is going to throw everything at us, for they will know it is the beginning of their end," Mu said.

"And a world will thank you for that ending," Quinze noted with a smile.

-x-x-x-

-click-

"I am in Colony L4-10545, standing in the observation deck above the freelance Warship _Archangel_. For the past hour, we have watched as it loaded in food, water, fuel and medical supplies, as well as salvaged munitions and weapons from the Oz outpost recently liberated by White Fang. What their next move is, nobody knows for sure, and nobody is willing to speculate on when the _Archangel _will next go into the Danger Zone."

-click-

"This war has to come back down to Earth at this point in the match, or it sits indefinitely at an impasse until White Fang completes _Libra_ — "

-click-

"HI! Billy Mays Here for — "

-click-

"The Romefeller Foundation legal representatives have brought legal action against the Sanc Kingdom for gross piracy in pertaining to their mercenary attack on the Space Fortress _Barge_, though the expectation of a favorable ruling is near zero due to the state of war between the two nations — "

-click-

"_Barge_ was the pride of the Oz Space Forces, and their greatest intimidation weapon in the arsenal. With its surrender and subsequent disabling by the _Archangel_ — "

-click-

"On Today's The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly segment, we have a shocking list for you. The Good: export restrictions have been lifted to the Moon, following a quick halt due to the terrorist capture of the Moon Bases. The Bad, we have the defeat of Space Fortress _Barge_, and with it any hope of a quick and favorable end to the war — "

-click-

(Insert loud Dance music, psychedelic visuals, hamsters in trendy clothes, and some squared-off passenger vehicle driving through the stars.)

-click-

"I am here on site with two members of the _Archangel_ crew, your names?" The reporter waved her microphone at them.

"Tolle Koenig, Gundam Pilot," the guy answered.

"Miriallia Haw, Mobile Forces Operator," the lady answered.

"And how long do you think this will drag on?"

"The troops will be home for Christmas," Miriallia answered. "Duke Dermail's on his last leg, and he's not fooling anyone with his continued threats and boasts — "

-click-

"The most interesting consideration about the Mobile Dolls' apparent ineffectiveness is in the construction of the machines. They can resist some fire from light beam weapons, but heavy ballistic and missile weapons shred them apart readily, as demonstrated by this video footage released by the Archangel Team of a missile strike on Romefeller Mobile Dolls in Luxembourg — "

-click-

"Here's the deal, when you buy the Slap Chop, we're going to give you the Graty for cheap — "

-click-

"We can only guess that she's going to be down planetside again, and when she does swing by, it's gonna be party time for Romefeller — "

-click-

"I don't know why I keep watching this crap," Duke Dermail groused at the blanked-out television.

-x-x-x-

(Elsewhere in Existence...)

Valder Farkill awoke with a start, bolting to standing when he heard what sounded like Mobile Suit legs against the ground. On a quick inspection, he appeared to be in some kind of temperate-area light forest, not in the cockpit of his Gundam Hydra, where he last remembered himself to be. "You alive, buddy?"

"What?" Valder looked the asking person up and down, severely confused why an old American Infantryman in desert camo would be anywhere near him. America as a nation had died hundreds of years prior to AC195, and precious few relics of that bygone era existed to remind them of its soured existence. "What the hell? Who are you?"

"Just another poor schlub that was good enough to earn his place on another battlefield," the trooper answered. "You must be new here, I'm guessing."

Valder paused to watch the nearby Mobile Suit trudge through a clearing in the semi-forest area they were in. It was a clunky green machine, even clunkier than the Leo he started out piloting in, with a machine gun that fed from a pancake drum on top of it and exposed cable harnesses around the sides of the knee joints. Valder briefly wondered where it came from, or who would build such a clunky machine, but decided against asking questions.

"What the hell is going on here?" Valder asked nobody in particular.

"Come on, let's take a walk, bub," the Infantryman waved him forward, in the same direction the Mobile Suit was moving. Valder fell in behind and slightly to the right of the trooper. "Yo, Valligar! Been out to the front yet?"

If the American Infantryman had been a bewilderment to Farkill, the appearance of this new being from the mists of the forest was stunningly obtuse to the Dark General. A Viking in period-proper arms and armor, not the opera viking shit seen on television, and Valder could tell this guy probably had some time on shore assaults as the Vikings did it hundreds of years before the American Infantryman would have even been born. Why would any being in their right mind even consider taking a shield and sword onto a battlefield ruled by firearms and Mobile Suits?

"I have, you new world bastard," the Viking said with surprisingly good cheer. "Cleaved up two and tickled their front line. Care to take a guess who is over there?"

The sound of a very fast machine gun echoed through the sparse forest area they were walking in. "Wait, was that a Machinegewehr '42?" Valder asked, barely recognizing the sound as similar to old reel footage of the machine gun in action during World War II.

"Actually, no," the American Infantryman answered. "That is a Rhinemetall MG3, which is a derivation of the old MG '42 of Nazi fame and sounds real close but not quite the same. That would mean Vasco The Hitman is holding this area of the line, not Colonel Krupper today. Better and better."

"How is that any measure of good? And why would a late-era American Infantryman be fighting a World War II-era Nazi Colonel?"

The American Infantryman sighed. "You really don't know, do you?"

"Know? What should I know?" Valder asked sharply.

"You are aware you died in your last battle, right?"

"What? Hell no," Valder answered testily. "I'm a little bit too alive right now to be dead!" he raged.

"Well, slight problem with your thought there, amigo. The only way you can get to where you are standing right now is if you die and are picked up by the Valkyrie."

"Valkyrie? What the fuck? I know America went down the toilet in its last years, but you'd have to be stark raving mad to believe in Valkyrie." A branch snapped to Valder's right, which caused heads to whip toward that direction — ostensibly also the direction of the front lines, such as they were. "Oh, shit," Valder groused when he saw the MG3.

"Vasco, what brings you over here?" The American asked.

"I could hear loudmouth from my dug-in position well enough that I could have sprayed you all down. That would not have been very sporting of me, I'd say," Vasco answered with a chuckle. "Greenhorn on deck!" the Colombian hitman half-shouted in jest, saluting the Dark General of Destruction.

"Wait, wait, let me get this straight, I'm supposed to be dead, but I'm not, and I was picked up by Valkyrie, which means...I am on Valhalla?" Valder Farkill asked plaintively.

"Welcome to the warrior's eternal scrap, so nice of you to join us," the American answered with a tinge of sarcasm. "Yes, you are in a very humorous version of Valhalla. We have everyone here, from the Vikings, to the Nazis, to schlubs like me from the Afghan War, to some really bizarre customers from the Inner Sphere, and a goodly smattering of hardasses from governments and nations I can't even begin to guess where they came from, but they bad mo-fos. We even have a wench in here that served with a mercenary outfit and pilots an Omnimech like nobody's business, Redmond was her name, I think."

"Aye, Kristen Redmond," the Viking attested.

"Dealt with her. Not the sociable type, but damn if she can't drop a Mobile Suit in seconds with her Mad Dog omni," Vasco confirmed. "She ate a rail gun slug to the face of her machine on some funky world. Hard shit, that."

"Oh, fuck," Valder groused. "I was...killed," he hesitated on the concept of his own mortality, though the three around him understood completely why he would. "Yes, I guess I was killed if I'm really on Valhalla. Anyways, I was killed by the same unit that Kristen came from, since they lost a pilot in the fashion you speak of."

"You got your ass beat by the Archangel Team? Nice," the American said. "Those hardasses have put quite a few guys in here, and more is the better, I'd say. We need the numbers."

"So, then, I am fated to fight the final battle of Existence," Valder smiled. "Who do I speak to about reclaiming my lost Gundam?"

"Give it a couple days, you'll find it," the American answered. "Until then, time for you to do some ground-pounding work." The American pulled his Beretta M9 and a pack of magazines for it. "Hope you know how to use it, at least until you can pick some weps from the dead."

The Dark General of Destruction chuckled grimly. If he really was on Valhalla, and the place regenerated everything overnight as the legend said, this was the perfect field for him to prove his nickname correct. On a daily basis.

* * *

**Author's Chapter Afterword**:

And now the chapters are moving at their proper pace again!

I figure I can do roughly one chapter a week if I cut out all my other BS / time-kill. Of course, I have no social life and can prove it mathematically, which makes it easier to write epic-length stories. More is the better; I am looking forward to concluding this one after some more sections and plenty of hijinks!

Now, onto the story. The major happening here is Barge. By knocking that out, Romefeller has no space options whatsoever. All they can do is take and hold territory on the planet, and that is not going to win them the war when they have poison pills laying about (Rebels, Sanc, Maganac, and Treize) as well as threat of White Fang coming down to kick some ass and take some names.

The second, and equally nasty happening of today's undercard match is the loss of the Lunar Base and the incomplete Libra battleship. Without the ability to manufacture new Mobile Dolls, there is no option for cohesive reinforcements for Romefeller, except the few remaining MS production facilities on Earth. That will make the coming insurrection just that much nastier for Romefeller.

Not much else to say about the chapter, except for the presence of Valder Farkill. Since this is an altered timeline of the AC Era, I am operating on the assumption that Oz Prize did not move against MO-V, they were disrupted by the sudden appearance of the Archangel and will factor into the story later. What is effectively The Last Outpost Gundam Wing Manga will never happen as it was written. Of course, since you are seeing Quinze's musings about Dekim Barton as well, you can expect Endless Waltz will play out wildly different as well. Let's just say I have an interesting way of going about disrupting the EW timeline in mind.

Oh, the fun we shall have as the story goes forward!

Not much else to say about this. I wanted it to be out last Friday, but I spent all week in training four counties away from home (roughly a total drive of 160 miles a day for a week) and had no real chance to do my usual writing routine. That is the hazard of being in a technical position: you will be sent out from time to time to do things like training and field work. Of course, a week delay is a paltry thing so long as all things are sorted out in the end...

That's it. Seriously, I mean it this time. **NEXT UP**: The Archangel returns to Earth and begins the ground operations in Russia, sweeping westward to crush the Romefeller threat and end it once for all. Who will win the final battle?

* * *

**Review Replies**: Another chapter, another 22 review replies. I love the feedback I am getting from people, ideas mixed with critique! Bring it ON! I want to hear YOUR thoughts!

Deathzealot: Nope, no update in a year, an update in a little less than a month.

On Heero, nope, the dice don't seem to be liking him at all. That may change, though.

The ship's crew is running thin right now, though at every stop they pick up salty recruits. Here will be no exception.

Takeshi Yamato: Always a pleasure to have an assist :)

On Dorothy, well, her story will definitely not end at the minor bits she has run here so far.

Infinite Freedom: Like I said, my neighbors would throw a shitfit if I used LPX to deal with gophers. Entertaining thought, regardless.

As to the character list going to join the ship, well, one of them should be fairly obvious, I'll leave the guessing for more than that up to you :)

C0dy88: The dice do weird things. I was expecting it to get a lot worse, but it went a bit easy for the Archangel. Such is life.

2ndsly: Gundam Wiki would be a decent start for background info. Sucks that you can't watch the shows directly. Have you tried Crunchyroll for the mangas?

One thing I have always considered a travesty is adding a variable (especially a big variable) to canon and then expecting things to work out the same. I don't think reality would work that way, so I go out of my way to make sure it works properly, ergo the ensuing history changes. Something of a pet-peeve of mine.

Damn good to hear you are doing better. Stay tuned for more!

Mega 1987: To some things, there simply is no response.

Necroblade: the Wiki is up, at least in proto, and I am slowly chewing through things I want to do with it. Slowly being the keyword.

Trayvs: To an extent I was inspired by the Odyssey, but I would say I was more inspired by an old 108 Stars of ANime fic I read years ago, a Suikoden / Anime xover mess that was never completed. So I decided to spin that concept (multiple and clearly dscordant anime series) into an Odyssey, which I had reread a month or two before I began AAA.

On this chapter, well, things look like they are going well for the Archangel. Good. Don't expect it to last too much into next chapter.

Knightwolf 1875: I am glad to be back in action on all my stories. I have missed doing the writing and I have missed working out these plots. I hope I can burn these down to completed someday soon, as well.

NEB Sparky 86: Thanks for the specs. Not sure exactly when or where I will use them, but any and all ideas are subject to use...eventually.

Dark Phoenix Jake: That may be what it takes to get rid of those little tunneling bastards, then.

I intend to start a Side Story on Natarle (with cameos from Flay) eventually. When I get into some of the hard side stories for JW or MMC, I will need an extra filler story to space chapters out.

Keep in mind, Romefeller tried to overwhelm them by the numbers. Terrain decided the battle; the heavily forested Scandinavian regions prevented them from maneuvering or massing properly. Sometimes, where you fight is far more important than what you bring to the fight.

CrystalFlower: Unfortunately, that was just a throw-in gag. The email in question does not exist in reality.

W. Cheff: With just as much sarcasm: YOU ARE WELCOME, AMIGO!

Knightowl 4183: I think I may have to do a 'Gomer in the spotlight' chapter to show you just how much of that is already in use in the Archangel.

As to destroyed units, rebuilding them is entirely possible already, but not needed. I believe I have covered this: reviving the Blitz Gundam would look good on paper, hell reviving the Warhawk would give them even more advantage, but time and resources are the hamper here. The Strike Freedom could build a complete Blitz Gundam using a subset of its internal repair systems, but it would take months to do so. We're not working in that kind of time frame...right now, at least.

Keep in mind, this story is a mirror of the Odyssey on psychotropic drugs. Odysseus did not have it easy in the Mediterranean, what makes you think I am going to make it easy for the Archangel when bouncing between dimensions?

Omnicron25: You are right, there is much potential for a tombstone in this area, given the factions and power-plays in effect here. Of course, this is the Archangel we are talking about. Things can go in many directions...

Flawless Cowboy 2552: Give Kira some time and he'll succumb to whimsy about all the records in the Strike Freedom. Then you need to start fearing...

The nanomachines can do that, but in most cases it would be a step backwards. It would also take weeks or months to do for most of the machines.

Rune Gods don't need no stinkin' armor, amigo. They're tough hombres right now, and though not evident, their defenses have been improving.

Mordalfus Grea: No points for guessing right, especially when I made it painfully obvious. On the other thought, shhhhh, don't give the author ideas, he might use them :)

Knives 91: Damn glad to be back, actually. Hope this chapter is more 'good stuff' for your diet!

Myers Nathaniel: I keep the comedy of the matter as a silent bonus for the readers.

Myers Nataniel (Review 2): Continuing the conversation in PM, well, suffice it to say that I DO NOT play by anybody's rules except real-world logic. Your assumption that Athrun is the only person for the Justice / Infinite Justice assumes that Athrun actually had said Gundam. That event NEVER OCCURRED. Thus, Athrun has been floating from machine to machine since the destruction of the Aegis, which is expected. Right now he pilots the Mercurius; next week, it may be something else. Depends on what the dice do to his existing machine, and what comes available for use at a later time. Do not assume that canon is in play here, and do not base your assumptions of right or wrong pilot assignments on the principles of canon monogamy. I have no intention of playing that way.

THANK YOU ALL FOR THE REVIEWS! Looking forward to hearing from you in the next chapter!

* * *

**The Gripe Sheet**:

No outstanding gripes from the last chapter. Thanks due to **Necroblade** and **Takeshi Yamato** for editing my prose and calling me on logic FUBAR!

* * *

**Footnotes**:

(1): **Rapier and Main Gauche** is a pattern of weapons common in 17th and 18th century Europe among commoners and nobility, but less so for military purposes. The Rapier is the offensive implement, the Main Gauche (A defensive dagger) is used mostly to block incoming attacks.

(2): **B**attle **D**ress **U**niform, the standard clothing worn by troops in the field or on training operations. Designed to be light, flexible, and have plenty of room for carrying personal gear.

(3): Contrary to movie / television physics, military units (properly-engineered units) commonly have a fire retardant cellular baffle in their fuel tanks to prevent a wildcat explosion of their fuel tanks should they be damaged in combat. Generally the only time they would explode is if they took catastrophic damage to the entire fuel tank all at once, which if that happens the unit has other and more pressing problems to worry about besides a trifling little fuel explosion.

(4): **S**ecurity **P**rotection **O**fficer, the technical name for a bodyguard.


	37. The Archangel of Europe

(Archangel's Amazing Adventures, Section 4, Chapter 8: The Archangel of Europe)

(24 November AC195, 1000 Hours)  
(Neutral Colony L4-10545)

"Container coming in," Yzak noted.

"I have it," Tolle responded as the container continued drifting in his general direction, until it finally arrived at his Gundam. "Container charlie-hotel-5-6-2-2-1-4-5-9, requesting destination."

"Container is 4-0 tons 5-centimeter Gundanium plate, destination is storage 3-sierra-1," the maintenance controller ordered. Tolle checked his right-side monitors, and the green light over the requested bay had come on to indicate where it was supposed to go.

Yzak had simplified the loading procedures and finding bay destinations for the personnel. He affixed a light bar above each of the bays, which would flash with a designated color as set by the maintenance controller on duty. This gave the pilots an easy visual reference as to where they needed to deposit or pull gear from, since (excepting Kira and Yzak) the pilots and a large portion of the crew did not spend a huge amount of time in the hangar area and did not know the lay of the land very well.

With the location in view, Tolle used very tiny corrections of his jets to move the cargo container in the direction he wanted it going. The process was simple, as a little inertia would go a very long way in space. As it happened two Mobile Suits were inducting material from the outside delivery point (Yzak and Kira), with three inside to stow the incoming material (Tolle, Nicol, and Pytor).

"Coming in for you boys, watch it," Tolle noted on the general radio frequency. He used some small amount of reverse thrust to slow it, but the bulk of the work would be impact physics and deft handling by the hangar crew.

"Is it always this relaxed?" Miriallia asked from her seat behind and to the right of Tolle.

"Not really," the pilot gauged. "We've cooked most of the Oz forces in space, so there's no rush. The longer we delay, the longer they sweat it on the ground."

"I know that, silly," Miriallia slapped at his arm. "I was referring to the loading."

"Well, same answer," Tolle spared repeating himself. After he finished putting the crate in place, he cycled in behind Pytor to receive from the next incoming crate.

"Not worried?" Miriallia asked after a minute of silence.

"Not really. We've already proved we can win, so the major thing is doing it with minimal losses," he fronted his position. In truth, it was not a dissimilar position from the rest of the crew.

"Would be nice," Miriallia noted.

After Tolle received and began transporting the next crate, he sensed something about her presence. "Man, you're frisky today, Mir," Tolle noted after he made sure his radio switch was off.

"We haven't had a coinciding shift off in over a week, dear," Miriallia reminded him.

"Glad to know I am missed," Tolle said with a slight chuckle. After a moment's maneuver, he activated the radio again. "Kira, Tolle, about how many more do we have to go?"

Several seconds passed before an answer. "Tolle, Kira, I show about thirty, give or take. Nothing major."

"Buster, this is Operations," Commander La Flaga prompted him. "I show your active time as 11 hours and 42 minutes. I'm not going to order you to stand down, since we need the manpower, but you are free to go off-duty any time you want."

"Operations, this is Mercurius, I will take over for the Buster," Athrun noted. "The Buster needs to finish up repairs as well. Can't go into battle as the one-armed bandit, after all."

"Well, I could always beat on my enemies with the severed arm of my own Gundam," Tolle said with forced cheeriness. He did not like the loss of his arm in the prior battle, but facing up against something as large as _Barge_ meant someone was going to get damaged, end of story. He had been more surprised that nobody had been killed in that insane scrap. "Mercurius, Buster, I acknowledge changing of post. Rest is yours, Athrun."

"Sleep well, both of you," Athrun said, clearly referencing Miriallia in the machine as well.

"Thank you, mister Zala," Miriallia said with some dignitas to voice. "How did he know I was in here?"

"No clue, dear," Tolle admitted.

"I watched her board your machine when you were in last for a refuel," Athrun admitted over the radio band. "At least you've kept pace."

"Oi, nothing is happening in here. I'm on the job, no time for that kind of complete distraction," Tolle said somewhat archly. "I save that for the bedroom."

"Bit much information for talk radio there, kiddo," Murdoch said.

"We noticed you save it for the bedroom. We notice it quite a bit," Kira said, though without any manner of accusation in voice.

"Yeah, we get more ass, without getting any ass, than I think is existentially possible," Yzak noted crassly.

"Well, what do you expect us to do?" Tolle asked with a ration of gusto and challenge to voice.

"Get married," Athrun, Kira, and Nicol all said at the same time.

"Wow, great minds think alike," Yzak commented on the echo-chamber effect of their statement.

"As it happens, Mir and I will be getting married, before we jump next," Tolle said in a matter-of-fact tone. "But that's for another day. Today, I hear my bed calling me."

"Shouldn't that be your booty calling you?" Yzak asked sincerely.

"Okay, Yzak, you can lay off the kids," Mu half-ordered. "Hangar it and call it a night, Tolle. We'll be in combat before the end of the week, so rest up."

-x-x-x-

(24 November AC195, 2200 Hours)  
(Open space between L1 and L4 Colony Groups)

"This is where I declare you are full of it," Yzak groused. Since Umi was on a face-slapping spree again, Yzak was studiously trying to avoid the use of any word stronger than 'damn' on an open frequency or in an open area.

"You can try to dodge, but you ain't getting off the rails in front of this freight train, man," Tolle said. "Both Murdoch and I saw you groovin' to that song."

"And Murdoch?" Yzak echoed.

"Yeah, he said the only thing missing was the air drum routine," Tolle confirmed.

"Well, it is a catchy down-beat," Yzak admitted. "Don't think for a moment I am going soft, though. I still have your metal collection in multiple copies, what exists of it I should say. Needs more power metal, I say."

"And that is the crux of my woes right now," Tolle continued the standing thought. "Everywhere we go, more of this soft crap."

"Someday, someday we'll find a decent metal album. Someday."

"If you two are through, we have an approaching contact, 3 o'clock low," Miriallia said. "Coming in hot, unidentified machine."

"Single machine...single gundam?" Yzak asked after he took a good look at it with magnified optics. "Command, we've got a tango here. He's looking for a fight, by the way he's burning for us."

"You two are it, everyone else is stood down," Miriallia noted. "Ship is going to condition one, we'll have what's available of the weapons grid online in thirty — "

"_Archangel_! Are you doing the right thing?" Someone asked on a general frequency.

"What the hell?" Tolle asked nobody in particular.

"I asked if you are doing the right thing? Prove to me the strength of your convictions!"

"Okay then, I think we have an interesting case here," Yzak said. "Tolle, stand by but don't jump in. I've got this one, just be ready if he hammers me."

"You sure you don't want an assist?" Tolle asked as the enemy approached at a significant rate.

"I think I know where this yahoo is coming from. All piss, no vinegar, less brains." Yzak jumped off the foredeck of the ship where he was standing sentry, and once clear he hammered his own engines to meet the enemy. "Pilot, you active on this frequency?"

"You're in the blue machine? I'm here for the ship, not you," the pilot answered aggressively.

"You're challenging the Archangel TEAM, dickhead, and you get to the ship only by way of stepping over my dead body. Try me, you'll like the answer," Yzak said with a hint of arrogance to voice.

"Fine! If you want to face the dragon first, I'll give it to you!" The enemy started off with a pair of beam cannon shots from its tail binder, though the first shot missed and the second shot was easily blocked at long range. Yzak answered with two double-taps of his own, though he didn't expect much out of them.

The closing ranges provided Yzak more arsenal to work with against the enemy, the first of which was the old Shiva railgun. Two shots kept the enemy off balance, not struck yet but these kinds of matches were decided in close. Much as he expected, the enemy white/green machine closed fast, intent to force the issue with blade or grapple.

"What is your strength?" The enemy asked aggressively, pushing in closer with beam cannon fire that was haphazardly aimed as far as Yzak could tell.

"You're going to have to do way better than that!" Yzak fired several point-blank beam rifle rounds at him, though with no real expectation of making a major difference this early into the battle. True to expectation, two misses and one graze did not a difference make. "C'mon kid! Push it!"

"You haven't answered! I'll force it out of you!" The first clash of beam trident to shield was a significant impact to the Duel, but for his Gundam the stress was less than what was exerted on his foe's machine. At a guess, Yzak figured the rival machine in the 75 ton range, fully thirty tons lighter than his own. A weight advantage could help in a fight like this, he figured.

"Force it harder, pilot!" Yzak half-ordered of the younger enemy, shoving in against his machine with shield and main thrusters in something of a ramming attack. It wasn't enough to completely off-balance the enemy, but it did change the pattern from offense to defense. The quick delay also allowed him time to stow the beam rifle and switch to beam saber for the close-in work.

The enemy machine tried to force the issue on Yzak, but the transition from trident to tail binder was painfully obvious to Yzak by the shift of the target slightly to the right. When the tail snapped up to shoot, Yzak had a missile waiting for it from the shoulder-mounted missile pack on the Duel's heavy armor system. One missile, no tail binder, and no more ranged options for the opposition.

"Gah! That won't stop me!" the enemy half-raged as the two machines broke apart and maneuvered. Yzak took a moment to loft another pair of Shiva rounds at the enemy, both misses, though his was more of a delaying tactic now that the Mercurius had departed the _Archangel_ and was slowly cruising toward the battlefield.

"You want to see our convictions? You're going to have to work far harder than that, pilot!" The Duel jetted forward with shield set, which was both obvious and unfortunately shortsighted. The dragon released grip on the trident with its right arm, and in one swift motion shot out the same arm at Yzak's machine. "Whoa, shit!" he managed to get most of the Duel out of the way, but the shield was both mangled and stripped from the hand of the Duel as the arm passed him.

"Your strength is meaningless if you cannot defend it!" his foe countered in what Yzak guessed was a taunt, just before the enemy machine flung aside the shield ripped from the Duel.

"I've got a lot more than that, kid," Yzak answered with a smile. The left arm went up to the second beam saber and he ejected the Shiva railgun to reduce mass by ten tons — a notable boost in thrust-to-mass that could turn the battle if used properly.

"And now more?" the dragon looked over the growing 'audience' of the battle, now the Buster, Vayeate, Strike Freedom and Mercurius were close but so far not involved with the battle. "I will fight you all!"

"Heads up, dickhead, I am your opponent, not them," Yzak prompted sharply. "Time for your obligatory reality check."

"Then answer the question! Are you doing the right thing?" To punctuate his request, a pair of stabs with the beam trident were expertly parried by Yzak.

"Our actions speak for themselves!" Yzak's counter was a pair of lightning-fast stabbing attacks, one that grazed a shoulder plate and one that was deflected, not a shabby result against a close-quarters specialist.

"I am not convinced! The world is not convinced!" a single stab preceded a swipe of the trident, this second attack was enough to gouge the heavy armor plate across Yzak's chest but not enough to penetrate.

"Romefeller is dying!" Yzak stabbed with the right side to force the opposing machine left, then swung in from the left with the other saber. The contact was enough to remove the right arm of his foe's machine. "The colonies are heading toward freedom right now! What more do you want?"

"We have not seen a guarantee of freedom from anyone! This illusion you live under will not last!" Yzak allowed himself to forget that the local Gundams had machine guns and sometimes more powerful machine cannons, and in this case they were accurate enough to put a pelting on the Duel's Assault Shroud.

"And that is your problem in one sentence," Yzak stood down his beam sabers. "You are so cynical about the past, you cannot see the changing future. Game, set, match."

"This is not over!" The enemy machine charged, an action Yzak was expecting at more than one level. After his foe crossed the halfway point in the gap between their machines, time began to slow as Yzak's mind opened up and began understanding faster than he ever thought possible. (1)

_Left-hand spear attack_, Yzak recognized from the bent of the foe's moves. Countering that was a simple task, the beam saber was released from his left hand and Yzak slid the left thruster pedal toward the outside, jetting his machine directly to the right to clear the attack. Once outside his stab line, the Duel reached in with the left hand against the left hand of the dragon Gundam — at the same time, Yzak fired three missiles into the chest of the enemy machine as a distraction.

The brief disruption of the attack was enough. Yzak's right hand came around to the shoulder binder of his foe's machine, and with a thrust of his main jets he brought the arm of the dragon down into the hardened plate over the knee of his Gundam. It was enough to first disjoint, then break the arm of the dragon, though not ample impact to sever it. Even still, Yzak was not through with the young scrapper; on the outside of his foe's normal reach, the Duel could easily put the beam rifle to the back of the enemy unit and snap off a point-blank shot into critical weakpoints, such as thruster assemblies or the head. Four rounds was all it took to stop the enemy cold, one shot being a through-and-through that severed part of the engine coolant loop, forcing his machine to shut down.

"What — how — " the enemy pilot stammered.

"You underestimated us," Yzak said coldly. "You overestimated yourself, and you hesitated. Three strikes, kid. And you still have your overarching problem, no faith in the reality around you."

"Is this your strength? Faith?"

"Part of it," Yzak admitted. "Mostly the team. I gave you the answer before we fired a shot. This is the Archangel TEAM, and we operate as one. Our strength is our complementary skills and machines, and our will to drive forward whatever the cost and in spite of whatever is thrown our way. Welcome to **our** reality, pilot. Welcome to the nightmare sequel of _The Odyssey_."

"I think he got the message, Yzak, you can stand down now," Commander La Flaga ordered. "We can't leave him floating out here in the middle of nowhere, so we might as well haul him back to the ship. We'll drop him off in Moscow when we're done freeing the city from Romefeller."

-x-x-x-

(24 November AC195, 2200 Hours)  
(Suborbital Reaches, over the North Pole)

"Now entering atmosphere," Newman said. "Phase one, descent total time should be fifteen minutes."

"Proceed normal," Commander La Flaga said. "Sensors, anything in the area?"

"Right now, no. We had a couple civilian shuttles following us with adoring fans, but they've peeled off for other destinations."

"Groupies. Wonderful." Kuzzey probably could not have sounded more disgusted, as far as Miriallia was concerned.

"Well, it could be worse. At least they aren't psycho stalker groupies," Sai said with a tone of humor.

"Oh shit dude, don't say that," Chandratta said hurriedly. "We don't need no jinx like that. We've got enough people trying to knife us as is."

"True," Sai conceded. "Conn, Sensors, one contact, unidentified craft, in polar air traffic lane P-16, has transponder for civilian flight operations. Likely commercial traffic of some kind."

"Sensors, track steady, make sure she stays in her lane and doesn't do anything troublesome." Mu would not put it past Romefeller to use the guise of a civilian transport to sneak a recon or strike asset in behind them. If it worked for the Russians in Afghanistan, it would certainly work for Romefeller.

"Sensors, aye," Sai answered immediately. Within two seconds, the track was laid in and everything showed green.

"Conn, helm, entering phase two atmospheric entry," Newman declared.

"Keep her steady, Newman," Mu ordered. His concern was for the bulk of the crew, who were asleep right now or resting up for the coming battles. He would not say so, but his greatest concern thereof was for Murrue, who was not feeling well. She claimed it was some bad local food, and Mu was inclined to agree given the cheese coney he had at that one dog cart was fairly close to grody...

"Keepin' it soft and silent," the helmsman answered. In terms of prior atmospheric entry work, this one was turning out to be quite a bit smoother, probably due to the colder air in the northern hemisphere at this time of year.

"Conn, radio, we have traffic on an unencrypted band, someone is reporting us coming down over the pole. Direction is contact Charlie-1."

"That civilian liner?" Mu asked after he looked over the radar. "Damn snitch. Too bad we can't wax his ass for it." Murrue would not countenance firing on a civilian craft, even if they were aiding and abetting the enemy. In all reality, it was an idle threat on Mu's part; he figured he would have been really hard pressed to order the shot, all things considered. "Sensors, perk it up a notch. We may have company."

"Sir, we're passing through the Van Allen belt right now," Sai noted. "I couldn't see shit on a stick if you gave it a radar augmenter right now."

"High-tech shit on a stick? That's grody," Chandratta commented dryly.

"Better than your string of dragon jokes when Yzak was beating Wufei's ass," Sai replied acidly.

"Hey!" Miriallia feigned her disgust on the topic. "Even I thought 'crouching moron versus hidden badass' was a pretty good one. Lay off, Sai."

"Yes, ma'am," Sai said with all the temerity of a schoolboy addressing the principal.

" 'The dragon, chasing the dragon,' was also a good one," Newman said. "Phase three entry, sir. We'll be clear on the radio and radars shortly."

"Good. And your opinion, Pytor?"

The aged mechwarrior perked up, given he was presently covering the commander's seat in the CIC. "I was too busy paying attention to the battle between the Gundams, Commander. I must have missed that segment of the conversations."

"That settles that, it is officially 'dump on Sai hour' and nobody informed the FNG," Sai groused in a roundabout attempt to reduce the brutality.

"Embarrassment comes to us all someday in our lives, but for you it comes today," Mu said with a faux wise-man accent.

"Well, looks like I may not have the shit end of this stick," Sai said with a little more gusto. "I now show four contacts coming in from Greenland, sir. Definite intercept course, fast movers. Someone wants some action."

"Do I go to alert status?" Pytor asked.

"No, not yet. Sai, what types?"

"Two fighters, two Aries," Sai said. "They're loaded light, given how fast they're moving."

"Sensors, Conn, aye," Mu acknowledged. "Pytor, do not go to alert unless I say so. Chandratta, spin up the point defense grid."

"Chandratta, they'll be in firing range in two minutes, two o'clock high," Sai said.

"Captain, we're phase four entry now, at level flight," Newman said.

"Newman, be ready for evasive action, but try to keep it easy. I don't want to wake anyone that doesn't have to be."

-x-

"_Archangel_ dead ahead," the fighter pilot said with a tremor of fear in voice. "Do they really expect this to work?"

"It's our best bet, pilot," the Aries lead pilot responded. "Get in over the ship and drop that bunker-buster on it. We won't survive, but at least we'll get some company in hell as a consolation prize."

"Yeah, some prize for that," the second fighter pilot answered grimly. After a few moments, he noticed a beeping from his ESM panel, which could only mean — "Oh shit, they're tracking us!"

"We're too far out for them to do anything — " the lead Aries pilot never had a chance to complete his sentence. A naval beam cannon beam ripped his machine in half above the cockpit; the explosion was simply testament to his demise.

"Maneuver! Break it up!" the second Aries pilot shouted. He made the mistake of banking hard right, which brought him into the fire arc of the other naval beam cannon turret. The fighter pilots had but a brief second to wonder how a warship could use their naval beam cannons against small and very fast targets with such accuracy, though it was a fleeting thought. They had their mission, and they would do it even in the face of death.

"Go right, Razz," the lead bomber pilot went left in an attempt to force the enemy ship to choose between them.

The ship made its choice: both. The fighter that went forward closed within range of the Virgo Beam Cannon assemblies on the starboard-forequarter of the ship, twin turret assemblies with three cannons apiece, tied to independent generators. The first trio of beams missed wide, but the second trio of beams did not miss the bomb under the center fuselage of the craft. The explosion of the bomb under his craft did nothing so much as tear the fighter in half a meter behind the cockpit; fragmentation from the heavy titanium composite case shredded the pilot before the auto-eject could even begin to loose him.

The second craft was damnably lucky in its run, though only briefly. The pilot was savvy enough to see and dodge the turreted machine cannons on the starboard quarter, but he missed the turret assembly of the 120mm autocannon slightly aft of the wing root. Most aircraft were not engineered to take abuse of any kind beyond small arms fire with an expectation of airworthiness, but an airframe that conflicted with 120mm armor-piercing munitions heading in the opposite direction was at best bound for the scrap-heap. In this case, with the craft in flight at the time of the 'airspace conflict', what befell the airframe was open-air structural shearing at 600 knots. The left wing folded in on itself while the rest of the craft from the engine housing back simply tore itself apart. This pilot was lucky enough to eject, but unlucky enough to land within 200 meters of a family of hungry polar bears.

-x-

"Two pair," Murdoch said. "Fours, eights. Beat me if you can."

"Your mustache is Cthulu incarnate; there is no defeating it," Athrun dropped his cards on the low table the mechanics had designed for use in the hot springs.

"Hey, I rather like this mustache," Murdoch said defensively.

The table rattled slightly to some manner of vibration somewhere else in the ship. "What was that?" Nicol asked.

Murdoch had recognized it as the sound of the Igelstellungs, followed by the off-timbre bark of the Ultra-10 model autocannons. "Probably just the wind," he said in the most unconvincing tone possible.

"Eh, whatever," Athrun groused before he began shuffling the cards. He knew he was being shined on, but the lack of a battle klaxon made it an effective non-issue. "Five card again?"

"Works for me," Murdoch replied evenly.

"Watch out for the mustache," Nicol said as he received his first and second cards.

-x-x-x-

(25 November AC195, 1000 Hours)  
(Outskirts of Moscow, Russia)

"Let's get this party started," Commander La Flaga ordered.

"As much as I am growing fond of the Vayeate, I do miss my native machine classification," Pytor said stiffly. "It is good to be back in a battlemech."

"You'll need it," Mu commented dryly. Resistance on this first engagement was expected to be stiff and brutal. "_Archangel_, Skygrasper, I just rounded the Cosmonaut memorial, only shot at three times. They probably know we're coming, but they're not doing much about it so far."

"Skygrasper, this is command, I roger your report. Try to string out their ground forces toward the ship and mobile units, we'll drop 'em as they come in."

"Looks kind of like a mass driver," Mu mused while he reefed around in a lazy bank to head toward the enemy lines again. "So far, I'm seeing six Leos and a Taurus. Ground, you should be ready for them."

"Ready and waiting," Tolle said.

The plan was roughly as brutal as it was simple. The _Archangel_ would run down the Russian M8 highway into Moscow, kicking ass the whole way, and the first destination of the ship was the Cosmonaut Museum and Memorial. Further down the M8 was the inner ring-road of Moscow, and within would be the first major symbol of liberation for this campaign: the Kremlin and Red Square. If further action was required, the plan would be to head southwest to the Grand Arena of Central Lenin Stadium, then north to the Frunze Central Aerodrome, a small airport in the middle of an urban center.

The major threat of this tour would be the urban battle work, never a pleasant task and made more unpleasant by the historical value of a lot of the city. Moscow was a storied city, and it had a lot of important buildings (especially cathedrals) that Kira had worked hard to lock out of everyone's TTS to prevent damage. Those locks could be overridden easily, but safety would be key in preventing collateral damage.

"I believe we're on television," Fuu noted from a block to the west of the _Archangel_, as her Rune God was observing the machinations of a news crew.

-x-

Kira, standing atop the _Archangel_'s foredeck with the EM Rifle from the Lightning Striker, looked over the city around him with a wary heart. He knew this was the most moral and direct way to do the job, but it would be a costly method just the same. Urban warfare tended to be a bit hard on all things urban, and the _Archangel_ was famous for being able to cause property damage.

On the other hand, any manner of victory would begin to add up after a while.

In the distance, Kira watched Mu dive down on a target, fire off a blast of Agni, and bounce back up to safe flight level. "Scratch one! I think I have their attention now!"

"Bring them our way, Commander," Kira requested. "We can't help if you keep them out at range, sir."

"Working on it," Mu said as he looped back toward the _Archangel_ to draw the enemy toward the ship.

For a distraction, the Commander worked well. A Leo used some taller apartment buildings as cover to get close to the _Archangel_, inadvertently at least. It was clear the pilot was not looking for a massive floating warship when he blundered out into the middle of the M8 Highway slightly south of the vanguard forces. Pytor shot the errant Leo once in the side with a pulse laser to damage and focus, then struck it with both gauss rifles when it presented a full-on shot. Another Leo was smart enough to realize the warship was about, but did not realize the MS on the foredeck had the range to drop it with a single shot from 3 kilometers.

"That Taurus has the Space Laser, guys, may want to focus on it when it comes in," Kira noted as he watched the approaching Mobile Suit hop from one defensible building to the next at range.

"No major response from the enemy forces. Are they tied up or something?" Hikaru asked nobody in particular.

Kira figured that a good question. "Computer, start scanning public and known military frequencies, see where the enemy is and what they're doing."

"On it," his battle computer answered adroitly.

"Come to papa, suckhole," Yzak ordered of a Leo that was trying to act squirrely at range. The foe was fast enough to pop off a bazooka round at the ship, but not fast enough to dodge the fire from Yzak and Nicol. Two beam rifle rounds dropped it hard in the middle of a side-road a kilometer short of the Cosmonaut Memorial.

"I have the Taurus," Pytor declared as the Stone Rhino put on some more speed. It was not fast by any stretch of the word, but an assault like this was deliberately slow to make sure the force did not rush into an ambush. Cities were very good terrain for ambushes.

"Grasper, Command, how many more in our theater? We're two kilometers out from the Cosmonaut Memorial," Miriallia requested.

"Four, once Pytor knocks off — Okay, Taurus is down," Mu said. True to his word, Pytor had targeted the Taurus as soon as it made itself available, two pulse lasers disrupting the machine in preparation for two gauss rifle strikes that dropped it clean.

"Unspent Space Laser! Sweet! Once we clear to up there, I'll pick it up," Tolle volunteered.

"Kira, I have an idea what is going on with the Romefeller forces," his battle computer reported, though it was also heard by the rest of the team.

"Go for it," Kira requested as he popped off a pair of shots at a Leo to the west, one that was trying to maneuver on the front line.

"There is a rebel assault coming in from the south, something on the order of a hundred machines from the Tula and Ryazan areas. The Oz forces are almost completely tied up to the south, except for those few units trying to contain us."

"Looks like we started the party at just the right time," Commander La Flaga noted with a smile.

-x-

So far, in the advance assault the left flank had seen no notable action, except for the Taurus that had lasted a whopping five seconds against Pytor.

As far as Hikaru was concerned, a clean right flank was a good thing. The old city of Moscow was kinda creepy, definitely run-down in places, and she did not relish the thought of having to fight a Mobile Suit in these crowded confines.

Still, Moscow as a city was not completely bereft of greenery or a human touch. The Cosmonaut Museum was sited on several acres of park and semi-forested land, not to mention the facility itself was massive and impressive to someone like Hikaru. Her first adventure outside Tokyo had been Cephiro; prior to that, she did school and her family dojo, nothing more. When she got home, she figured she would have some absolutely amazing stories for her family...that they probably would not believe.

The reality of it was good for a sigh as she continued south through the Cosmonaut Park area. No person in their right mind would honestly believe this was possible, but here she was. Hikaru reminded herself that she was seventeen and rapidly approaching eighteen, working with a Rune God to evict the Romefeller Foundation from Moscow on a separate instance of Earth from where she was born, serving with groups that had even stranger and more violent histories than she had. She did console herself that if they decided to lock her in one of those padded cells, her sword would easily chop through restraint, door, wall, whatever it took to get out.

_Understand that insanity is a relative principle, Magic Knight_, Rayearth told her telepathically._ While the denizens of your true home would consider this quest to be nothing short of madness, whole societies elsewhere in Existence would venerate thine efforts as noble and purposeful. Be wary that ye do not become depressed upon such consideration; wherever you go, I stand with you and shall forever stand at guard for you_.

"Thanks, Rayearth, I needed that," Hikaru noted.

The Rune God passed over several smaller side-streets that went on to intersect the M8 highway, and entered a park area separate from the Cosmonaut Memorial area. Probably due to the time of day, she had to be careful to avoid civilians on the grounds of the park, and even had to dodge a mid-morning picnic in one of the clear fields. Still, it was a different experience to be the focus of so much attention, mostly awe and a clear hint of fear, as well as a lot of cameras following her every move.

"Hikaru, Command, anything to the right?"

"No enemies, but a lot of press and civilian gawkers," the Magic Knight answered as she threaded the Rune God between buildings south of the park. These were mostly strip-mall and multi-level commercial buildings, enough of a building to stop her Rune God cold in a face-on collision. On careful consideration, she decided that she preferred the close quarters and buildings to the wanton overexposure of the vanguard detail. At least on the flanks of the M8 run, she could take cover. Out in the middle of the M8 highway, the only option was to stand there and take it.

"Keep an eye to the right, Hikaru. Sai keeps thinking there may be machines over there," Miriallia requested. "And if it gets too hot, shout it out. Kira and Mu can give you fast support if needed."

"Roger that. I'm not seeing anything, when I get south of this complex I'll jump up on a building and look around."

"Swing wide right, at your two o'clock is an industrial building and truck dock that should give you a clear view to the whole area," Kira said.

"I see it, moving now," Hikaru changed direction in the middle of a road, causing an instantaneous traffic snarl as her Rune God began picking its way through stopped vehicles. Rather than trying to thread her way between trees and buildings, the road seemed the best bet for this shift of destination. The shift of plan took slightly less than a minute to complete, and with a powered jump the Rune God was standing on top of a four-story industrial building. "At location, looking now."

"Anything?" Miriallia asked.

"No, nothing west of our course," Hikaru said.

_Below us_! Rayearth half-shouted on the telepathic plane. Hikaru looked down past the edge of the building, and saw two Aries and a Leo hiding in the shadow of the truck dock.

"Scratch that report! Engaging close!" Rayearth dropped down with the sword set to impale the Leo, which turned out to be as much of a rude shock to the enemy as it was for her to find the enemy so close. The impact of the drop was bone-jarring,. but her impale attack was true to intent and resulted in a Leo run through and cleaved down from the entry point.

"Hikaru! Report!" Miriallia ordered. In close, the Magic Knight ignored the request in lieu of bringing her sword around and into the side of the nearby Aries. Simple titanium armor would not stop a magicked sword, and in that the enemy machine fell apart at mid-chest after Hikaru barely managed to stop her sword from chopping into the nearby building.

One enemy machine remained, though the pilot picked the foolhardy option of trying to shoot it out with Rayearth. Hikaru set the left-arm shield forward and stepped over the ruins of the first Aries, intent to close and grapple with it. A pair of missiles slowed Rayearth briefly, but even that was paltry damage in the face of it. Since the enemy had backed himself into the building, her sword was not a valid option; any manner of slice or stab would damage the building and hazard killing civilians, so she dropped aside the sword two strides before she arrived, and she dropped the shield from her Rune God's left hand to free both hands. In close, Rayearth slammed into the aerial Mobile Suit with a bear hug, then threw it right and down, away from the buildings.

"Rayearth, Strike Freedom, report! Say something!" Kira half-demanded.

"Not now, busy!" Hikaru answered quickly just before she punted the machine gun from her foe's hand. With that accomplished, she reached down into the left-side engine nacelle of the Aries, grabbed a hold of the first thing her hand encountered, and hauled it out of the engine housing on pure strength alone. "Whoa, that looks important," she said after she realized she was holding a near-complete and badly mangled turbofan engine. With nothing to do with the engine, she simply rammed it exhaust-port-first into the head of the Aries. Seconds later, the cockpit blew open from an emergency release, with black smoke billowing out behind the pilot trying to escape.

"Dude! Holy shit!" Yzak said heartily. "You ripped one of his engines out and beat his machine with it! Go Hikaru!"

"That's one for the record books," Kira noted.

"Oh, well, area's clear now," Hikaru said timidly. "I'll be back in formation in a few." She had no idea why she thought of doing that, but it worked.

-x-

(25 minutes later)

"I am beginning to wonder where the savashri have gone to," Pytor noted with a soured tone. "Command, Stone Rhino reporting passing the inner ring road. No opposition forces in evidence anywhere."

"Alright, people, we are 2 and three-quarters kilometers travel from Red Square. If anything is going to happen, this area is it," Murrue warned them. "This is also our last leg. If we take the Kremlin, that's it for the Romefeller Russian command."

"One thing is for damn sure, Moscow is going to need a lot of utility work, especially for these streetcar lines we keep stripping down," Athrun said.

"Not it," Kira declared immediately.

"Not it," Tolle followed suit.

"Of course, not it," Yzak groused.

"Sucks to be their line crews, I guess," Athrun said. "At least we've managed to minimize vehicle and personnel casualties."

"_Archangel_, Kira, I'm starting to see some taller buildings ahead, you may want to bring your altitude up to 125 meters AGL," the Strike Freedom cautioned.

"I see them," Newman replied. "Vanguard, we'll drop back a little as well, in case we need to provide close air support."

The _Archangel_ moved up to the requested altitude, though Kira expected it would have to go higher still the closer they got to the Kremlin. At the minimum, though, the Mobile Suits could pass through most of the necessary streets, even if single file to do so in some places.

"Can you see anything from up there, Kira? All I can see is apartment buildings and — whoa," Athrun said as the Mercurius inadvertently looked in a window, and what he saw was mind-blowing. "Okay, I really didn't need to see that."

"I won't ask," Kira said warily.

"I recognize this building we're passing," Yzak said. "Not sure what it is, though," he mused after a few more paces.

"Lubyanka Square, that's the old Rossiya Insurance building. You should know it, we covered it in ZAFT Intelligence Service history classes," Athrun said. "That is the old headquarters of the KGB during the Soviet days, and later the revised and downsized SVR Intelligence Services. Should be unused, since Romefeller's intelligence apparatus is based in Paris."

"Now that is a history lesson you won't read in most middle school history books," Fuu noted with a gasp.

"Hell, we didn't even cover it, and we went through college-level history material back in Heliopolis," Tolle groused.

The team trudged on, with still no sign of an enemy attack. After another couple hundred meters past the old KGB / SVR headquarters, they came to another square. "Whoa, this isn't Red Square, I know that much," Yzak commented. He had seen old film of the Red Square parades in the past, and the area was quite distinct. This square did not fit the bill.

"No, this is something else. Computer, care to brief us?" Kira asked the AI unit.

"To the left is Revolution Square, an old Soviet monument to the October Revolution. On your right is a separate square, Theater Square, so named because the imposing building to the north is the Bolshoi Theatre. Hotel Moskva is forward and left, and on the far side of the grand hotel is Red Square."

"Approaching Hotel Moskva now," Pytor noted. The team had some space to spread out, given the road was ten lanes wide here. "We turn left at the far corner of the hotel, quiaff?"

"Checking now," Miriallia replied. "Confirmed, turn left, pass around the Museum dead ahead of you, and you're standing in Red Square."

"This has been one badass marching history lesson," Yzak said. "While we're here, today, can we bivouac in the Hotel?"

"Since we'll probably have to hold here and consolidate for a day or two, that may be a real possibility," Captain Ramius replied.

"Approaching the final turn," Pytor noted. "There are some infantry in the area, but they appear to be running east at relatively high speed. No armor forces."

"Infantry are mixed with civilians, do not fire unless you have a clear threat," Athrun said warily.

"Hello Kremlin!" Tolle said. "Now this is a piece of freaking architecture!"

"Beats the hell out of a history book, and we're here to liberate it," Commander La Flaga said. "Command, I show some activity well south, on the far side of the river. May be the last skirmishes of rebels against Romefeller."

"Who's winning?" Murrue asked.

"Rebels by a third, looks like," Mu said.

"You can swing out and give 'em some support if you want, or hold here. Your discretion, Commander." The _Archangel_ was passing high over the Hotel Moskva, as the buildings in the area were too tall for low-altitude flight.

"I'll take a couple swings at Romefeller and be back before lunch." Mu broke off and headed south toward the melee.

The _Archangel_ stopped to hover over Red Square, descended as much as was possible given the buildings, and prepared to do something highly unorthodox in the ship's repertoire of skills. Two ropes dropped clear of the ship from crew access hatches near the wing roots, while the center vehicle access door opened in the front. Two Commandos dropped clear of the ship on the rappel lines, then another pair, followed by the first point of Elementals from the front of the ship. They would be the initial wave of troops on the ground, though the reserve Marines (Murdoch's Madmen) would join in the clearing of the Kremlin as soon as the _Archangel_ found somewhere to park.

With the addition of the Rebels to the Moscow part, things went far smoother than Murrue had anticipated. This made her mildly jittery; easy battles usually meant something else was going wrong.

-x-x-x-

(26 November AC195, 2330 Hours)  
(North America, New Fort Hood, Louisiana, Old United States territory)

"This is where we have to act," the base commander pointed to a location on the map. "This territory is an old defensive consideration. The Fulda Gap, separates the old Soviet territories from what was NATO. NATO was long concerned with absorbing a Soviet invasion in this area that never happened. In this case, we think it might be a good idea to set up defense there — we use it for the same purpose NATO would have. Absorb the fury of the Archangel Team and their sycophants from space."

"What about Poland?" the junior officer asked.

"What about it?" the commander asked in counter. "Poland has traded hands dozens of times over the years. If they want it, I say let them have it — and more power to them. Poland is Polish first, anything else second. They will have a lot of heartburn if they try holding it."

"So we concentrate our defenses farther west, in Germany? That's going to be a messy proposition."

"We don't have a choice," the Oz commander in the room noted, the first thing he had said in several minutes. "We can't win against them without concentrating our forces. We can't concentrate enough force into Poland in time to stop them. It has to be Germany. That is why I need at least two battalions from this base."

"Okay — " he was cut off by the sound of the alert klaxons.

"Enemy attack!" One of the operators shouted.

"Where!?" the Oz officer asked.

"To the south!" All three officers moved to the windows facing the south, though there was no need for binoculars in this case. The threat was roughly as obvious as it was close.

"Deploy all Mobile Suits for immediate combat operations! Get the defensive gun emplacements crewed!"

"Too late!" Four cruise missiles slammed into the defensive gun batteries on the south perimeter, belying a level of support for the rebels and their assault forces.

"They are far too well organized for a normal rebel assault," the Oz commander noted. "They're probably being backstopped by the Treize Faction."

"No shit, sensei," the base commander retorted sharply. "Where are our Mobile Suits?"

"Oh shit," the junior officer moaned.

When the commander looked back to the battle, it was in time to see the halo of a rocket motor on the far side of a bazooka round directly for the command tower. With less than three seconds flight time, the commander simply saluted the firing Mobile Suit, given he didn't have time to do anything else.

-x-

"Lead, six, command tower is mulch," the one lady pilot in the assault team said. "Where do you want me next?"

"Six, lead, move left and clear out the infantry barracks. One, two, and three have the Mobile Suit hangars on the right flank. Rest of team, enter and clear the center area!"

"Assault lead, this is _Nautilus_, do you need more fire support?" the Treize Faction submarine commander asked.

"Negative, we've breached the perimeter," the leader replied. "We have this one wrapped up."

"Roger that. _Nautilus_ is leaving the theater, _Typhoon_ will be in range to support again in three days. Good luck, pilot." The radio link popped with the close-out of his segment of the conversation.

"Damn good to see the Treize Faction is fighting with us, not parallel or against us," Four said.

"No complaints here," Lead noted. "Looks like we caught 'em napping. Six, status of the infantry forces?"

The lady fired her last bazooka round into the infantry barracks. "Barracks are down. We have some odds-and-ends sentries or stragglers, but that's it."

"Our infantry will mop them up fast enough," Lead noted. "Continue north, sweep and clear."

She continued north as ordered, though it was not long before she came to the parking area for Mobile Suit Carriers. Feeling a bit lucky, she lifted the cover on one of the still-loaded heavy carriers, wondering what was under the tarp. It only took her a few seconds to realize she wasn't looking at a typical machine. "Lead, Six, I got some serious shit here," the lady noted.

"Go," Lead answered.

"Looks like one of the Gundams — Gundam 03, the one with the guns. Except, the head is a bit different."

"What? This shit I gotta see," the Lead pilot said. "All other forces, continue operations as normal."

"Aye, sir," One answered curtly. "We have the MS hangars cleared now. Moving on the base power station and vehicle annex."

"Let's see it, pilot," the Commander's Leo pointed to the carrier in question.

The lady's Leo yanked the tarp off the inactive machine. "It looks like the real deal, except for the head isn't spiky enough."

"You're right, it's the proper form, just not the same head. An Oz rebuild of it, somewhat simplified?" Something on the north side of the base detonated, causing both Lead and Six to look in that direction. "What was that?"

"Sorry, boss, hit a fuel tank," Four answered sheepishly.

"Well, as soon as we get this area cleared, we'll look into commissioning these machines for our own use," Lead hoted. There were four other carriers parked here, all with the same pattern of object under the tarp.

-x-x-x-

(30 November AC 195, 1400 Hours)  
(Warsaw, Poland)

"Reducing levitator output now, distance to ground is 4-5 meters," Newman reported.

"Keep her steady, Newman. No major ruts when we park; this field is, technically, ramp space. Other planes have to use it after we're out of here," Commander La Flaga ordered. The Captain was out again, barfing her guts out, though in this case she was joined by four crew members who also had to report in sick. The cooks had tested the beef they received in space and discarded the whole lot; one of the first deliveries scheduled for the ship here in Poland was a food resupply.

"Are you serious? A grass field ramp?" Newman asked. "What the hell are they flying out of here? Biplanes?"

"Actually, turboprop passenger aircraft," Mu said, having asked the question himself in hours past. "A lot of the airfields in this country are dirt-strip or grass-field runways and ramp space."

"Fredric Chopin Airport is notable for having a large terminal and full international facilities," Athrun commented from the second radio station seat. Since the battle was effectively done, the pilots were stood down to standard guard rotation only. Athrun, not ready to sleep, was spelling Kuzzey at the radios. "Not sure I'd want to fly commuter between here and any of the other cities in Poland, though."

"I see what you mean," Newman answered. "2-5 meters to ground."

"Conn, Sensors, I show one civilian passenger aircraft approaching for landing on Runway 33. No other traffic, no ground contacts," Sai reported.

"Roger that," Mu answered. "Track steady, but keep your sensor power low to avoid cooking it."

"I suppose that little gray flat-roof building at our 11 o'clock is what passes for our terminal?" Newman asked.

"I believe so, and it looks like we have some VIPs here to see us," Mu said, examining the building using the external cameras. As the pilot and commander were discussing the building, two limousines and two military jeeps had rolled up on the building.

"Five meters to touchdown, ten seconds," Newman said.

Mu picked up the growler phone. "Hangar, Bridge, have two HMMVWs ready to go in fifteen minutes. Pilots Joule, Zala, Yamato, Pytor, and Shidou, report to the armory to draw arms for potential ground action and SPO detail."

"That much for SPO detail?" Chandratta asked.

"We think it is clear, but I'm not so sure yet," Mu admitted. "You have the Conn, mister Chandratta."

"Aye, sir, the gun-bunny has the Conn."

-x-

The improved crew vehicles went a long way to mitigating the rough terrain, even for a relatively smooth field such as an airport grass ramp. Still, there were a couple times Mu wished he had put his seatbelt on, even given the treated cotton soft-top above him.

The dignitaries waiting for them also had some security personnel but nothing like what Mu had for himself. One Magic Knight, Three Magic Knight Apprentices, and an old-hand Clan Mechwarrior. Plenty of security if something went apeshit.

"Pull in there, Hikaru, and angle to the right," Mu ordered, pointing to the concrete pad to the north of the building.

"Got it," Hikaru noted.

The second vehicle pulled in immediately to the left of the first, and Yzak was the first out to survey the area. In direct sight, the only major threat was the security detail of this bureaucrat, no movement or threatening objects.

Once the area appeared clear, Mu stepped out to join the discussion. Once he passed the front of the two HMMVWs, the five SPOs jumped up from their kneeling positions and moved forward with their rifles slung but at the ready in case something went down.

"You are Commander La Flaga?" the bureaucrat asked.

"I am. You are?"

"Piotr Wjohewicz, mayor of Warsaw. Welcome to the Archangel Team! We are quite happy to have you in town for the liberation movement!"

"It is definitely good to be here," Mu said, taking his hand for a shake and a quick embrace. Of course, a couple newsies were on hand to take pictures of the momentous greeting, which would be good press for everyone involved. "So, how goes affairs in the city?"

"Excellent! Most of the Romefeller troops pulled out of town last night, we thought they were moving forward to halt you outside town, but in reality they were leaving for Germany. The old Underground reports they didn't stop until they got to Leipzig."

"Hmm, looks like Germany is going to be the big scrap location," Athrun noted. "That's old NATO territory, probably going to force us to run the gauntlet in the Fulda Gap."

"This is gonna suck pretty hard," Yzak said on the heels of Athrun's opinion. "All projections showed the Soviets were going to lose that one by a hair, and for sure we don't outnumber the Romefeller foundation. I don't like them apples one bit."

"Transparent plans can be avoided," Mu noted. "So, first off, do you need any further support from us right now, Piotr?"

"No, we have things mopped up in the city. Our guys — " He did not get to finish the sentence, as a single gunshot rang out midsentence. The bullet transited the mayor's chest, struck a rib on the way out, and tumbled in air between him and the Commander. When it struck Mu, the slug was sideways but still easily fast enough to penetrate clothing and skin.

The shooter turned his revolver on Hikaru, but not fast enough. Before he could center and take the shot, four of the Mayor's security detail and Yzak had dropped the hammer on him, with no less than twelve rounds striking him in the space of a second. A traitorous bodyguard hit the ground two seconds later, clinically dead before he landed

"Commander!" Hikaru and Kira both collapsed in on Mu after he staggered, favoring his side. Yzak moved to the traitor to kick away the revolver, while Athrun and Pytor moved to the Mayor.

"I'm still alive, what about him?" Mu asked.

"The shooter is dead, the Mayor...still alive!" Athrun said heartily. "We need to get him to the hospital immediately."

"Medbay on the _Archangel_! Pytor, Yzak, Kira, get him into a HMMVW and move it!"

"Commander, don't overdo it," Hikaru cautioned after Mu laid out the plan.

Four of the Mayor's Guard helped improvise a stretcher from a nearby piece of sheet aluminum leaning against the building, while the others looked outward for signs of further attack. When the Mayor was loaded, they joined the entourage in the HMMVWs headed back to the _Archangel_. Radios allowed the mechanics to be ready and waiting with rescue kits, and the doctor was partway to the hangar by the time the first HMMVW rolled into the facility.

On the part of the guards, they had no idea why one of their rank flipped and shot the Mayor and Commander La Flaga, but they were certainly glad the rest of the team didn't hose them all on general grounds. Soldiers with machine guns were generally jumpy things when one of their officers were shot.

On the other hand, seeing the inside of the great warship _Archangel_, even if under bad circumstances, was a once-in-a lifetime experience. The guards made sure they looked everything over possible.

-x-x-x-

(2 December AC 195)  
(Rural Germany, West of the town Wurzen / South of Lupitz)

"Not seeing much activity," Sai noted calmly. "Supposedly, this is the area where they are supposed to make a stand?"

"Unless they moved in closer to Leipzig," Chandratta noted coldly. "Wouldn't surprise me if they hid in among the civilians."

"If they did, we root them out," Captain Ramius said just as coldly as Chandratta had considered their tactics. "I don't want to spend my vacation time looking over my shoulder. We do this right."

"Second," Newman said.

"Third," Miriallia chimed in.

"Fourth," Kuzzey added after a moment.

"And the Romefeller forces say otherwise," Sai said. "Conn, Sensors, coming in on three vectors: northeast, northwest, and southwest. May be trying to box us in. Transports, by handling they are fully loaded. First wave will be on us in 3 minutes, with another wave every five thereafter, if I'm doing my math right."

"Better now than in Leipzig itself. Chandratta, sound general quarters."

-x-

"Old Policeman's Lament: We are so used to doing so much with so little, we now attempt the impossible with nothing," Yzak said at his most acidic.

"Welcome to the Archangel Team," Athrun replied in a clearly smartass fashion. "Time to throw some hot particle beams at them."

"I detect a minor hint of testosterone poisoning in the air," Umi said offhand as Selesce was stacking up for her catapult shot. Nicol would go first before her, and Kira would launch behind her, while the other catapult deployed Vayeate, the 105 Dagger, and Rayearth.

"Might as well use it if it's available," Pytor noted with a chuckle. "Vayeate, MS Pilot Pytor, launching!"

"GuAIZ, Nicol Amalfi, Launching!" Umi watched as she had done multiple times before, the unsettling feeling of seeing one of her friends launched out of the tube toward imminent danger.

After the shuttle reset, she stepped Selesce forward onto the footholds and braced for it. "Command, Umi reporting in place. Ready for launch!"

"Cleared for launch," Miriallia said.

"Umi Ryuuzaki, Selesce, Launching!" Miriallia tripped the catapult shuttle to drag her down the alley and throw the Rune God out into the air at high speed. Once clear of the bay, Selece snapped his wings open to catch the first hints of wind and begin maneuver.

"Time to swat some flies!" Tolle said from his perch on the back deck of the ship. He combined the beam cannon and the gun launcher to create the shotgun configuration, and with a single blast knocked out one Aries and wounded another.

Strike Freedom is out — and I'm hit!" Kira announced immediately after he launched, though the hit was minor — a damaged thruster on his leg, but not a good sign of the rest of the battle to come. "Damnit! Crappy luck!"

"About par for the course for us," Athrun admitted.

"Skygrasper, Mu La Flaga, launching!" The Commander was out behind Rayearth, but only barely. His timing was excellent, however, in that a Tragos artillery unit tried shooting through his airspace and at the _Archangel_. It missed both, but definitely had Mu's attention. "Holy crap, these maggots have thrown a good chunk at us!"

"Guys, I'm showing Oz High-speed shuttles on the way now! They'll be here in minutes!

"Oh great, we go from better to worse," Yzak groused. "Who's next?" His question was answered by a low pass from a Taurus, who managed to miss him completely but put a couple holes in the ship's foredeck. "You lousy bastard!" His return fire was roughly as useful.

"I've got four — GAH!" Nicol half-grunted, half-shouted in mid-sentence. "Nicol's hit! Lost my shield and left arm, nothing major...yet."

"What the hell?" Tolle asked. "These guys must be their varsity! They're — HOLY SHIT!" He managed to dodge most of the missiles aimed at him, but not all. One contacted his leg but caused no damage to the Phase Shift armor. "Sweet Jesus, Mary and Joseph! What the hell are these guys on?"

"Speed and weed, now shut up and shoot!" Yzak crassly ordered. He was not the only person shooting back, but after Tolle's first shot the enemy had smartened up some and were maneuvering seemingly erratically, making a kill difficult at best.

"_Archangel_, we could use some support out here!" Athrun said, before he used the Planet Defensers to stop a pair of beams aimed at the 105 Dagger.

"Oh, shit," Miriallia said. "Uh, guys, we have a failure in the FCS right now, Murdoch and a couple of his boys are working on it. Hold 'em as you can, we're going to bring everything online shortly," the Operator concluded.

"Fucking wonderful," Yzak said. "Lovely time for a tea party!"

"Shut up and shoot, Yzak," Nicol replied tersely as he was zeroing in on a Taurus. Two shots passed just behind it, but a third struck it just behind the cockpit and caused a fuel bunker to vent in flames. It did not last long, but the unit crash-landed and broke up into pieces moments thereafter.

"Time to drop these Mobile Dolls!" Kira singled out the lead column of Mobile Dolls and dispatched two with aimed railgun shots. The return fire was significant, but nothing the Strike Freedom was not ready for.

"This is _Archangel_, all weapon systems are live! Stand by!" Chandratta announced. "Guns coming online, FCS has contact! Point defense grid is in Special-Auto mode!" The ship began spitting fury in every direction, aiming mostly at the Taurus and Aries machines in the air, though its first kills would be a pair of Leos on the right flank, one with a Dobergun and one with a Space Laser.

"More on the left! Couple dozen!" Hikaru noted before Rayearth performed a powered sprint forward and into the midst of a column of Leo Mobile Suits. Her blade dropped one, but she stalemated against a second machine.

"Magic Knight Hikaru! Don't move too far forward! The ship can't support you!" Even despite his complaint, Pytor still supported her advance with two shots from the massive beam cannon on the Vayeate. One shot passed between two machines without harm, a second struck clean and blew the head and shoulders clean off a Tragos.

"We're not killing them fast enough!" Kira said as he sidestepped a fairly blatant missile attack. "We'll be at this all freaking day!"

"I'm not afraid of kicking ass in the dark! Keep up the pressure, they'll fold eventually!" Mu suited actions to his words, with a snap-shot of the Agni Hyper Impulse Cannon at a Taurus passing left-to-right in front of him. He clipped one of the arms, shearing it off, but did not destroy it outright.

"I'll cover the right — " Umi hesitated for a moment as a burst of machine cannon slugs passed nearby. It wasn't the first time, but it was unsettling just the same.

-x-

"Taurus Control, you have to put more pressure on them before they spread out!" the Romefeller Commander ordered.

"I'm working on it, sir! These aren't exactly pussies we're fighting!"

"Holy shit! The Strike Freedom just dropped three Virgos and damaged another!"

"That machine is fucking insane!" the Commander wailed to nobody in particular. "And I thought Gundam 01 was hell on our forces, these guys are a whole 'nother league entirely!"

"And then there is this one," the Operator highlighted the red Rune God on her console. "There goes another Leo and a damaged one," she reported as the Rune God chopped in half one machine, then removed the arm from another with a backhand stroke.

"Concentrate fire on the heavy hitters," a different Operator ordered to her controlled machines. A Tragos took up the challenge, but managed to miss the intended target (the 105 Dagger) handily. To point of fact, one of the heavy hitters managed to hit and drop an Aries, which nearly slammed into the command transport on the way down.

"Taurus Five reporting it has struck the Archangel amidships with a Space Laser. It is damaged, but not slowing down."

"Command, Aries 22 reporting Gundam 02 is approaching the battlefield from the northwest! They're engaging now!" The Aries Commander reported hastily.

"Bloody wonderful. Now what?" The Romefeller Officer asked nobody in particular.

"Magic Knight Rayearth is still operating wide on the enemy's right flank, and just dropped another Leo."

"Oh yes, we still have those to deal with." The Commander watched as two of his Aries took strafing runs against the _Archangel_, but they were forlorn hope runs that achieved nothing of significance. Simply stated, the 60mm chainguns carried by the Aries were not capable of damaging anything more substantial than a tank or another Aries.

"Oh crap, _Archangel_ is preparing to fire missiles!"

"Us?" The Romefeller officer asked.

"No, just the Mobile Suits," the radar officer said after the missiles began shifting courses rapidly. A couple of the missiles missed, but four hits garnered three kills and a cripple on their right flank.

"Hit them back! I want that ship to bleed!" the Romefeller officer shouted. A Taurus took heed to his command and took a pass at the conning tower, but managed to only hit the armor around it in two shots and completely miss in three.

"Tragos forces, Command, the _Archangel_ is in the fire sack. Begin directed shelling." Before complying with the order, one team of Tragos finished up their fire mission against the blue Rune God, with three hits that knocked her down.

"Sir! We're losing the right flank! Rayearth is overrunning our Leo companies! We're down two more!"

"How the hell does one Rune God — "

"SIR! Contact close aboard! It's the Wing Zero!"

-x-

"_Archangel_, this is Wing Zero, reporting the enemy command ship has been dropped."

"Welcome to the party, Wing Zero," Miriallia said heartily. "Engage at your discretion, this is a free-for-all at this time. Watch out for friendly fire!"

"Roger that. Be warned, enemy high-speed carriers are entering the theater, I dropped one on my way in and damaged another, but there may be as many as fifteen in the enemy group," Zechs noted.

"Now organizing one lovely tea party at this location," Yzak said sarcastically. "Four-way around the worlds are optional."

"Now he's starting to get on my nerves," Hikaru said crassly, even as she was in the process of chopping up Leos in an attempt to close with the Tragos units that were trying to shell the ship. She dropped three more, but was forced to divert away from direct fire from a different team of Leos.

"It's Yzak we're talking about here, his job description includes requirements for sarcastic and puerile comments," Nicol commented dryly. "_Archangel_, requesting missile mission, Leos due north of my position, trying to shift around behind us," Nicol requested.

"I see the bastards," Chandratta replied. It was less than five seconds before missiles were in the air, and another five seconds for the missiles to drop in on the enemies. Two Leos were reduced to scrap and spare parts by the _Archangel_'s resident trigger-happy gun-bunny.

Another volley came up from the Taurus machines, and this time some hits rattled the ship. One shell even went so far as to knock out of alignment one of the tubes on the port-side Gottfried, though the turret immediately disabled the damaged gun to prevent damaging it further. The other barrel remained functional.

Fuu had taken to direct action on the center, too harried to use her magic but easily fast enough to put her massive sword to use. The major obstacle between her and the Tragos units firing on the ship was a landed group of Taurus. A couple landed beam rifle hits on her, though Windam shrugged it off readily and returned the favor with some fast sword work. Three swings, two kills; one pilot was fast enough to avoid her entirely, but another pilot could not avoid her midriff swing and lost the legs from his machine, to which she finished with a quick impale-and-drag attack.

Kira had the warning de rigeur for the ground units. "Wing Zero incoming! Brace for wide-area attack!" Two seconds later, Zechs made good on Kira's warning by putting down a blast that destroyed four of the Tragos and two nearby Leos. "Now that's some serious firepower. Glad he's on our side."

Kira noticed something on the left side of the battle lines, and only barely had time to react on it. "Umi, Space Laser left!"

"Wha — " Her question was cut off mid-sentence by the shot from the over-armed Leo, which clipped Selesce high in the chest and removed the left arm, both wings, and tore a chunk out of its back and shoulder. The sheer shock of the hit knocked the pilot unconscious before the Rune God hit the ground.

"Umi! No way!" Yzak half-shouted, which briefly distorted the comm channels.

"Someone recover Selesce!" Miriallia ordered immediately.

"I've got her — " Kira was interrupted by a loud beep and a highlight on Tolle's machine. The warning was entirely too late in this case, as a shot from another Space Laser blew clean through the hip plate of the Buster and sheared the left leg clean off his Gundam. "Shit! Now Tolle!"

"Gods damn it! I'll get Tolle and drop him on the elevator into the hangar," Yzak said curtly. "Strike, get Selesce in the hangar!"

Kira began moving laterally to where Umi had dropped, but he only made it so far before he came under heavy fire from an assortment of enemies — mostly Aries and Leo, but enough Taurus and Leo with beam rifles to count. "Oh shit! _Archangel_, I'm being suppressed! I need some support fire here!"

"Providing counter fire!" Nicol took several shots in the general direction of the enemy, distracting them from Kira while the _Archangel_ returned the favor and began suppressing them with heavier fire. Even Morgan chimed in with the Gunbarrel Striker Pack, though his efforts only resulted in some scratched Leo shields, no major damage.

Even with the counter-suppression, Kira was still hammered on as he approached the downed Rune God, who was still taking assorted fire from other enemy forces. Still, his beam shields were ample to prevent the bulk of the fire from hitting his machine, and those few rounds that passed his active guard were stopped by the Quad Phase Shift armor of the old machine.

"Hang on, Kira, I'm bringing it around — no I'm not," Mu changed tones immediately on his change of plan, from cool confidence to a hint of fright in two syllables. "Damnit, I'm hit! Got one of my stabilizers and part of my tail assembly!"

"Skygrasper, can you still fly?" Miriallia asked.

"Yeah, I'm still in, give me a second to reengage!" Mu said with far more gusto.

"Gah! Even I can't get close enough to help Kira!" Zechs grumbled. "_Archangel_, shift course ten degrees to starboard and prepare to punch through behind Rayearth! You're in a fire sack!"

"_Archangel_, the port side is collapsing, I'm falling back!" Fuu said with a small hint of panic of her own. She had taken several hits, though nothing major or truly damaging to Windam.

"Try to hold on the port, Fuu, we have covering fire coming in now!" The port-side Valiant struck and completely demolished a Leo, but several strikes from the machine cannons had little effectiveness.

"Damn!" Kira watched as first one, then two more Virgo Mobile Dolls hammered the Wing Zero and drove it into the ground. "This is not a good day," he groused after he finally reached Umi and began picking what remained of Selesce out of the mud.

Nicol moved forward to provide shielding for Kira as he recovered the downed Rune God, and in the process of taking and returning fire he dropped a Leo and an Aries, both of which were likely gunning for the Strike Freedom. The Leo dropped where it stood, but the Aries flew into the ground and skidded past the Wing Zero to slam into another Leo. The two machines ended up on the ground in a mangled mess.

"Guys, we've reduced their land forces by over half!" Miriallia noted, hoping some sign of improving condition would help the team.

"Doesn't matter if we can't stop them cold!" Surprisingly, the comment was from Tolle. "Is there anything in the hangar I can use?"

"Take out my GuAIZ," Mu ordered. "You won't be able to pilot the Timber Wolf without retraining the DI computer."

"On it!" Tolle answered.

"All forces, be advised enemy High-speed carriers are entering the engagement zone," Miriallia said. "These are high-priority targets!"

"Better and better," Yzak bemoaned. In looking to the north for the carriers, he missed an Aries that had lined up on him and unleashed twenty missiles on the ship and his Gundam. The damage was minimal, but the sheer impact had relocated his Beam Rifle over the side of the ship and down into the muddy / slightly frozen former cornfield. "Come back here you lousy bastard!"

"I got him, Yzak," Mu said curtly. He lined up on and put twenty rounds of 30mm API rounds into the side of the Aries, which flamed out an engine and disrupted his fuel system. What was left of his machine went in for a hard landing; Mu lost track of him as he went for the weeds.

"Support fire coming in behind you, Skygrasper!" Chandratta declared before three beams of Gottfried sliced through the air behind him and cleaved a Taurus in half.

"Command, Windam, I'm out of options! I have to fall back!" Fuu had back-winged twice to clear away from the enemies, but her third such jump was interrupted by a Dobergun that slammed her to the ground and broke one of Windam's wings under the mass of her Rune God. "Ow! OWW! Windam's right wing is broken! I have no flight options now!"

"Kira, one more to recover, Windam is ground-bound!" Miriallia reported. "Chandratta!"

"On it," Sixteen missiles from the Helldart launchers slammed into the ground ahead of Fuu, kicking up dust, spall, and more importantly dropping three of the Leos trying to harass her.

"Rayearth, continue the breach on the right flank! If we can get around the enemy ambush, we can — " Murrue was interrupted by the first impacts from an attack run of Oz High-speed carriers.

-x-

"This is what is happening right now," the adjutant noted.

"So far, so good," Duke Dermail noted. "How much damage have we inflicted on them?"

"We have confirmed the blue Rune God is out of action, and we think we struck down the fire support Gundam. Possible damage to the heavy assault Gundam and the green Rune God."

On the screens, Duke Dermail watched the evolving assault with rapt attention. The gamble on Germany was his make-or-break operation; if he didn't drop the _Archangel_ here, he might as well surrender and be done with it. There would not be enough force left in the european theater to slow down a class of sixth-graders armed with popsicle sticks.

"The Duel, focus on it next," Dermail ordered after a moment of watching the actions of his foes. "If we can take out their primary long-range platforms, we can minimize their damage."

"Their primary long-range platform is the _Archangel_, sir. We're chewing on it, but this is not a small ship — or an easy one to sink."

"Just focus on the Duel for now," Dermail ordered as the said machine fired several rounds from a railgun into the ground nearby the Tragos.

"Are they headed for the quarry now?" the adjutant was referring to the massive stone quarry outside Lupitz.

"Why would they do that? It is no manner of big enough to drop the ship into," a military analyst noted.

"They may not realize that is what they are approaching," Dermail considered. "Time until the next wave of high-speed carriers?"

"Three minutes, sir," one of the command center operators reported. By having five or more of the carriers hit the ship at once, the risk of them being picked off individually was reduced. For such large planes, their movements had to be coordinated to achieve the necessary result, and that coordination meant a gap between strikes.

On the screen, Dermail watched that arrogant grunt Zechs try to chop up a Taurus by closing on it rapidly, but the pilot of the Taurus was fast enough to clear away from the Wing Zero and even returned fire briefly. It was very satisfying to see even Zechs grinding his teeth on this objective — this was the best of the best in Romefeller, and he wanted to see some serious results for the losses he was taking.

On another screen, the Mobile Suit that had briefly shielded the Strike Freedom was on the move, now covering the left flank where the green Rune God was trying to retreat under fire. His efforts were impressive, three solid kills (two Leos and a Taurus), but he fired thrice that in shots and achieved no result on the other attacks.

"Sir, the Strike Freedom has finished recovery of the blue Rune God," the Operator announced.

Dermail ignored the notice about the Strike Freedom, instead watching as the Tragos machines fired a full volley of cannon shells into the front of the _Archangel_. The damage was enough to completely rip apart the port-side hangar bay door and catapult, as well as knocked out one of the small missile launchers in the vicinity, but nothing truly critical was damaged on the ship.

"Not enough."

"Sir?" the adjutant asked.

"We just don't have enough firepower to completely drop the _Archangel_ in one fell swoop. When we lost _Barge_, we lost that capability."

"Command, we have something here! Possible activity on the southern front!"

"Whose?"

"Unconfirmed! We're working on identifying them!"

"Now what?" Dermail asked the screens in front of him.

-x-

"Archangel Team, _das ist_ Border Guard Resistance Forces," a voice said on the radios. "We're moving north _und_ clearing as we move. We should be there in three minutes. Can you hold?"

"Hell yes! Friendlies!" Yzak shouted.

"Damn good to hear some friendly voices," Miriallia noted.

"And we have the Deathscythe coming in from the north, which adds more to our effort," Zechs noted. "We can win this!"

"All forces, fighting stand here! We have friendlies inbound!" Captain Ramius ordered.

"Cavalry to the rescue! That's how it's done!" Hikaru half-shouted.

-x-x-x-

(3 December AC195, 2330 Hours)  
(Romefeller Garrison, Perth, Australia)

"Oh, no no no! Not happening!" Emilea pushed both of the two guys away from her. "I am not deserting! I wouldn't be caught dead deserting!"

"Do you want to be caught dead at your post?" Victor asked plaintively.

"What?" she asked in something approaching an inaudible screech.

"Serious. We're not jumping ship because we're like that," Tony said evenly. "We're jumping ship because right now it is the safer of two options. Stand here and die when the rebels come this way, or jump ship and take your chances on the Romefeller intelligence assets until the _Archangel_ finishes them off."

Put in that set of constraints, Emilea considered that the two guys had a fair idea what they were getting into — and what this hair-brained plan entailed.

"What about the sentries? There are four machines on patrol tonight," Emilea asked fairly.

"What about them? We three are the best in the outfit. We could hammer them flat in seconds."

"How about a third option?" A fourth person noted.

"Oh, shit," Victor groused.

"No, no, nothing like that!" the fifth person in their suddenly-enlarged gaggle said in an attempt to smooth the waters. "We're trying to get out of here just the same as you. With the German Command shot to hell, there's nothing more than toilet paper and water between the _Archangel_ and Paris."

"Precious little toilet paper, mind you; it is France we are talking about," the lady of the newcomers noted. "So, when do we bail? I'm not interested in finding out what the Rebels have to say about someone that surrenders."

"Agreed," Emilea answered. "So, Captain Lena, we were discussing the details. Where to? And when do we jump?"

"We definitely want to jump tonight. The Rebels will probably be on the move from Adelaide. Like I said, I ain't hanging around for introductions. Where to? Well, I think Ayers' Rock sounds a bit harsh this time of year, which means nobody will be looking for us."

"Hell yeah, I'm in," Victor noted. "When do we saddle up?"

"Break up and move for the hangars," Lena ordered. "Don't look or act suspicious. A couple of the night mechanics will be on duty, don't disturb them unless they try stopping you. Just get in, arm up, and get moving. We'll wing it for the rest."

-x-

Emilea stopped at the pilot's ready room to get her ground ops uniform and her survival kit, as did Victor and Tony. The only person in the room was Yolanda, a savvy old-hand pilot that immediately knew what was up when Lena walked through the door at this obscene hour with her known boy-toy in tow. "Heh. You five're jumping ship?"

"Shhh, don't tell nobody," Lena said as a joke.

"Fuck telling anybody. About damn time someone in this outfit grew a brain. Where are we going?" Yolanda asked immediately.

"You're coming with?" Lena asked.

"Hell yes. I wouldn't mind sticking it to these assholes on the way out, either." It was no secret that Yolanda got to her present position by way of sleeping with more than a few base commanders — and she had privately admitted that not all of those encounters were consensual. Of course, since Romefeller was literally an old-world-aristocracy in the new world, the only way for a lady to gain status and rank was to be either five times better than her male peers (and thus untouchable), or sleep her way to the top. Sadly, Commander Noin and Colonel Une were the exceptions on that list; the bulk of lady MS pilots had to be in bed at least two or three times in their career to get where they were.

"Bloody hell, this is half the company right here," Lena groused. "Should we put out an APB while we're at it?"

"Already done so," a new and rather haunting voice declared from behind them.

"Colonel Killver? You too?" Lena asked directly, to which he nodded. The Colonel was part of the old-old guard, who worked on the merits of his personnel and specifically did not allow for 'sleeping promotions' in his unit. A lot of the units under his command (southeast Australia) called him "The Australian Gentleman" for his adherence to old-world values and honor.

"Yes, me as well. Dermail has crossed the line, and the world rebels underneath him. Might as well join the party on the side that is right. I recommend joining, but once you're off the base, the unit is disbanded. You can go where you want."

"I'm in," Lena said immediately, followed by Emilea and Tony.

"I've been in contact with the Treize Faction. They have a Carrier Sub willing to flatten the garrison after we are out. I've reached down through the ranks and tapped everyone I know that isn't Romefeller to the core, so when you head out you'll be setting off a chain-reaction of desertions and defections all across the continent."

"Holy shit, how many?" Victor asked.

"Roughly two-thirds of the Australian Command."

"Dude, we could take over the islands and go independent if we did that," Emilea noted.

"We may do that," Colonel Killver noted with a savage smile.

-x-

In fact, the conspiracy to defect did go all the way to the top of the Australian Command — General Drake. At a predetermined time, he picked up a phone and called the Perth control tower. "Perth Tower, this is General Drake. Initiate White Light. Repeat, initiate White Light. Confirm my last."

"Perth tower acknowledges call White Light. Good luck, General."

-x-

(Melbourne Garrison, Control Tower)

Operator Cindy picked up the external line. "Melbourne Tower," she replied officially.

"Melbourne, this is General Drake. Initiate Operation White Light. Repeat, initiate operation White Light. Confirm my last."

"Melbourne copies call to initiate Operation White Light...what does that mean, sir?" the confused Operator asked.

"If you don't know, keep your head down and cover your arse. Command is out."

"That was bizarre as fuck," Cindy noted as she hung up the telephone handset. "Commander, what operation White Light do we have running, oh shit," she didn't even hesitate as she transitioned from confused to scared shitless, such was the abrupt change in her mood. "Umm, guys, is this for real?" the Operator asked even as a silenced pistol was waved in her face.

"Quite real, kid, and you're ass deep in it," a transplant guard from America said as he forced the base commander to his knees. "Now, I suggest you listen to the fellow operator and get on the ground, girl."

"Okay," Cindy said. "You're not — are you rebels?" she asked in a half-panic after a moment.

"In a manner of speaking," the senior Operator noted. "We're just standing against the Romefeller Foundation right now. Rebellion? I'll leave that to the semi-professional rebels."

Cindy looked around the room, and saw that only herself and the base commander were tied up. The rest of the tower was in on it, apparently, even the janitors! That was a freaky thought to her, but then again maybe she could talk her way out of this? "Erm, is it too late to sign myself up?"

"We'll discuss this here in a few. Off to the brig with you, Cindy, and to the gallows with the Base Commander. No more rape-for-rank for you!" the senior Operator was at least professional enough to holster his pistol before he gestured them out of the tower.

-x-x-x-

(7 December AC 195, 0800 Hours)  
(Paris, France)

There was an air of absurdity to the whole affair, Dermail figured.

First, the _Archangel_ had been nicknamed 'the Energizer Warship' because the bastard ship just kept going and going and going, even after Dermail had thrown everything he had available at it. Others had hearkened it back to The White Death, a reference to a Finnish sniper (Simo Hayha) who killed Soviet troops by the hundreds with impunity, cross-referenced against the predominantly-white hull of the ship. Either way you looked at it, the presence of the _Archangel_ was very bad news for Romefeller and its (admittedly few) allies.

The second major problem with this day's newscasts was the vanguard of Mobile Suits leading the charge in front of the mercenary Archangel Team. Maganac, Leo, and Aries troops were marching out front, with more Aries and Taurus forming an overflight guard over the formation, and the major problem with the graphics was the nations and factions represented. Each faction had a flag-bearer Leo (or a Maganac unit in their case) with a massive flag that told clearly who they were facing: the Mideast Nations, Switzerland, Germany (and a separate contingent of the Bundeskriminalamt, the German Border Guard, hardasses from a nation full of 'em), Russia (and two contingents of Spetsnaz), Poland, the Sanc Kingdom (the white Taurus machines and the Sandrock Gundam were rather distinctive, let alone Wing Zero), and last among the vanguard was the depleted but **VERY** pissed-off Archangel Team. This count-off, of course, made no mention of the forces behind the Archangel Team, of which there was plenty.

The final straw to break the camel's back today was in his own forces...or lack thereof, in this case. Not only did he have less than optimal forces to defend against half the fucking continent headed straight for his front door, most of the troops had fled down south toward the border with Spain, or west toward Normandy. Spain had deliberately declared itself neutral for purposes of this scrap, after throwing out the Romefeller-loyal troops in the nation, but the Irish and Scottish were supposedly landing troops in Normandy to reinforce the rebels. His personal adjutant had called such actions 'flexing their sack', since it was painfully obvious the Scots and Irish reinforcements would not be needed in this campaign.

And all of this combat force was aimed at him.

"This is what you call, officially, a 'bad day'," Roche Nattono said with a clear dose of irony in his voice. "We have three Leos still in the guard — not including the Prize force — and there is no way we can hold those Mobile Suits and rebel infantry for long. Supposedly, even their Elemental Troops are down there and ready to scrap it. I am not in a hurry to learn what exactly is so special about them."

"We will fight them, sir, but we have no expectation of victory...or survival," Captain Broom Brooks said to Dermail. "What are your orders?"

"At this point, all we can do is send as many of them to hell as possible, so we have company when we get there," Dermail said with a soured expression. "If you want to flee, I will not hold it against you. Everyone else has."

"We go to the front, such as it is. See you when we see you, Duke Dermail," Roche said with a salute before he turned toward the door. His two subordinates followed without hesitation, the mark of a proper commander and team.

"Well, Kessler, we'll be drinking cognac and playing baccarat again shortly," Dermail groused to an empty office and a deceased comrade.

-x-

" 'Annie are you okay? You've been hit by, you've been struck by, a smooth criminal!' "

"You damn well better not do Michael Jackson's crotch-grab-and-scream routine, or I will shoot you myself," Yzak said directly to Tolle.

"Bonus points if your Gundam does it," Kira said mischievously.

"Not going to go that far," Tolle said. "Maybe another day. Still need to work on how to make a Gundam moonwalk. Okay, next up on Whoopass Radio, I think we'll do a real trip song. Iron Butterfly: _Inna Gadda Da Vida._"

After thirty seconds of marching, one of the Germans had the line de rigeur for Tolle's music selection: "This sounds like someone wrote it on some real mellow weed."

"_Ja_," one of the Bundeskriminalamt troops answered.

After about seven minutes of song, the band's drum solo kicked in, and roughly a quarter of the pilots in the rebel faction were doing some version of air drums or console drums in some manner of tune to the song. It would have been grossly unprofessional had they actually expected any resistance in Paris, but forward recon reports had made it clear the enemy was long gone and the trio of remaining Leos had been stomped flat by the Aries patrols over the airspace of the town.

Roughly at the end of the drum solo, the _Archangel_ sensor systems picked up an unusual reading. "Conn, Sensors, I have what appears to be Mobile Suit transponders broadcasting in the open toward the target zone. Repeat, Mobile Suit transponders; whoever they are, they want us to know they are there."

"Roger that," Commander La Flaga responded over the radio before Murrue could. "Kira, Athrun, Yzak, Pytor, Morgan, let's do it," Mu said as he pushed his throttle forward to advance beyond the present line of the vanguard.

Once the transponders lit off, the distance to cover was less than a kilometer total. Kira was the first on scene, Mu and Morgan not far behind him. Athrun, Yzak, and Pytor were last to the show, but they arrived as a second group from a different direction. "Nyuk, Nyuk," Yzak said, looking at the three customized machines in front of him.

"Those are some interesting customized Leos, there," Athrun said.

"Bonus points if the female Leo is being piloted by a guy," Kira noted.

"Would that make it a cross-dressing pilot, or a cross-dressing Mobile Suit?" Yzak asked after a moment.

"One of the great mysteries of Existence," Commander La Flaga noted. "Kira?"

Kira cleared his throat hastily. "Type match, Oz Prize unit. Special Forces, old-school hardasses. Leo N, high-strength and defense. Leo R, cross-dressing high-speed close quarters machine. Leo S, General purpose very-high-performance machine. Despite the long hair and high heels on a Mobile Suit, they're worth talking about."

"Good, I'd hate to come this far just to go two rounds for a throw-down," Yzak said. "Where to begin, where to begin?" Yzak had made the smart move of the day by stowing his beam rifle to present his beam saber and shield. Athrun did shield and beam pistol, Morgan did beam saber and shield, Mu did shield and open hand, Kira did paired beam sabers, and the Vayeate planned on dropping back to engage in support of the other five taking the lead.

"Okay guys! Due to a bet I had on with Murdoch, this one's for you and the foes," Tolle said as he could be heard changing selections on his radio console. "This one is _Tom Sawyer_, by Rush."

"Your DJ has a sense of humor," one of the enemy pilots said. "I know we cannot stop you, but orders are orders."

"Play it smart, man," Captain Chevalier said immediately. "There isn't enough military force left in Paris to stop a class of sixth-graders armed with popsicle sticks. You don't have to throw your lives away."

"We're mercenaries, not monsters," Mu continued the thought. "Your boss may be on our shit-list, but that doesn't mean we're here to execute him."

Kira continued the next: "All we want is to end this war, fix the ship, have a short vacation, and get the hell out of here. Nothing more, nothing less. You walk away right now, we'll forget we saw you here."

"Prize does not abandon their posts! How dare you suggest such a thing!" The enemy shouted; the machine with the cape shook its fist in the general direction of the formation to punctuate the rage. "This conversation is over. We settle this by blades!"

"Well, worth a shot," Mu said warily. "Drop 'em soft if you can, hard if necessary. Nobody else needs to die to stop Dermail's insane ambitions."

"I've got the lead," Kira noted, though this one was not on the open bands. His analysis was done simultaneous with the enemy machines activating their beam sabers and preparing for close-quarters battle. "Recommend Morgan and Mu on the Romeo unit, Athrun and Yzak on the November. Pytor, wherever you have a shot, take it, but be wary of civilians."

"Jumpoff, now, now, now!" Miriallia ordered from her post in the _Archangel_ CIC. On the third rendition, all six pilots jumped in their intended direction

"Let's get it on!" Yzak shouted as he hammered his jump-jets to the mechanical stops, intent to ram the Leo N and force close-quarters on the sizable machine. His foe held the same idea, causing their machines to collide in a monstrous heap of 200 tons of mangled Mobile Suit in the middle of the clearing north of the Arc De Triomphe. "Ow, my frickin' head," Yzak grumbled. "I'm alive, I'm alive," he reported after his vision began deblurring.

"Roche, my Leo N is trashed. Like flying face-first into a steel wall," an older guy said on an open channel.

"Command, Vayeate reporting, we will need several recovery vehicles to detangle the Leo N and the Duel at this time."

"Roger that, report when the area is cleared," Miriallia ordered.

"Understood, command."

-x-

"Kratz! Coming in behind you!"

"Like I can do a damn thing about it!" Kratz had clearly seen the flanking maneuver by the now-unattached Mercurius, but in the way Murphy tended to be the only winner on a battlefield, he still had to deal with the 105 Dagger and the GuAIZ dead ahead of him, both of which were piloted by seasoned aces and certainly were not pushovers.

"Move right! They can't get you if you're moving!" Roche could not accomplish a mirror movement of his own because he was pressed in close by someone worse than the two / three now harassing Kratz. Where the 105 Dagger and GuAIZ were 'common' machines piloted by elite personnel, the Strike Freedom Mass Production / LRRP unit in front of him was something else entirely, despite it being nominally a 'common' machine by its name. The affair was made only that much worse by the pilot himself, Kira Yamato, a prodigy of Mobile Suit combat and notably a lucky sonofabitch to boot.

Kratz cleared right by way of jumping in between the Mercurius and 105 Dagger, though the maneuver came to a stop nearby a water fountain. He reactivated the beam lance he preferred for close-in and high-speed attacks, then hammered the boosters to close in with the 105 Dagger. So focused on the enemy machine with the orange barrels on its backpack, by the time he arrived at the target he had failed to realize that the beam lance — nay, his entire right arm — was no longer attached to his machine. Unlike the collision between the Leo N and the Duel, though, the 105 Dagger had a larger shield and 20 tons on the Leo R; Kratz lost this head-on collision completely. "What the hell happened to my arm?" He asked after his machine landed face-first in a flower garden.

"We have pretty good insurance in the Archangel Team," Commander La Flaga used the beam gun mounted in his shield to fire three rounds into critical components inside the chest of the Leo R before Kratz could bring it standing. "Mutual Sniper. Excellent shot, Pytor."

"The Falcon's Claws rip another one," the pilot of the Vayeate answered.

"Kira, you're it," Commander La Flaga said.

-x-

"You and me, Kira Yamato," Roche Nattono said warily.

"You know, you really don't have to do this," Kira said, more for the record than in any actual hope of swaying his opponent.

"My honor demands I stand to the end! Fight like a man, mercenary!" Roche answered.

"You want it, you got it. Tolle, throw up Royal Guardsmen: _Snoopy Versus The Red Baron_," Kira requested.

"Wow, we're really gone old-school with that one," Tolle said but complied nonetheless.

"Time to settle who is the Red Baron today," Roche said, giving props to the fact that both pilots were confirmed aces.

"White Mobile Suit gets the part of Snoopy," Kira said before he jumped forward and at an angle, trying to force Roche south and toward the Arc De Triomphe.

"Can't have that!" Roche countered the faster Strike Freedom with a direct double beam saber assault, trying to neutralize the speed advantage and force the battle in close. He partially achieved his intended result, though the paired beam sabers clashing left the chest of the Strike Freedom open to take shots at the Leo S.

"I could blow the top half of your machine clean off right now, but that won't settle this," Kira noted in echo to Roche's belated realization of vulnerability. Instead, the Strike Freedom began driving the arms of the Leo S inward from their exterior attack position, which caused a creepy series of endoskeleton creaks and cracks from the mechanical stress. One particular crack threw an instant alarm in his cockpit, the failure of the main structure and servo for the right arm, which immediately severed the power conduit to the beam saber. Once that was loosed, the right beam saber died out, followed quickly by the left fist of the Strike Freedom coming in against the helmet on his machine.

Though completely ungentlemanly, Kira decided a demonstration of the power of a Gundam was in order. A second and harder left cross knocked the cameras completely out of action, to which he followed-up by delivering a swift, armored kick to the whang on the enemy machine. Unbeknownst to Kira, the proximity of the Leo's cockpit to the lower exhaust ports ensured that the impact (and driving the said exhaust ports a full meter up into the machine) translated up the machine readily into the cockpit. Roche was lifted briefly against his cockpit harness, then slammed down hard as the Leo S doubled over from the impact behind the center of gravity. He barely noticed the shattering of every LCD in his cockpit from the translated impact.

Kira was not through, though, given he did not know the enemy was incapable of piloting his machine at this point. A knee to the head of the Leo S caused the whole machine to overbalance past the center of gravity, though this time it landed face up on its back instead of simply doubling over. On the left arm, Kira activated the beam shield, stepped forward two paces, and drove the shield down into the shoulders and upper chest of the Leo S, effectively cutting the head and shoulders clean off the enemy machine.

"Command, Kira, reporting Roche Nattono defeated. No Mobile Suits detected in Paris theater."

"_Archangel_, this is Russian Contingent. Spetsnaz troops have entered the Romefeller headquarters. Resistance is light. He can't run anywhere."

"Archangel Team, Command, stand by to provide support if needed, but otherwise take a break. Snoopy versus The Red Baron, looks like Snoopy wins this one," Captain Ramius declared.

-x-x-x-

-click-

"Easily the most publicly watched Mobile Suit battle in the war, with five professional cameras and four internet bloggers on the job. We have three gems in this one: One, the head-on collision between these two dumbasses," and the video footage showed the Duel and the Leo N colliding. "Word is it took them twelve hours to pull these machines apart, and if you look at this highlighted spot, you can clearly see the right foot of the Duel up the ass of the Leo N. Even in an epic failure, go out on a high note. My hat's off to Yzak Joule, the pilot of the Duel."

"Second clip, is the Romefeller pilot who forgot his arm, completely. Check it." The camera angle was perfect to catch the shot from the Vayeate that sheared the arm off the Leo R. "I mean, seriously? This guy is supposed to be one of Romefeller's best, but he forgot his freaking arm. In all seriousness, I kid the psycho. He's on his way to a mental institution right now, raving about how he was cheated or something."

"Third one's the charm, and this one will cause all you guys to cringe in pain. Since the invention of the Mobile Suit, everyone has wondered at least once in their life if it was possible for a Mobile Suit to kick another machine in the nuts, or the thruster pipes down there, or whatever you'd call them. Well, Kira Yamato has answered that question in the most painful way possible." The clip showed the overnight-infamous 'zack kick' in all it's glory. "Seriously, though, watch this. When the Strike Freedom kicked it, you could see every armor plate above it jam from the impact, and who knows what that did to the poor pilot in the cockpit a couple meters above the kick point. Then, just to add insult to injury, Kira goes all Leonidas on his enemy and cuts his head off with the edge of his shield. Great way to bring back Sparta!"

-click-

"It's the party of the century in downtown New York, Times Square is full of people celebrating the downfall of Romefeller. Nobody knows what the future will bring, but for sure it won't be under the autocracy of Duke Dermail — "

-click-

"Pilot Yzak Joule, Do you have any comments on Duke Dermail's exile to the Falkland Islands?"

"Yeah, I welcome it. Drop him on the Falklands, give him a herd of sheep, and tell him to have fun. He's no longer a problem for the world, there's no real way off the islands that can't be guarded, and I get a vacation. Problem solved."

"Thank you," she said to the back of the Duel pilot as he walked away briskly.

-click-

"Hi! Billy Mays here for — "

-click-

"No word on what the _Archangel_ shall do next, but word is the crew is looking forward to a Mediterranean vacation at an undisclosed location before they continue on their journey. In other news, Australia has already moved to declare its independence from the Romefeller Foundation —"

-click-

The room went dark for several minutes, before either said a thing.

"Well, we paid for it, but we won," Mu said.

"So long as Selesce and Umi pull through, we're ahead of the game," Murrue said.

"Three weeks, and we're out of here. Where do you want to take that vacation?"

"I'm thinking, eastern shores of Spain? Hear it's lovely this time of year."

"Sounds lovely to me," Mu said before he snuggled in closer to the Captain.

* * *

**Author's Chapter Afterword**:

There is something of a bad case of 'holy shit the dice just did WHAT' in this chapter. Or, more appropriately, several cases of it.

First, the battle with Wufei was a bit of an interesting engagement to write. Wufei's whole schtick of 'who is doing the right thing' versus the pragmatic determination of the Archangel Team. Whether or not Wufei learned the lesson Yzak was trying to present, only shall that be shown in the next chapter. The actual battle was more of an interesting engagement from the procedural side, as I was able to establish a more granular control on the battle using random results.

Second, the battle in Moscow, Russia, was my first direct use of Google Earth for terrain analysis and engagement planning. I have written using Google Maps before (Inferno In Chicago), but Google Earth provides the advantage of 3D terrain so I can tell if there are obstructions, if there are terrain restrictions, and even do some history lessons in the process.

Third, the battle of Central Germany was where I brought the two techniques together. Granted, the area the battle happened in was mostly flatland with a city off to the north (the right flank of the battle), but the random results is what really showed through. A battle with the best of Romefeller's best against the Archangel Team, and casualties ensued. Now, that said, I did leave the fate of Umi hanging, and my apologies for that, but I wanted to bring the AC timeline events to a close in the next chapter and that wa slated to be part of the end regardless.

On the narrative, well, you can probably guess that a few major things are still to come in the story, though keep in mind I don't pull punches on events. I expect renewed speculation on some earlier considerations, so I want to see your opinions in some reviews, people!

As to the rest, well, I'll save that for another chapter.

**NEXT UP**: A party on a massive scale, a wedding, an interesting request from some higher-ups, and finally a departure from the After Colony Era. This is supposed to be the end of this era, what could possibly go wrong?

* * *

**Review Replies**: 10 Reviews for this chapter, and plenty of good feedback! Thank you all!

_Mega1987_: You know, Mariemaia, you could always kick off the TVTropes Page. Every work has to begin somewhere...

_C0Dy88_: The necessary hardware to do such a scan, even against someone with a neural network, is not available in the SF MP, or any MS for that matter. Not a bad thought, though. Of course, if they come across another Crusader Gundam that is inhabited by an AI, Kira could salvage it for use in the SF.

As to DRAGOONs, well, the Strike Freedom presently has a bare backplane with mounting hardware for Striker Packs. Kira may decide to put some mods to his machine, though...

_Takeshi Yamato_: Well, as always much thanks for the color commentary on the evolving narrative, and the assist on keeping my story and grammar straight.

_One-Village-Idiot_: Always a pleasure, amigo.

On the matter of Vulcanus, no dice. Since I do not have the source on that, I'm not going to piss on that canon. I may have to look into that series, though.

As to the end of the GW timeline, headed into EW territory, you are correct. The hopeful idealism of a certain Princess is not going to fly with Treize around, much less the Archangel Team. And the Rebels wouldn't disarm for any reason, because of the very real fear of a redux of the whole Earth Alliance thing.

Stay tuned, more coming!

_CrazyHawke81_: I see what you did with your name there, amigo. Luna or Meyrin?

Kira may be developing one of multiple backpack types for the Strike Freedom Mass-Pro unit, as the data archive on the SF has a long list of equipment it can draw from and remanufacture (so long as the necessary material is available).

_Nightblade 1021_: To any form of armor, there is always a strength and a limitation. Keep in mind, I tend to operate a lot closer to reality than Gundam WIng canon, though, and that is mainly because the Gundanium Armor mostly acts of Variable Strength Plot Armor, the same way a GINN can be hammered on in one scene and fold like a wet paper bag in the next.

_Travys_: I use RANDOM_DOT_O_R_G for my dice, which is run out of a university in Scotland I believe. I roll three numbers, on a basis of 1 to 100. The first number determines which side acts (ally or foe). The second number is put against a table of who receives or executes the action among the allies. The third result determines the result of that action, with a low roll being a failure and a high roll being a success. The higher or lower the roll, the better or worse the success. Example: the Space Laser that dropped Selesce was 27 (enemy action), 62 (Selesce), 99 (Very high success roll).

I have been asked under what circumstances a named character might be killed, and that has no real solid answer. For sure, they won't die of completely random shit. There has to be a pointed threat, and that threat has to be reasonably capable of being lethal, and the result has to be correspondingly high. In this battle, with no enemy aces on the field, they had to roll a 100 to score a potential kill, which no foe or ally rolled at all during the battle.

I'll leave the rest of my sources and methods for a different discussion. Thank you!

_Mordalfus Grea_: White Fang is not quite through, yet. They will get some kicks in the next chapter.

As to anyone going along with the ship, well, there are many possibilities. The Archangel may be holding an open recruiting drive before the end of next chapter :)

_Sieben Nightwing_: Though I would love to see this animated, I know this falls into the category of 'no way in hell'. Still and all, it would be an interesting exercise, no? :)

BTW, welcome to the beta team. Much appreciated for the assistance!

_NEB Sparky x86_: Tearing Valder a new bumhole was a bit of an author tract, I will admit, but I can't think of a guy in the SEED 'verse that earned it more than he. Sadistic asshole, he was...

_Flawless Cowboy 2552_: I find I like your ideas quite a bit. Cheers!

THANK YOU ALL FOR THE REVIEWS! Keep 'em coming, as shall I!

* * *

**The Gripe Sheet**:

No major complaints from the last chapter. As always, much thanks to my betas **Necroblade**, **Sieben Nightwing**, and **Takeshi Yamato** for keeping it clean!

* * *

**Footnotes**:

(1): Yes, it has taken a while, but someone finally went SEED again. Yzak against Wufei, but it finally happened.


	38. Victories of Many Sizes

(Archangel's Amazing Adventures, Set 4, Chapter 9: Victories of Many Sizes)

(AUTHOR'S NOTE: There is a small departure from canon in here. Please see the notes at the end for explanation.)

(7 December AC195, 1800 Hours)  
(De Gaulle Airport, Paris, France)

"De Gaulle Control, _Archangel_, reporting altitude 50 meters to keel at this time, descent rate 1 meter per two seconds. I think I have the target area cleared, should be able to keep taxi Victor-Six open for incoming traffic on Zero-Eight-Right."

"_Archangel_, De Gaulle, roger that and thank you for the consideration," the Air Traffic Controller responded. "I think we can live with one runway down for a few days, _Archangel_."

"Roger that, your airport your call," Newman answered curtly. "Present altitude 40 meters. Descent rate steady."

"_Archangel_, Buster, no contacts in line of sight. 1 passenger aircraft coming in on Zero-Nine-Right," Tolle reported from the front deck.

"That's a Deutsche Post aircraft, dork. Cargo-carrier," Miriallia corrected him. "Everybody says UPS will take over the world, I say screw UPS doing it, DP is already there."

"Sad but true, at least until the Cosmic Era put an end to the air freight business," Commander La Flaga said. "The Reclamation War was hell on civilian air traffic in general."

"De Gaulle, _Archangel_, 20 meters to landing, ETA 6-0 seconds," Newman brought the conversation back to focus.

"_Archangel_, this is Bundeskriminalamt Infantry, we have the airport secured and the local departures terminal on the east side is cleared for your bivouac. Be warned, this place is thick with press and they all have your name on their lips."

"Scary," Captain Ramius commented dryly. After the hellish campaign against the UESA / Romefeller, she wanted precisely nothing to do with the press for a day. She just wanted some sleep.

"Landing in five, four, three, two, one, now," Newman counted off until the ship's landing rails touched the tarmac. Even after the touchdown, though, the ship still made a hellish amount of frame creaking as it settled to a stop. "Captain, we're down."

Murrue picked up a growler phone and dialed in the engine room. "Engineering, Conn, finished with engines. Shut her down and begin a full maintenance routine. Three days until we move again."

"I believe it is Miller Time!" Newman said.

"I could go for a good bottle of French champagne and a decent civvie dinner right now," Chandratta countered.

"A shot of whiskey and my bed, thank you very much," Murrue opined.

"It has been a long rotation," Mu commented. "Dismiss 'em, Captain?"

"Go ahead," Murrue allowed him.

Commander La Flaga set the radio to 1MC. "Attention all hands, this is Commander La Flaga. At this time, the _Archangel_ is at full stand-down for maintenance and crew rest. All personnel not operationally critical to maintenance tasks are released to the East Terminal for some much-needed off-ship rest and relaxation! Crew Dismissed!"

-x-

Much as had been declared, the German BKA and Russian Spetsnaz had secured the airport to prevent a mad rush on the _Archangel_. For the rest of the night, no _Archangel_ crewman saw hide nor hair of anyone in the press; the one attempt to rush the terminal was rebuffed by some rather mean-looking infantry, which settled the matter.

What the BKA and Spetsnaz did not mention was that the usual civilian fare had also been cleaned out of the terminal, and a large cot city had been set up for themselves and for the Archangel Team to disembark their ship and rest somewhere that wasn't perpetually in motion or battle. Grills had been set up, beef had been acquired (nobody in the Archangel Team cared to ask how that was done, though there were suspicions...) and there was more than a few bottles of champagne or finer wines 'liberated' from Romefeller possession for use in a celebration.

Daylight presaged the beginning of more than a few hangovers, though for the Archangel Team professionalism shone through and most were up and moving at the Spetsnaz troops' general reverie. Ryback's troops were up and cooking for the combined forces from Russia, Germany, and Archangel Team without prompt; Commander La Flaga had considered he would not ask where the semi-trailer full of food had come from, but he merely hoped it had not caused too much of a scene. Combined with a German mess detachment, breakfast was served at 0800 for all.

Of course, the calm and restful situation led to the inevitable question: "Now what?" Chandratta asked the Commander.

"We repair the ship, and we move on towards home," Commander La Flaga answered immediately. "Whatever happens, we're still obligated to get everyone home, unless you want to stay somewhere."

"Hell with that," Chandratta replied immediately. "I'm in it for the ship. I don't particularly care if we get home, but I want to make sure the ship gets to wherever we finally park it."

"Damn good to hear," Mu answered the junior officer's declaration. "Pass the word around, we're on a repair cycle so all hands will be needed on deck to patch the ship up for another round. Archangel Team personnel are to stay at the ship or in this terminal until further notice."

"Can do, sir. We going to bring in some of the airport maintenance techs to assist?" Chandratta asked after a moment of considering it.

"We may, depending on workload after Murdoch determines how much it will take to fix it," the Commander said. "Speaking of certain devils..."

"Huh?" Murdoch asked. "Devils? Is Gomer around here or something?" Chandratta simply waved his finger at the unofficial 2-I-C of the Hangar, who was doing a keg-standoff against a BKA demolitions specialist. "For some people, the party doesn't end until the keg wins it by default."

In point of fact, the BKA Demo Spec lost his grip and ended up dropping face-first onto the rim of the keg, then to the ground. Gomer was not far behind, a total of seven seconds' difference. "In some battles, there are no winners and no losers, only casualties," Mu groused. "At least they have a medic nearby."

"Some victories just aren't worth the embarrassment," Kira said from behind Chandratta.

-x-x-x-

(8 December AC195, 1200 Hours)  
(De Gaulle Airport, Paris, France)

Relena considered that this wasn't the first time she saw the ship beat to hell by Romefeller. Still and all, the ship was just as awesome as it had been the first time she had seen it in person.

"This is where the spare hull plate we still have comes in handy," a Mechanic noted. "Cut this diamond shape out of the hull, all the way back to the baffles between the exterior hull and the pressure hull, then coat the cut area with thermite paste and light it off. The Thermite welds it all in place for us, and since the laminates match up already it should not cause thermal expansion problems."

Relena considered that she had seen ladies in the repair crews before today, but the amount of ladies on the mechanical staff was...impressive. She had trouble considering that she could find that many willing to do this kind of work in the school at New Port City, but the _Archangel_ was something completely different from an all-girls' prep school.

"Marco, I need a new acetylene torch set up here on the port forequarter, I just ran my welder set dry," a welder requested into a radio.

"Burris! Get on the number seven crane and hoist out that dead Anti-beam Depth Charge launcher! We ain't got all day, France called and they want their runway back!" Ensign Murdoch ordered of a guy loitering nearby a tug trailer.

"Forklift coming through!" Relena immediately recognized the person on the forklift as Magic Knight Hikaru Shidou. "Wait — Relena?" The Magic Knight stopped the forklift parallel to Pagan. "Lady Relena! What are you doing here?"

"We're here for the peace summit," Relena answered as she approached the forklift. "You move equipment as well as pilot?"

"Nobody on the team has a single job," Hikaru admitted. "When I'm not piloting or asleep, I'm down in the hangar fixing things or modifying the machines. Wait — hats — do you have hard hats?"

"No, are they required?" Relena asked.

"Yes," Hikaru noted. She pulled two hard hats off hangars on the inside of the forklift safety frame. "Here, use these," she tossed one to Relena, then one to Pagan. "Watch out for falling stuff, happens a lot when we're repairing the ship. I gotta roll, daylight is wasting!"

Relena watched the Magic Knight drive away. "That...wow, I could never imagine what it would take to build someone like that," she admitted after the forklift dropped its load at the designated spot.

"It is a different life they live," Pagan noted.

"Well, let's head for the ship's bridge," Relena decided after a moment. "This way."

"Uh, Relena, do we really want to..." Pagan tried cautioning against going through the areas of heaviest construction, but Relena was moving too fast to hear. "...Headstrong."

"Now, where do we go?" Relena asked nobody in particular.

"Where you goin'?" a Mechanic asked as he approached while carrying some square metal tube lengths.

"Here to speak to the Captain," Relena said.

"Back door, honey," the mechanic ordered, pointing to a door just under the root of the tail binders. "We got the shit shot out of our front, lots of construction work down there. You don't want to go there. Use the back door, move forward until you hit the Forward Lateral, then go to the center of the Lateral and follow the stairs up. Can't miss it!"

"Thank you!" Relena said with a wave over her shoulder.

"And watch out for the forklifts!" The mechanic continued on toward what he was doing, leaving Relena and Pagan to head through on their own.

The mechanic was definitely correct; the repair work was a lot less on the rear of the ship than the front. Much as Pagan expected, though, 'less' did not equal 'easy going' in any definition of the phrase. "Turn it, turn it! Has to come left and down!" a marshaler ordered of a crane operator, demonstrating his intentions with lighted wands.

"I'm workin' on it! Keep your panties straight!" Relena clearly heard over the marshaler's radio.

"Don't be talkin' 'bout my panties until you get the job done," the marshaler answered. "You, civvie! stay out of the light stick box! We've got heavy gear comin' down!"

"Yessir!" Relena half-yelped before she jogged out of the light-stick ring.

"Relena, keep going," Pagan indicated the door, and the lack of obstructions between the door and where they were now. The old Retainer looked over his shoulder to see a large turret assembly come down into the glow-stick area, what looked like a turret built out of Beam Cannons.

Relena was first to the hatch, though she had to stand aside while a pair of Elementals carried some large gear out of the hatch and into a staging pile next to one of the defensive gun turrets. Pagan went in first after the Elementals were out of the way, with Relena following close to avoid getting lost.

It did not take long. "Where are we?" Relena asked after she realized they had gone in a circle nearby the engine rooms.

"I don't really know," Pagan admitted. "This is a large and complex ship."

"I'm slightly embarrassed to have to ask directions, but..." Relena decided to go up a 'ladder' to the next level, and began looking around for someone to ask. She found two side-by-side doors with bead curtains across the doorways, an unusual thing on a warship, but figured a semi-open door was worth a look.

Relena went in the unmarked left side of the two doors, passed around the double-turn barrier, and immediately stopped in the door to the inner room.

It was twenty seconds before anything was said. "Oh hell yes, first lady visitor to the guys' side that ain't an officer!" Gomer half-shouted.

"Looking for somebody, Princess Relena?" Commander La Flaga asked.

"Erm, um," she flipped back a step out of sight. "Was looking for the Captain. My apologies for interrupting your bath time," she answered.

"Head forward, Murrue is in the Stateroom right now," Commander La Flaga said.

"Thank you, sorry again!" Relena was quick to get out of the entrance to the men's hot springs, and on the outside she checked the walls nearby for any kind of labeling. Much as she remembered, there was no stencil labeling, no placards, not even a color difference in the bead curtains. After a moment, she figured she would have had to be a crewmember to know which was which.

"Did you find out where we are?" Pagan asked, looking at a memorial box on the wall opposite the hot springs.

"Yes, we are at the hot springs," Relena noted in a rush.

"Oh, so they do exist," Pagan said. "But, they're not labeled. Which side is which?"

"I noticed," Relena said drolly. "Men's side is to the left. Come on, Captain is in the stateroom." Relena took off down the hall and this time turned left, headed toward the front of the ship.

"Always an adventure," Pagan said mostly to himself before he moved to follow Relena.

-x-x-x-

(12 December AC195, 1800 Hours)  
(Rural Chapel, Northern Luxembourg, Europe)

"Four years in command, dozens of battles large and small, and I think this is the most chaotic op I have ever done," Murrue said quietly to Mu.

"Not going to disagree," the Commander answered, trying to keep quiet so he could hear what the Minister was saying.

"Winning a battle is easy. Winning the peace, not so much," Colonel Khushrenada sympathized. "This is the main part," Treize noted.

Murrue strained to hear it, but could not hear the minister. She was in the back of the chapel because she was stage-managing the happenings all the way to the last moment and the beginning of the organ work, leaving no seats up front open. All things considered, she really didn't want a forward seat, either; this was about Tolle, Miriallia, and their friends.

"Looks like we did this one mostly right," Mu noted. "Tolle was fairly easy to fit for a tux."

"Miriallia wasn't all that easy on the dresses, though she wasn't up to 'bridezilla' levels," Murrue said drolly.

Up toward the altar, she could hear the minister say something, then went silent to look around the room for a moment. Nothing happened for thirty seconds, so he resumed. Again Murrue could not hear what was said, though she could hear Tolle say his vows after the minister was done. The Minister continued on, followed by a brief pause and Miriallia saying her vows. A few seconds later was the obligatory kiss the bride moment, which set off a chain reaction of cheers among the crew of the ship.

The organ struck up again with the Wedding March, and the now-married couple began the semi-orderly march down the aisle toward the doors. The vehicle waiting for them was Treize's personal limo, though the rest of the personnel had charter buses waiting for them for the ride back to the base and the reception hall. Everyone was on their feet, cheering and clapping for the newlyweds, and for more reasons than just the marriage. To many in the crew, their marriage was proof that life went on in the best fashion, even if their next days would be the tour of Hell in an insane flying warship.

(Incidentally, a mechanic had thought to get a large banner to hang from the back of the tail binders, saying 'just married', that would have been visible at roughly five kilometers. Murrue had put the kibosh on that plan, but she did note that the Mechanic in question simply stowed the banner, he did not destroy it.)

After the bride and groom were in the limo and headed away, Mu had the declaration of the day. "Thank you, Padre, for the service on such a short notice."

"Not an issue, my son," the minister replied. "Thank you for pulling us out of this perpetual war. Best you be going, though, or you will miss your own party."

"Oh, yeah, definitely," Mu answered. "Crew, entrain and RTB for the reception!"

On the way out of the chapel, a goodly portion of the crew left donations of varying sizes and types, from C-rations, to gold coins from other worlds, and even an engraved bowie knife that the engine technician figured could be pawned for a good chunk of cheddar. All in all, the crew left four years' operating expenses worth of goods and coin for the church, and that without considering the service fee.

-x-

(4 hours later)

Tolle had done the obligatory dances for the reception, but like most men he showed himself to be mostly inept at it. It was at least as much consolation that Athrun, Kira, Yzak, and Nicol were not much improved in the art of dancing, though all gave it a fair shot. Hands down the best in a classic dance were Mu and Murrue, which Tolle admitted he expected.

Tolle had retired from the dance floor when the DJ broke out the club music — not his cup of tea, such as it was, and far too energetic for a guy who had had a long day already and little sleep the night before. Abandoning the field led him outside to the 'smokers and jokers' area, though in this case it was more joking than smoking, with a keg thrown in the mix for good measure.

"Hey hey, c'mon over, newlywed!" 'Spazz' (Gomer's 2-I-C, or effectively the hangar 3-I-C) waved Tolle over to the group around the keg. "Escaping that dance hall crap?"

"Yeah, and I'm whooped anyway. It's been a long-ass day, and it ain't over yet."

"Yeah, you still got a night to go with the missus, though I will admit I tried to get you a proper honeymoon," Murdoch said.

"I figured not, that might wreck our timetable for getting out of here," Tolle noted.

"Kid, we've been gone close to four years now. A week more or less isn't going to make a difference to most of us," Gomer commented. "And you've earned it, roughing all this shit and you still managed to win over the girl. Congrats, and I swear if there are any tin cans tied to the back of your Gundam, it wasn't me."

"I sense trouble there," Tolle said with narrowed eyes.

"Hey, don't look at me, man, I didn't do it, and I warned them not to do it," Gomer amplified his prior apology.

"Don't worry about it, kid," Murdock said with a beer cup extended in his direction. "If anything is on your Gundam, I'll have it removed."

Tolle accepted the beer. "Thanks, Chief," the Buster Pilot answered. "What's the odds today?"

"100 percent chance of you getting a night full of ass," Spazz said.

"You can be shot, man," Murdoch cautioned the 3-I-C of the Hangar.

"Yessir," he replied meekly.

"I meant on us getting home on the next jump," Tolle clarified his initial request after a sip of beer.

"Near zero," Murdoch answered. "Worth a shot anyways, even if we do end up in a really skull-fucked territory."

"And we haven't been to a few of those already?" Gomer asked his immediate superior.

"Oh, I think everyone here can imagine worse," Murdoch commented with a grin for effect. "We are the Hangar Madmen, after all. I expect you to have very powerful imaginations."

"Whips and chains, sir," Gomer said with a half-arsed salute.

"Now, you, Tolle, I suggest you grab your wife and head up to the hotel on the far side of the airport. Already arranged a room for you, and cautioned the staff to move as many away from you as possible," Murdoch said. "I'll have a car pick you two up at 1400 tomorrow, which will give you some time to sleep in and get a decent meal. Enjoy yourselves, and don't worry about the ship. It'll still be here tomorrow."

"Speaking thereof," Tolle said, looking past Murdoch. "Where's some wheels? Now would be a great time to bail."

"Sure, but if you've been drinking, I'm driving," Miriallia warned him.

-x-x-x-

(15 December AC195, 0800 Hours)  
(Office of the Chancellor, Luxembourg)

"Thank you for seeing me on such short notice, Captain Ramius," Colonel Treize Khushrenada welcomed them. "Please have a seat, Captain, Commander."

"Not a problem, Colonel," Murrue answered. "Now, what is important enough to have you request an emergency meet with us?"

"I have, well, for lack of a better way to explain it, an unexpected family problem that is both personal and likely to become a professional problem in short order."

Murrue frowned. "If I may ask, why would the Archangel Team be needed for a family problem? We're a mercenary Gundam formation, sir." The implicit tail to her declaration was simple: _and you don't call on mercenaries for a domestic dispute_.

"That is exactly why I have chosen the Archangel Team over other conventional means. Before I go into details of my proposed contract, best you hear the story from the primary party at risk in this endeavor."

Treize pressed a console button on his desk, which activated the primary viewing screen in the office. The first image was significant, of a little girl in what appeared to be a military commo facility. "This is Mariemaia Khushrenada, daughter of Treize Khushrenada and Leia Barton, transmitting on a clandestine frequency used by White Fang. Please relay a message to my father, Treize Khushrenada: the original Operation METEOR is still in play, location Colony X-18999. I can break the entire operation and end the Barton Family gambit to commit mass murder and world takeover, but I need an extraction as soon as possible. Father, I know you know what forces to call on to complete this request. Mariemaia, end transmit."

Murrue was silent after the message ended. It was Mu who had the first comment. "Kid's got some definite guts to make a move like that."

"You believe this is authentic?" Murrue asked the Colonel.

"I have several reasons to believe it is real," Treize replied evenly. "First, at one time I was romantically involved with Leia Barton; not many people would know that. Second, I know the Barton Family, and Operation METEOR was initially their brainchild until the Gundams rebelled and started attacking Oz independently. The original plan involved dropping a colony on the planet, so the mass-destruction element is real. Third, X-18999 is a Barton Foundation holding. This entire scenario sounds all too real."

"Okay, the other consideration would be, is this a false flag?" Mu La Flaga asked reasonably.

"False Flag ops are a possibility, but this one is far too dangerous for the Bartons. If they wanted to move forward with a modified Op METEOR, stealth would have been far better. If this video became public knowledge, questions would be asked and I would have to give answers, hard answers that people would not like. Unless Op METEOR was ready to go right now, the Bartons would be caught off balance and you could measure Dekim Barton's remaining life-span in hours. On that basis alone, I don't see this as a false flag."

"Okay, that is perfectly reasonable," Murrue judged. "Now, you presented the problem. What do you want us to do about it?"

"These are the relevant documents," Treize passed her a leather portfolio. "Your contract overview is to gain access to X-18999, force entry by any means necessary, prevent the colony from being dropped on planet, cause as much damage as possible to Barton Foundation infrastructure, and exfiltrate my daughter from the colony. Partial completion of objectives is acceptable, though will be compensated at reduced value. Bonus credit will be awarded if you eliminate the Op METEOR forces in their entirety, eliminate Dekim Barton, and/or complete this task without making the news wires."

Murrue looked over the itemization of tasks and expected compensation for mission completion. After rereading the list twice, she handed the portfolio to Commander La Flaga. He read it once, twice, then whistled. "That much?"

"It is a personal problem, for now, and I do know you want to continue your journey onward toward home," Treize admitted. "I figured a serious offer would be best for the best mercenary formation in the Earth Sphere, especially since this request is competing with your hard-earned vacation time."

"This is a very solid offer," Murrue thought aloud.

"I agree, and the offered resources would certainly assist us in our coming travels," Mu agreed.

"Okay, let's talk specifics on the offer," Murrue decided. "I will have to put it to vote in the Team, but I think after seeing the video everyone will be in."

"What are your thoughts, Captain?" Treize asked.

"Package Charlie, prevention of the colony drop, I was thinking that the amount of material you are offering exceeds the mass of the armor on the _Archangel_ as it is — by nearly a factor of three. If we laid over for a month, do you think your shipwrights could re-plate the hull? I have my doubts on how long we can keep patching our armor up before something goes wrong."

Treize considered the Captain's request significant. "I think my men can do that, but it will definitely require some assistance from your personnel. You do have full schematics and armor diagrams?"

"Yes," Mu answered, liking the Captain's suggestion.

"My other concern is package Delta, though it is a minor point. That offer is definitely significant, but I was wondering if I could get 50 percent of that in bar configuration, 25 percent in coin configuration, and 25 percent in rod configuration."

It was Treize's turn to frown; he was familiar with the bar and coin configurations, but rods were a new thing to him. "Why the rods, if I may ask?"

"If necessary, I can cut them into blanks and have them machined or pressed for several different purposes," Murrue considered. "At a guess, I have reason to believe that the Koenig wedding is not likely to be the last in our ship's history, and cylindrical blanks might be of use for that purpose."

"Ah," Treize noted.

"And, one last consideration. You are offering full salvage rights from all forces eliminated in this operation. May I offer you a portion of that salvage as sell-back material to Luxembourg?" Murrue asked.

"Certainly. We can negotiate fees and bounties when you have a tally of recovered materials," Treize expected that request, and as it happened welcomed it. He had lost a lot of Mobile Suits in the battles in Luxembourg, so salvage buybacks would give him an opportunity to rebuild his forces.

"I believe, then, tentative to the agreement of my crew, we have a deal. I will have it voted on and signed within ten hours, should we accept the contract." Captain Ramius and Commander La Flaga stood after the Colonel did so.

"A pleasure to do business with professionals," Colonel Khushrenada noted as he shook the Captain's hand.

-x-x-x-

(18 December AC195, 1030 Hours)  
(Outside Colony X-18999)

"Conn, Sensors, they've made us," Sai declared. "Definite radar passes, I show Taurus machines moving in our direction. Count six marks at this time."

"I figured the door guard would get to us before we could ring the bell." Murrue picked up her growler phone and set it to 1MC. "Attention all hands, upgrading to condition one now. We are engaging enemy Mobile Suits."

The battle klaxon was next to go off, making it official. The ship was back in battle, but this time for a light contract and for personal (direct) profit. Nobody had signed themselves out of the contract, given the significant rewards and expectation of light or moderate threat.

"Rayearth, Command, engage at discretion," Miriallia ordered of the one Rune God on deploy outside the ship. Windam would be on reserve for the internal operations, and Selesce was still down from the count, leaving Hikaru alone among the three Rune Gods for this phase of the operation. "Tolle, Athrun, Pytor, back her up."

"Aff, Ensign Haww," Pytor answered stiffly. "Standing by for catapult shot."

"Athrun on left cat, standing by," After said pilot requested his launch, Miriallia tripped both catapults to deploy the Mercurius / Vayeate team.

"Is that...supposed to be a competent pilot?" Pytor asked nobody in particular after one of the enemy machines fired four beam rifle rounds at the Buster, achieving no result and only coming reasonably close with one shot.

"I've got 'em," Tolle answered. Rather than link his weapons, Tolle fired two rounds from just the beam cannon at the enemy Taurus threatening him, and one round of Gun Launcher at the next nearest enemy, both of which resulted in hard kills. "Two down!"

Hikaru charged forward through the short debris cloud created by Tolle's second kill, using it to obscure her move into the fray. The enemy force had hesitated as soon as shots flew, opting to try to maneuver wide instead of close with the renown Archangel Team. By trying to maneuver, Hikaru was able to get in close and take her first swing at the opposition. She missed a clean shot at the nearest of the foes, but her sword removed the right lower arm, right hand, and beam rifle of the machine.

"Wait, what?" Athrun watched a completely separate Taurus fire several beams at the _Archangel_, not at any of the Mobile Suits nearby it. "Their tactics are deplorable! Are we fighting trainees here?"

"They may not be capable of striking a small fast-moving target, and are defaulting to the large slow target," Pytor judged after the nearest Taurus took several shots at Hikaru, with only one striking Rayearth's shield.

"Oi! No shooting at my friends!" Tolle returned the favor on the shooter nearby Hikaru, though his Gun Launcher only stripped off a leg for his efforts.

"I will finish this one," Pytor took a follow-up shot on the machine Tolle had wounded. The enemy must not have been paying complete attention to his surroundings, for he failed to dodge in any fashion and took the beam square in the chest.

"_Archangel_ is in range, stand by for support," Miriallia commented. Three Particle Cannon shots streaked by one of the remaining survivors, though a pair of gauss rifle slugs savaged one of the prior-killed machines to no effect. "Or maybe not."

"We have their measure," Pytor answered heartily. His shot on one of the two remaining machines was on the mark, but missed after the pilot cleared the line of fire. "It would appear killing half their rank has taught the others some measure of maneuver skill."

"Too little too late," Athrun commented sharply. The same machine tried to dodge beam cannon fire from the _Archangel_'s Virgo Turrets, but too many turrets gave him too many choices of which one to dodge — and he made the wrong call.

Again, one of the remaining took his shots at the _Archangel_, though Athrun imposed his Planet Defensers between the fire and the ship. "They seem to like us," Sai commented dryly.

The other Taurus decided to follow up with a shot from a Space Laser. "They like us quite a lot," Chandratta commented dryly. "Captain, Lohengrin two is down."

Hikaru tried moving on the enemy with the Space Laser, but the Taurus was briefly able to outmaneuver the Rune God and cleared a pair of swings. "The more of them we kill, the harder the remainder is to kill!"

"They still can not aim, for what it is worth," Pytor groused. "I was hoping for at least a small challenge."

The same machine that managed to miss Pytor in three shots did not miss on intercepting the first of four missiles from the _Archangel_, but the three trailing missiles he neither intercepted nor dodged. After the third missile struck and detonated, the largest piece of his machine still identifiable was the left lower leg and foot.

"Got the last," Athrun commented dryly before he sabered it twice with the Crash Shield on the Mercurius. Two solid hits to the body, no more threat.

"_Archangel_, Vayeate, no further contacts in vicinity of X-18999. Moving to dock harbor for break-in phase now."

-x-

"_Gott Mit Uns_! Do it for the kid!" The sauce chef half-shouted.

"Swedish war cries, now? I may have to have your mental health checked," Chief Ryback groused. "Two forward, take guard while the rest of us yank our encounter suits."

"I'm on it," the baker noted. He moved forward with the M-60, more than enough firepower to 'dissuade' anyone from interfering with the disrobing of the bulky and cumbersome encounter suits. The only time the Commandos wanted to wear those suits was when they absolutely had to, otherwise they prefered their body armor and mismatched collection of ass-kicking weapons.

"Nothing going on here, sir, it's like the colony has not been informed we just scrapped their exterior guard," the other forward guard (the grill master) said after he took position opposite the exterior doorway from the baker.

"They going to get a real rude awakening when the Gundams get inside, then," the sauce chef said with a savage tone of voice.

"Speaking thereof," Ryback commented as he heard the opening strains of the interior airlock doors for the Mobile Suits. It would be minutes before the Gundams could actually enter the colony proper, mostly due to the inherent slow open speed of the pressure doors, but once loosed inside the colony, the game was over for the Barton Foundation.

"All right, I'll cover the door," the vegetable chef tapped the Baker out. His Thompson would not be able to reach as far as the -60, but in close it was a lethal monster against anything that went under its peep sight.

"I have the second guard," the unit sniper / dessert chef took over for the grill master, his Enfield Mark 4 / Sniper Pattern rifle aimed outward for any sign of threat.

"Gundam team, Commando Team, we are almost ready to collect our transport," Ryback reported.

"Commando, Duel, two rides waiting for you," Yzak reported.

"Clear," the baker answered after a brief minute.

"Finished up," the grill master answered thirty seconds later.

"Oven Guru takes point," Ryback ordered. "Make for the airlocks and cover your left flank smartly, we'll be exposed for about 100 meters."

"Aye aye, Chief," the Baker moved up to the door, gave one good quick look outside for threats, then led the procession off. The rest of the team filed out and spread out at three-second intervals, making it impossible for a single burst of gunfire to wipe out the whole team.

X-18999 was well-provisioned for bringing in or removing large objects — the planet-side dock was equipped with a 200-meter wide by 50-meter tall pressure lock for large objects. Of course, the downside of such a major airlock was the large doors that took minutes to open, and the personnel doors were a significant hike for the people to get from the personnel locks to the cargo lock. In an otherwise hostile colony, running across 100 meters of open ground, silhouetted against massive steel doors, was roughly the same as running through Cracktown butt-naked with $100 bills taped to your back. Someone was guaranteed to see, and likely to take a shot at the poor sods involved.

This adventure was no different from expectation. Roughly two-thirds the way to the slow-opening cargo doors, a patrol jeep of the local thugs saw the Commando team moving across the open ground and immediately reacted. Two of the occupants went for their guns, the third went for a radio, and the race was on for who could get on target first. The winner, oddly enough, was the driver of the patrol vehicle; granted, only one of his rounds came close to being on target, since he was not holding his sub-machine gun correctly, after the fourth round on full auto he was firing an anti-aircraft weapon at an otherwise clear sky. The sniper had crosshairs on the shooter, but hesitated on seeing the ineptitude of the foe, under the assumption that nobody in uniform would really be that stupid. The Grill Master did not balk at the clear threat, using his Kalashnikov in a pair of short bursts to core out the shooter's chest.

The demise of the driver cleared the way for the sniper to take a clear shot at the radio operator, who was still fumbling with the radio controls. The distance of the shot was pathetically easy, fifty meters or less, and one round from the Lee-Enfield Number Four (Sniper Pattern) removed the C4 vertebrae from his neck by way of blowing through his throat and out the rear of his body. "He's down," the sniper / desert chef reported.

A sub-machine gun peeked over the hood of the patrol jeep and ripped off one long burst, most of the rounds falling well short of the team, though the Thompson, the M-60 and two AKs returned the favor with far better accuracy. When the last of the patrol peeked over the hood to see how well his burst did, the sniper was waiting for him — another round, this time a head shot exactly between the eyes and roughly an inch above the bridge of his nose. "Good night, Gracie," he commented dryly.

"Sniper, move to that jeep and prepare to spike with thermite. Rest of team, move it up!" Ryback ordered, then set off for the cargo doors at a jog. "Gundams, Ryback, we just had a shootout, though I don't think they got a radio call off."

"They did not, I am monitoring their radio traffic and all is clear," Kira responded. "Someone else may have called in by phone, though."

"We're coming in for the HMMVWs, we need to move before someone finds us!" The Baker was leading the charge for the doors, even humping the 'pig' (1) along for the run.

"Guys, I don't think anyone told them about the fracas outside, but I don't think anyone needed to tell them twice about the little gunfight we just had," the dessert chef reported after the team got inside the airlock doors.

"Hold fast, we'll be along to pick you up in thirty," Ryback ordered just before he arrived at the first of the HMMVW vehicles that had been hand-carried in by the Duel. Interestingly, while an ICE engine would not run in space for obvious reasons (no air to feed it), it had no problem moving through space so long as it had exposure to air before it was run again. In this case, such a principle allowed the Commandos to bring along some 'wheels' and extra equipment (read: explosives) for the inside work of the X-18999 raid.

"Okay, I have what looks like a platoon in deuce-and-a-half trucks coming down side-roads, may mean to try to hit us on the left," the Sniper reported. "And...looks like an IFV coming down the center. Erm, someone have the firepower to splatter that thing before it gets me with that 30mm cannon?"

"Stand by," Commander (formerly Colonel) Chevalier answered heartily. The IFV stopped, trained its gun past the jeep and toward the airlocks, though before the missile launcher could deploy fully it was struck nose-on by a blast from the hyper impulse cannon courtesy of Morgan's 105 Dagger with the last remaining Launcher Strike Pack.

"Good show, Commander!" the Sniper noted. "Except, now we have a troop of infantry still to handle..."

"I can help a bit with that," Yzak answered calmly. The doors were still not open enough to allow the machines through, but they were open enough to allow fire to come out of the airlock. Yzak took advantage of this with the 60mm Vulcans on his machine, a short burst of sixty rounds ample to completely shred a squad worth of the platoon bearing down on the sniper.

"Duel stand fast, we're going to move through your legs," Ryback requested as he waved the other vehicle forward.

"Go for it," Yzak authorized the wildly-against-safety-protocol maneuver before he dispensed another short burst of vulcan fire into the enemy Infantry.

"Okay, taking a little fire here," the Sniper complained between shots of his own. "Bloody — they're smarter than the patrol! Looks like most of 'em know how to take cover!"

"The two most plentiful elements in the world are hydrogen and stupidity, unfortunately Darwin tends to clear out the stupidity from time to time," Yzak complained between bursts of Vulcans. "Agh — damnit! Out of ammo! Strike, can you support?"

"On it," Kira answered immediately. The Duel sidestepped twice, allowing the Strike Freedom forward to where it could put the two SA-GAU7D 76mm CIWS Guns (2) into action.

"Strike Freedom, put your fire in that bistro on the corner northwest of the loading area! I count eight in that building's first floor," the Grill Master requested.

"Roger that, stand by," Kira noted. He set his aimpoint on the western wall of the shop, squeezed the trigger, and moved the aimpoint steadily eastward until he ran out of shop. By the time the last few rounds struck the building, the supports of the first floor had taken too much damage and the second floor of the building collapsed down into the ground level. "Threat building is cleared," Kira noted with a bit of shock to voice, not expecting to completely level the structure.

"Reaper team, Punisher, put down fire on the left flank, they're trying to move in the open," Ryback ordered of the second vehicle.

"I see them," the vegetable chef answered curtly. His vehicle had the real firepower of the team, a Federated RG20 automatic grenade launcher bought on Twycross. Physically not much different from the old Mark 19 Automatic Grenade Launcher (3), it would loose four grenades a second if the shooter held down the trigger, and the Commandos loved it because it gave them more than enough firepower to rip up a platoon of Infantry in seconds, much less a couple oddballs trying to flank across open ground. Two grenades, a quarter-second flight time, two dead infantry. "Problem solved," the veggie chef reported the result of his orders.

"What the hell? Are they retreating? Seriously?" the sauce chef commented in surprise.

"Guess they didn't want to play with the big boys today," the baker noted. "Or something else is coming our way,"

-x-

Mariemaia could see the airlock from her bedroom window, and the sound of the automatic grenade launcher was distinctive in that it was not a common weapon used by the infantry in the 'Mariemaia Army' under her 'command'. In all reality, she didn't have an army, she had about ten Mobile Suits (6 Taurus and 4 Serpent) and three platoons of infantry. Right now, she suspected she had four Mobile Suits and two platoons of Infantry — the Duel, the Strike Freedom, and the 105 Dagger had all worked hard to make sure the infantry did not overwhelm what was probably the Archangel Team Commandos in action.

"Milady, should you be watching that with such reverence?" Mariemaia's maid asked with clear worry in voice.

"It won't matter," Mariemaia answered after a moment. "They're coming for me."

"What? Then we should — shouldn't we?" the maid asked after Mariemaia threw her a glance.

"Run away? How? If they are here, the _Archangel_ is outside the colony — and there is no escaping that. Where to, then? Assuming we escaped, the _Archangel_ would be able to track us with the aid of White Fang, the Maganac, or the Sanc Kingdom, as all three have excellent intelligence services." Mariemaia looked back out the window, to where one of the Serpent MS was trying to engage the Strike Freedom, which Mariemaia knew was a losing battle. The Serpent in question was a completely ballistic or missile arsenal, and the SF Mass-Pro unit was equipped with Quad-Phase Shift Armor, easily capable of preventing any penetration kinetic or missile. "We have lost. This was the one point in time we could have been easily stopped, and somehow something was found or compromised."

"So now what?" the maid asked after a minute of watching the Archangel Team blaze a path through the colony interior.

"We wait for it, whatever they intend to do," Mariemaia answered coldly. "There is nothing we can do for Grandfather, either, since he is out on the Moon right now."

"I am sorry, Lady Mariemaia," the maid apologized for the 'bad' turn of events.

"Operations like this, they always have a price for failure, just as they have a price for victory." Mariemaia brought one of her chairs over to the window to watch the evolving action. In the distance, the Duel Gundam fired several missiles into one of the Serpent MS factory blocks, demolishing most of the structure and the unfinished machine within. What remained of the building was finished off by the 105 Dagger, a single shot of a large beam cannon weapon demolished what was left of the structure in a particle wash that also started a fire in the rubble.

"And this is our price to pay," Mariemaia's mother commented with resignation. "I had fears this would come to a bad end, I should not have agreed to my father's ambition on this one."

"We all did what we thought would work," Mariemaia countered. "If not for the Archangel Team, the Earth Forces would have bled themselves dry on White Fang, and we'd have a good chance at taking over the Earth Sphere." She sighed after a moment. "Well, all we can do now is see who exactly they are here for."

-x-

"Well, this has been fun rampaging through the colony, but I think we need to wrap up our business and roll out of here," Commander Chevalier recommended.

"Agreed, we're out of Barton Foundation facilities to destroy," Kira considered. "Commandos, head to primary objective. How's your ammo?"

"We've only got two cases of 50-caliber and half a case of 40-millie, Strike Freedom. Hope they don't have a platoon here," Ryback said.

"I'm dry on somewhat-AP-usable ammo," Yzak noted. "Couple rounds of Shiva left, and my beam rifle with the grenade round."

"That's enough to level a structure, I guess," Kira noted. "Morgan?"

"A little 50-caliber in my right foot, and the Agni, and that's it."

"And I have six rounds of Xiphas, no CIWS, and my beam weapons. Yeah, sounds like another Archangel Team run. Outnumbered, out of supplies, and winning!"

"Coming up on the last target location, the Barton Family mansion," Reaper Vehicle noted.

"Okay, I'm seeing four at the front door, two on the roof with heavy anti-tank missiles," Morgan noted. "I could pick off the roof sentries with Agni, but I think someone with a beam rifle should."

"I hear you," Yzak answered the call. The Duel stopped three blocks short of the target, hunched down slightly so the shot would not angle down into the mansion, and sighted up the sentries. One of the missiles was launched at him before the Duel fired its first shot, but Yzak won the pissing contest by default. The second trooper dropped his missile launcher and ran for the stairs down into the building before Yzak could turn the beam rifle on him. "Huh. Turn one of their boot pairs into ashtrays, the other runs for the hills. Go figure."

"Eh, we're not here to kill them all. Destroying infrastructure is the main goal," Morgan judged.

"Well, we've done plenty of that, so we finish up and head out." Kira jumped over a low-rise building nearby the mansion to land in the front courtyard. He aimed both beam rifles at the four door guards, then flipped on his external speaker. "Don't bother, boys. Just drop 'em and put your hands up." After roughly two seconds of thinking about it, the four door guards did exactly as ordered. "Punisher, Reaper, come on down!"

"On it," Chief Ryback replied with a savage tone to voice. The two HMMVWs rolled into the courtyard fast, the roof gunners traversing their weapons back and forth across the windows of the mansion in case someone made the mistake of shooting at the Commandos. After a few seconds of sweeping, nobody made a move from one of the opened windows, though a few of the domestic staff were hanging out the window, gawking at the Commandos as they piled out of the vehicles to 'assault' the structure.

"Demo on the front door! Two line charges!" The Baker requested of anyone nearby the vehicles still. The griller, the dessert chef, Ryback and the vegetable master had moved forward to secure the four door guards with zip-tie handcuffs, given they did not want to depart with their regular (steel) handcuffs for such a pithy operation as this.

"I've got the door," Kira said. He stepped the Strike Freedom forward a pace, waved the prisoners and commandos to the side, then simply kicked through the front door and column palisade in front of it. "Door's open."

"Thanks, big guy," the baker said before he led the charge into the building.

"Holy shit, this is some serious architecture!" the Grill Master commented. "It is some manner of mandatory for evil bastards to have opulent housing or bases?"

"Power corrupts, absolute power is expensive," Ryback commented.

"Whoa, got something here," Yzak said. "Confirmed target, Mariemaia, second floor, east wing, front face corner room," he said after magnifying on the girl in the window. "Looks like there are two ladies in the room as well, a maid and someone in plain clothes."

"Second floor, east wing front corner, roger that," the sniper / dessert chef answered. "No resistance inside the building. Looks like everyone else has run for the hills."

"We're at the room in question," Ryback said. "Breaching charges this door!"

"Wait, sir," the Gundam pilots could hear the sound of a door opening. A short pause of a second, before the room flashed bright white from a flashbang detonating inside the room. The next sound was that of the team filing into the room in standard entry form, to which they took control of every person in the room, though what happened after that was unheard (the sniper turned his radio off).

Ten seconds later: "Command, Ryback, we have a situation here."

"Oh shit," Kira groused. The last thing he wanted to do was to do first aid on someone before evacuating them from the colony.

"No, no, nobody's injured," Ryback countered before anyone began panicking. "We have the primary, but we also have the primary's mother here, and she wants out as well."

"Wait, Leia Barton, here?" Kira asked. "Hell yes, we'll extract them both, then. Takes her out of the equation as well, in case Dekim comes looking for a hostage."

"Can you fit both of them in the cockpit?" The vegetable chef replied.

"Oh yeah, I have enough room in my second seat," Kira noted. "Extract and exfiltrate, we're done here."

"Update, the maid wants out as well, sir," the baker said with a straight tone of voice. Kira could tell he was trying to avoid laughing about the wildly changing extraction profile.

"Okay, we're pushing it, here. This cockpit is spacious, but not that big. Three is the max," Kira decried the travel arrangement, knowing it would be cramped to the max with four people inside.

"Sir, we may want to commandeer a transport vehicle and a shuttle, I have several other members of the domestic staff requesting an out."

"Jeez, this Dekim Barton must have been a real asshole to work for, if his house staff is trying to bail on him," Yzak noted with a hint of exasperation.

Kire made a snap-judgment on the change in circumstances. "Roger that, I'll take Mariemaia, Leia, and the maid on the Strike Freedom, Ryback, your guys will need to organize a shuttle evac. We'll cover for you. Yzak, once the building is cleared, level it."

"I hear you," the Duel pilot said. "The strange shit we do in the average work-day," he half-whined.

"Beats the hell out of the alternative," Morgan said. "I've seen the alternative. It ain't pretty."

-x-

(3 hours later)  
(_Archangel_ Hangar deck)

"This is interesting," Commander La Flaga said as he approached the shuttle. He had been informed of the change in plans by Kira, who had a back seat literally full of ladies when he contacted the ship, which had drawn a few comments from the bridge staff but not much else. The shuttle in tow, at least, had allowed the team to recover the HMMVWs without having to dry-carry them through space, simply load them in the shuttle's cargo bay and tie them down as other cargo would be.

On the way out, all three Gundams had taken care to collect one of the Serpent machines; two were downed in combat, two were captured without pilots. The lesser of the damaged machines was recovered by Kira, the two undamaged ones were hauled out by tow cables by the Duel and 105 Dagger. New models would certainly net some serious cash from Luxembourg, given the offered salvage rights from Treize.

"We are certainly counting coup on this one," Pytor commented. "The only objective we did not achieve was elimination of Dekim Barton, which is a null issue; he is on the moon, if I remember what Mariemaia reported of his whereabouts."

"This will be a complete disaster for the old fart," Mu said with a chuckle. "With this much damage to his operation, Treize should have no issue dealing with him in the future, if he wants to."

"I doubt Treize will pass up this opportunity to deal with the threat," Pytor judged. "My years with the Archangel Team have demonstrated the folly of the Jade Falcon's push to invade the Inner Sphere, but I never believed such monsters as Kefka, Gestahl, Azrael, or now Dekim Barton could exist. Only now do I see the validity of the Warden's stance, if for no other reason than to deal with the stark raving megalomaniacs that exist throughout the many histories."

Commander La Flaga simply grunted in confirmation of the point. "I have a feeling we will have more psychos and evil bastards to deal with the farther into this journey we go. Be ready for it."

-x-x-x-

(25 December AC195, 0730 Hours)  
(White Sand beach, Grand Bahamas Island, Caribbean Sea)

"Now this is a vacation," Yzak said to nobody in particular. So far, he was out on the beach alone, or at least alone in terms of _Archangel_ crew. There were some kids from South America a dozen meters up the beach, on a summer school trip to the Bahamas, though these kids were not doing any actual school work (unless one counted french kissing studies as a school activity), so Yzak was not technically alone.

The ship was in dry-dock in Davenport, England, which would be the only Naval Base in Europe with facilities large enough to service the _Archangel_. The nearest base other than Davenport capable of doing the hull refit twould have been on the east coast of the United States — not a good plan for an already logistically-troubled refit.

Given the already-apparent delays to the refit, Captain Ramius had ordered half the crew to vacation, and commissioned a charter flight from England to New York to Grand Bahama so the crew could do some serious sun and fun in a tropical climate well away from the crappy weather of England at this time of year. Her initial intention, the southern shore of Spain, also seemed a crappy choice with some bad weather reported in the area and below-average temperatures for this time of year, so the Caribbean Sea became the default choice for the vacation. The crew would rotate out every two weeks with the crew at the _Archangel_ refit site, so everyone would have at least some vacation before the ship was ready to go.

Yzak had volunteered for the first duty detail, but with Kira and Hikaru on the first refit team, he had been shunted out to the vacation detail. Not that it mattered to the Duel pilot one way or the other, since he had secretly been looking forward to some beach time. Of course, The Captain had made sure that Miriallia and Tolle were on the first vacation detail, if for no other reason than to give them something approaching a honeymoon. And, of the pilot / command staff, Commander La Flaga and Umi had also been shunted out to the vacation detail, the commander because someone of rank was needed, and Umi because Selesce was still on the mend.

"Still feeling bad about being on this beach, now?" Umi asked after she sat down in her lounge chair on the other side of the umbrella Yzak had set up on the beach.

"Not at all," Yzak commented. "Couple weeks to unwind would be real nice, and I'm pretty sure the ship isn't going to go anywhere without us."

"Good time to catch up on reading," Umi countered. Yzak opened an eye enough to see that Umi was dressed for the environment (a two-piece bathing suit in emerald blue), but more engrossed in a light novel than interested in swimming this early in the day.

Both Pilot and Magic Knight remained silent, though Yzak could tell that she was off-and-on paying attention to the students down the beach. After her fourth overt check, Yzak considered something that had been nagging at his mind. "I wonder, with those two are down there making out, is their teacher looking for them?"

"They are part of the student group from Brazil?" Umi asked.

"Yeah," Yzak said.

"They were up late partying in our hotel," Umi grumped. "Kept Fuu and myself awake until just about midnight."

"I'd've flipped 'em a flashbang, put some fear of God into them," Yzak opined.

Umi suppressed a snigger. "Very tempting thought. Of course, I don't think the room cleaners would have liked that."

"True," Yzak admitted after he realized that the Flashbang would have done some serious damage to whatever carpet it detonated on.

"Hey, Yzak, Umi," Chandratta prompted them as he approached. "Some of the mechanics are putting together a group to go rock-climbing, you want in?"

"Rock climbing? No way, man," Yzak replied heartily. "I came here to soak up some sun, not do _Alps Jaeger_ stuff."

"I'm out," Umi said simply.

"Okay, I'll tell the boys they're on their own," the gun-bunny said before he turned away.

The two mobile forces officers were silent again, this time for ten minutes. "Love the silence," Umi commented out of the blue.

"Definitely," Yzak agreed.

"You know, there is one thing you haven't asked yet. Nobody has, really, since I regained consciousness after we won in Germany."

Yzak shrugged, a gesture that Umi barely saw from her side of the shade. "I figured you'd tell when you were ready. I'm not the prying type, nor are the others from the ZAFT side."

"Well, I think I'm ready, then." Umi hesitated for a moment. "Selesce is going to need several months to repair the damage he took in that battle. He may be a Rune God, but for a biologic being, regenerating that kind of damage is not a fast process."

"And you?" Yzak asked.

"What about me?" Umi asked in counter.

"I wasn't very worried about Selesce. I was quite a bit worried about you, and to a bit still am," Yzak clarified his question.

"Oh, really," Umi said, though Yzak could tell it was more of a shocked default answer than something accusatory. "Well, I'm all right. I can't do much because my Rune God is out, but I don't think I took any injuries from the hit."

"I was afraid being dropped like that may have hurt you up here," and Yzak tapped on his forehead to demonstrate. "You're sure you're all right?"

"I was more worried that I'd wake up with someone else in the hospital, or worse, wake up to another memorial box outside the hot springs," Umi admitted. "I don't think I ever felt like I was fighting a hopeless battle, even on Romulus or against the Wolves, until we went into that nightmare in Germany. Is it always like that?"

"The first hopeless battle I saw was Junius Seven," Yzak noted. "I remember watching the colony shred apart from the conflicting forces after the nuclear blast went off inside the center hub of the colony. It was horrible, knowing you were losing and you could do nothing to stop it."

"Then, how do you get around that feeling?" Umi asked.

Yzak was silent for a moment, working his way through a sensible answer. What came to mind was not one answer, but three. "Three things. One, trust in your team, protect them and they'll protect you. Two, make sure you're the best at what you do, or close to it, and make sure you fight to win. There is no such thing as playing fair."

"And three?" Umi asked.

"Three, well, live your life and make sure you do it how you want to do it. You don't put your life on hold just because you're in a bad situation. Nobody else is," Yzak commented. "No telling how long we'll be at this journey, so you can avoid one form of feeling hopeless by going on with your life."

"And you?" Umi asked after a minute of silence.

"This kinda is my life, well, beyond my whole ancient mysticism hobby." Yzak raised up a small book he had on his chest to demonstrate what he had for reading material.

"Nice," Umi commented. She had unconsciously put her life on hold, assuming that she could slip back into her normal routine when she ever got home, but now that Yzak made mention of it, the truth was obvious. By putting her life on hold, she wasn't going anywhere and definitely wouldn't be able to reintegrate into her privileged life so easily as she thought she could.

After about an hour of considering it, Umi figured she had options on the ship and in her new, unexpectedly-rebuilt life.

-x-x-x-

(2 January AC196, 0900 Hours)  
(Davenport Convention Center, Davenport, England)

Given the losses of personnel that inevitably happened whenever the ship was directly attacked (and it had suffered some severe damage at the hands of the Romefeller Foundation), the Archangel Team had to recoup those personnel losses somehow. Another problem that Mu had considered but not expected (until just now), was the likelihood that someone, somewhere, would want to jump ship and just remain on the planet they were at, for a whole host of possible reasons. And, just for the sheer audacity of it, Mu had considered the possibility that there might be some extended capabilities on planet worth tapping for the trip home.

Finding a convention center in England was simple, a large one existed not far from the naval docks where the _Archangel_ was being refitted. Putting out an advertising blitz across the colonies and Earth was also dead simple, given the not insignificant fortune the Archangel Team had raked up in salvage bounties during their campaigning.

Culling the herd of incoming potential recruits, though, not so simple. Part of that was the location of the convention center; England, being an island, took a lot of effort to get to, so this was a step reserved for the hardest of individuals willing to pay their way to take a chance on the interview process. The first-flight interviewing was handled by the mechanics and engine techs in rotating 30-person blocks, where the ground rules and expectations were laid out. Giving the people a very clear idea of what they were about to walk into, with the expectation that they would likely never come home again, was enough to disabuse over 80 percent of the brave applicants of their folly.

The second-flight interviews were also held in groups, given the remaining 20 percent still amounted to over a thousand applicants for some 100 positions. Those persons that were interested in an individual position were grouped together and given the full run-down of that position by a veteran in that art. This helped weed out the posers who were trying to get in on the old saw 'fake it until you make it', which amounted to another 50 percent reduction in the applicant pool.

Third-flight interviews were a combination interview and trial-by-fire, hosted by the crew. Some of the applicants demonstrated meritorious skill, which put them toward the front of the line for their position. Others did acceptable, but showed the stomach for the wildly-varying tasks of the _Archangel_, which got them a direct interview with the section leads. The few posers who slipped through the cracks of the round-two culling washed out at this point, unable to fake it under the scrutiny of battle-hardened professionals.

And then, there was the oddballs, those who demonstrated capabilities that nobody thought would be necessary, but which sounded real good when presented to the staff. Those went straight to Commander La Flaga for check.

-x-

"Dorothy Catalonia? This is definitely a surprise," Commander La Flaga commented. "Welcome, nonetheless. Please, have a seat. Anything for refreshment?"

"No, thank you, sir," Dorothy answered calmly.

"So, I take it you are looking for a placement on the ship?" Mu asked.

"I am. Though my technical skills don't match maintenance or engineering functions, I believe I may have multiple skills that can assist the ship," Dorothy fronted as an opening position.

"I am listening," Mu acknowledged her the field.

"First, I am trained in systems operations at a high level, primarily in the use of sensor and communication systems. I spent a lot of time in my youth on _Barge_, and a lot of that time in the radio or CIC rooms to keep me out of trouble. After a while, the officers began training me on how to use the systems. I spent summers over the past two years on _Barge_ as something of an ROTC cadet for Sensor operations and Communications; here are my records from those endeavors." Mu received the file folder and quickly glanced over it, which confirmed her story. He would verify with Romefeller personnel that it was real, but he doubted she would be lying on this note.

"Fair enough, though I have trouble imagining you as a troublemaker," the Commander commented.

"For certain definitions of 'trouble', one can say," Dorothy admitted. "Second, I am a skilled negotiator and have some training in high-level diplomacy. I have school course records and embassy records if needed," she presented a second file to the Commander.

"That is an interesting skill, and one we are missing," Mu admitted candidly.

"Third, though informal and not documented, I have some small amount of time in training on Ground MS operations, and also some informal training on Mobile Forces operations command. I do not know how much an informal set of training would be worth, though, in a crew of veterans."

"It would be worth something," Mu admitted. "Yours is definitely an interesting jacket (4), with several skill sets we have need of. Specifically, I have need of a full-time CIC commander, and I am considering promoting Miriallia into that position, which vacates her position as Mobile Forces operator. Would you consider that position?"

"I would gladly accept, if you are offering, Commander."

"Okay, stay nearby the convention center for a day or two. I'll do some back-checking on your jacket, and if it checks out clean, you'll probably get the position unless someone walks through that door better qualified for it," Commander La Flaga noted. "Your position takes effect immediately if you are hired on."

"Understood, sir, and thank you," Dorothy replied graciously.

"Just, one question. Why are you giving up the Dermail estate for this?" Mu asked plaintively.

"The estate is not mine, sir. My grandfather has three sons and five grandsons that get the family holdings, the best I can look forward to is a minor functionary position in some embassy somewhere. Not to sound like a hopeless adventurer, but the _Archangel_ is a lot better than a posting to an embassy in a country with a name that is hard to pronounce."

Mu had to struggle hard not to burst into outright laughter at Dorothy's instant cynicism on her own fate. After fifteen seconds of mastering his own reaction, he finally sighed. "Okay, never thought our crazy run for Odysseus' title would be looked at in that light, but I can't fault that reason. Just so long as you know that this isn't a pleasure cruise, and you're likely to end up in some rough straits or run the risk of death. We do get shot at. A lot."

"I noticed, sir," Dorothy acknowledged. "I fully accept the risk. Nothing ventured, nothing experienced."

"Excellent. I'll be in touch within the day, once I have results on your records."

-x-

(6 hours later)

"And who's our next contestant?" Mu asked nobody in particular. He had just dismissed a married couple who had somehow mistook the ship for some sort of 'love boat' cruise that they could get a job on. The reality of the _Archangel_ being a trans-dimensional warship had been shocking to them, but a necessarily harsh lesson. The ship may be generating couples, but it certainly was not a 'love boat' by any stretch of the imagination.

"Actually, sir, five of 'em, recommended by Murdoch," the Baker said. He wasn't carrying his preferred M-60, but he had a Thompson with a drum magazine to 'dissuade' any Romefeller Sycophants from taking any revenge on the Archangel Team.

"Okay then," Mu griped after the five persons entered the room, three of them carrying their own chairs since there were only two seats in the room. "Gentlemen, first off, let's start with your names, please."

"Doctor J," the one with the artificial eyes noted. Mu figured such cybernetics were definitely possible, especially after seeing the Clans' Enhanced Imaging in use.

"Professor G," the second one in line said. His haircut reminded Mu of nothing so much as a mushroom.

"Doktor S," the third said. The artifical nose was something unusual, but Mu figured in whatever field they were supposed to be proficient, shit happens.

"Instructor H," the heaviest of the five declared. His mustache was quite interesting, and probably required a significant amount of wax to keep in place.

"Master O," the fifth said. Mu guessed him for a bodybuilder or martial artist, but certainly not lacking in the intelligence department if he was paired up with the other four.

"Okay, gentlemen, what brings you to this endeavor?" Mu asked directly.

"With the colonies being freed from Oz control, our job is done here," Professor G noted.

"And with the world heading toward peace, or at least toward an armistice, nobody is going to have much use for known instigators such as ourselves," Doktor S considered.

"Instigators? That's an unusual job description. If I may, whose pool did you whizz in enough that you're not going to find any other job around here?"

"We five created one Gundam apiece, and loosed them on the Romefeller Foundation," Instructor H answered directly.

"Okay, then, Charlie, that is a pissing contest worth talking about," Mu gaped.

"Additionally, Wing Zero was a joint design between the five of us, back before Mobile Suits were common knowledge or common tools of war," Doctor J admitted. "We did some consulting on the original Mobile Suit, the Tallgeese."

Mu nodded contemplatively, mulling their list of achievements over for some thirty seconds. "Okay, you have some serious street reputation in these parts. I can see why someone wouldn't want to hire a known insurrectionist, but what would possess you to join a trans-dimensional odyssey?"

"Part vacation compared to this world, part chance to work with new equipment and processes, part chance to find a suitable retirement location, and part chance to help a forlorn ship on its impossible quest," Master O commented.

Again, Mu found himself nodding in contemplation. "Okay, if you take the position, you are aware that you'll be doing a wide array of engineering and support work? Light duty, mostly, given your advanced ages," Mu conceded, given these five would easily be the oldest members of the crew by far if they took the position.

"We expected it," Professor G said.

"And it gives us a chance to do something that isn't purely destructive," Instructor H followed up.

"Okay, I'll review options and see what the Captain has to say, but I think we can find you a bunk on this ship," Commander La Flaga said.

-x-

(Next day, 1400 hours)

"Last one, boss, recommended by Miriallia," the vegetable chef said from his position as door guard.

"Miriallia?" Mu asked, given that she was not involved in the hiring process at all.

"Aye, sir. Says he has some hidden traits, whatever that means."

"I'll trust her on that one," Mu said readily. "Send him in."

The person that walked in did so with hesitation, not a common action for someone who walked through this door. "Thank you for seeing me, Commander," he said in a quiet voice.

"Not a problem," Mu answered. "You are?"

"Trowa Barton, sir," he answered.

The name immediately set off a red flag in Mu's mind, though not for the name Barton, but for a conversation he had once had with Quatre on the five Gundams and their pilots. He decided he would reserve that angle until he had a better idea what the game was in this case. "So, Trowa, what brings you to the Archangel Team?"

"Well, sir, I have lost my memory, and my prior life, what was supposed to be my normal life, is not bringing back any understanding of what I was supposed to be."

"Amnesia, an interesting problem, and not an unheard one in the combat professions," Mu admitted. Severe trauma (physical or psychological) that did not outright kill could cause amnesia in the survivors. "Before we continue, what makes you think that the _Archangel_ might be able to shock you back into normalcy?"

"During the White Fang Rebellion, I came close to several of their Mobile Suits, and I could begin to remember small glimpses of what I think was my prior life. I remember seeing something at night, with a lot of tracers going back and forth, but not much more than that."

"Ah," Mu said, understanding the 'glitch' of memory Trowa had suffered. The battle in question was probably either New Edwards or Siberia, as the Heavyarms had been involved in those night battles to a significant degree. Tracers, given the battle being at night, were expected. "Exposure to Mobile Suits jump-starts your memories. So, you are thinking that exposure to the mobile forces of the _Archangel_ might complete the restoration of your past?"

"I believe so, sir," Trowa answered.

"Before you sign on, though, I need to make one thing clear. No case of amnesia is corrected in a single 'fix'; this will be a process of time and repetition. If you do this, you may regain your memories of your past, but you will likely never see this world again. Do you accept this?"

Trowa hesitated, knowing that he was abandoning any manner of stability for a chance at remembering his past. It was the latter choice that won; stability without a past to speak of did not seem right to him. "I accept, sir."

"Also, this is not an easy mission, Trowa. We are in combat a lot, and you run the risk of death if you go with the ship."

This was not an issue to Trowa. At a core level, he had no real fear of death, though he could not understand why he did not fear death. "I have no problem with this, sir."

"Very well, Trowa Barton, I accept your application to the Archangel Team. You are hereby assigned to the Hangar Equipment Operator's detail until further notice. Report to this building tomorrow at 6AM with your personal gear and you will be shown a bunk on the ship."

"Thank you, sir, I will do whatever I can, as I remember it," he admitted.

After the former Gundam Pilot left, he picked up a phone. "Chandratta, Mu. Trowa Barton just walked in, looking for a position on the team. Yes, I accepted him, though he has amnesia right now. He'll have to relearn his skills in time, but we can be ready for that. Relena has possession of his Gundam, after she received it from some rebels in southeast Asia. Yes, I want you to have Dorothy negotiate its transfer to our possession, we'll bury it in storage until he is ready to pilot it. Thank you."

Mu set the phone receiver down and leaned back in his chair. "This may work. Certainly, it will be fun."

-x-x-x-

(6 January AC196, 2200 Hours)  
(_Archangel_ Hangar)

"This is where things get challenging," Kira noted, waving to the parts strewn about the floor of the hangar at the feet of his Gundam.

"What is this supposed to be, Kira?" Hikaru asked after a moment. "I'm not seeing it just by looking at the pieces."

"It is an adapter set for the Strike Freedom, two shoulder pauldrons and an adapter frame for the rear of the Gundam to mount the actual Striker Packs," Kira responded to her confusion smoothly. "This will allow me to mount the Aile Strike if I expect I'll need extra speed, the Launcher Strike if I need some serious firepower, the Sword Strike if I have to go in close, IWSP Strike for a combination of those three, or even Morgan's Gunbarrel Strike if I could figure out how to use them."

"Now that is amazing," Hikaru said. "One Gundam that can do it all?"

"Erm, not quite," Kira said. "It has its limitations, but at least I can now use the add-on equipment."

"Well, what's so difficult here?" Hikaru asked after a moment.

"The adapter plates are Gundanium Alloy. They're lighter than I expected, but I can't lift them by hand, and I can't lift them with a cargo exoskeleton and weld at the same time."

"Oh, which one do you want me to do?" Hikaru asked immediately.

Kira considered that request carefully. He trusted Hikaru on the welder, but he trusted her more on a forklift or cargo exoskeleton than a blowtorch. It really came down to where she was better, though Kira silently admitted he wanted to keep her away from the business end of the project if possible, for safety reasons. Plasma welding was some tough detail, and Gundanium required it.

"Grab a cargo exoskeleton and we'll start on the left shoulder plate," Kira decided after a moment.

"On it," Hikaru answered immediately before she turned away from Kira. He had to stop himself from staring at her on the way to the bay for the exoskeletons, though focusing back on the task was not all that difficult for him. Kira figured he could always watch her running around at a later time, staying alive to watch her was the primary concern of the day.

The task was both simple and complex. Simple, in that five plates had to be welded together, which would be attached to the top of the shoulder plates and would serve as the connection point for the shoulder addons for the Launcher and Sword packs. The complexity was the material in question, though Kira had some pointers from the Gundam Scientists on the handling and welding of the particular metal.

Hikaru was not long in the cargoframe bay before she was out and trudging along the hangar floor to join Kira in this mad endeavor. Kira directed her into place to prop up the first of the plates and roll it over onto the second base plate, which the Strike Freedom had made sure was notched to make interlocking the plates easy and foolproof. A rubber mallet sufficed for beating the plates into place and interlocked so they could be welded.

"Is that it for this one?" Hikaru asked after Kira finished beating the plates together.

"This is just two of five for the left shoulder assembly," Kira admitted before he lit off the plasma welder.

"Okay," Hikaru acknowledged before she leaned back into the cargoframe. She had the controls locked out, so it would not do anything if she touched a control surface until she unlocked the system. From her position, she considered that Kira was, in his own way, a good guy. He cared for the people around him, he was trying to avoid letting the wars change him, and he was always nice to people, even those he didn't want to deal with. It was such a nice list of things he did, even in the face of terrible odds and prospects for the future...

The Magic Knight did not realize she was staring off into space, or more appropriately, staring blankly at the left knee of the Duel across the hangar. She did realize she was oblivious to Kira's attempts to get her attention, though she had no idea how long he had been signaling her to move the partially-completed assembly. With clear embarrassment for her loss of focus, she unlocked the exoskeleton and began the slow process of moving the center and front of the shoulder assembly toward the back plate — the whole assembly was properly called a 'shoulder pauldron', since it counted as an armor add-on as well as a mounting point.

"Good there!" Kira noted. He had a hydraulic jack for this part, so that a second exoskeleton would not be needed for the assembly process. A few quick pumps of the jack and the plate in question was levered up into place so he could finish the mechanical assembly. "Bring it towards me slowly!" Kira waved her forward, waved again, then signaled stop, to which Hikaru responded promptly each time.

Hikaru plaid close attention to his actions at this point, though for now it was nothing more than beating on one piece of metal with a rubber mallet, trying to drive it into the grooves on another piece of metal. She considered the whole 'hyperspace mallet' conundrum from her young days of seeing cartoons with one character (usually a lady) pulling a mallet out of nowhere and whacking someone with it (usually a guy), though the reality was far less entertaining. Even a small rubber mallet like he was using seemed like something that would hurt, in her estimation. She certainly didn't have any reason to use one on Kira, he was anti-lecherous if anything.

_Why am I thinking about that?_ Hikaru asked herself mentally. _That is so far from his mind — and work isn't_, she realized after she saw him waving at her again. "What was it?" Hikaru asked.

"Hoist the whole assembly up slow, so I can weld the bottom!"

"Oh, okay!" Hikaru raised the forks on the exoskeleton, then spread them as wide as possible for maximum stability. Getting the fork tines under the assembly took two tries and judicious use of two hydraulic jacks, but the material was airborne in moments once secured. When Kira finished signaling raise, she stopped the controls and locked the system out, so he could get under it safely.

After a minute of his welding, Hikaru came back to her prior thoughts. _He really is a great guy. I think he'd get along with my brothers and my dad pretty well. More so after they hear the stories of our misadventures_, she considered. _I think I should ask him out, this isn't a bad time for it_._ I wonder what he'll say, though, after dealing with Flay. Don't want to hurt his feelings, especially after that_.

"Hikaru, you're daydreaming again," Kira prompted her.

"Done already?" Hikaru was properly surprised at his speed, but also thankful that her surprised reaction would cover her daydreaming.

"We have two parts to add to the assemblies still," Kira admitted. "Please set it down on the center of the cinder-block stack, and grab up one of the rim collars."

"Got it," Hikaru answered calmly. _I have to get my mind in it! I like him, but I don't want to blow it by screwing this up_!

"Take it easy, Hikaru, this isn't a race," Kira cautioned her. "We've got all day."

"Okay, I'll slow it down," _and I'll ask him out for tomorrow_, she concluded. _We'll be together on this ship for a while, so_...

-x-x-x-

(20 January AC196, 1000 Hours)  
(New Port City, Airport Runway 16L)

"Bring it on, buddy boy!" Gomer ordered by radio of the next vehicle in line to drop off supplies. "You're a 1.4, you drop your load over by the Strike Freedom. Move on!" and he gave an exaggerated gesture to the outermost unload area, that was dedicated solely to Class 1 (Explosive) materials for ammunition or demolition charges. "Keep 'em coming! I want a challenge!"

Another truck rolled into the hangar, this one with double trailers. "Manifest, sir!" the driver handed over a clipboard with significant paperwork on it.

"Ah, everything except my pool toys! Your offload point is over by the Buster. Snap to it!" Gomer waved the next one on to his offload point.

"How we coming, Gomer?" Murdoch asked as he approached the Hangar 2-I-C.

"We're about 40 percent inducted, if everyone is on time we should be done offloading and stowing the goods by midday tomorrow!" He waved to the next truck in line, though this one was a military equipment hauler. "What you humin' in, Sergeant?" Gomer asked after the truck came to a stop.

"Refurbished equipment pulled from the ship, damaged missile launchers and depth charge launchers, and a sensor alley, whatever the hell that is," The Sergeant answered, looking over his manifest.

"Sensor Alley, they're the lateral sensors and part of the sonar array," Murdoch clarified. "Offload over by the Timber Wolf," and he pointed at Mu's large Orange Omnimech.

"This is how it's going, chief," Gomer commented. "Nothing special here, I think I have this wrapped up."

"Carry on then, no whips or chains on the delivery boys. They're not here for your personal amusement."

"Whips and — erm, roger that, sir," Gomer corrected himself mid-sentence.

-x-

"This is...amazing," Murrue noted with clear awe.

"Yeah, the boys in Davenport definitely did their job right," Morgan noted.

"Replated the whole ship. 1026 tons of armor, in-freaking-credible," Mu considered. "I didn't know the ship had grown that much that it had that much plate on it."

"Yep, the ship really has gained size," Murrue noted. "And I think it'll be larger still before we get home."

"Not going to argue that," Mu said. "And, all things being equal, I look forward to it," he knocked twice on the new Gundanium hull plates. "We will probably need it."

"Whoa, what do we have here?" Morgan Chevalier asked indirectly, staring at part of the underside armor.

"What we have here, is a Kilroy," Mu La Flaga commented. "Been a while since I saw one of these."

"What is it?" Morgan asked.

"Kilroy is the dude that has been everywhere, and where he goes, he leaves this mark," Mu traced the glyph with his fingers. "Wait, this isn't paint, this is impregnated into the metal," Mu noted after he touched it.

"Serious?" Murrue asked, looking at it. "Oh, wait, there's more about ten meters down the hull," The Captain moved down the location of the next marking. "This is into the metal as well. 'Dover Dockworkers — on time and just right, or the next assbeating is free' it says," she suppressed a chuckle on the comment.

"Gotta love their go-get-'em attitude," Morgan noted. "Next one is about ten meters down the hull — probably on the next plate." The three walked down the hull to the next spot. " 'Spetsnaz was here — say Hello to the Reaper for us' this one says,"

"So, I wonder what the next one will say," Murrue asked. She marched forward to the next position, then stopped dead when she saw what was now permanently in the armor. " 'It's a Gundam Warship, Bitches!' on this plate."

"Well, the average MS pilot is afraid of a Gundam, might as well give them reason to fear the ship as well," Mu commented with a smile.

-x-

"Okay, major thing we need to keep in mind, with the Gundanium armor, no more Ablative Gel systems. The armor can dissipate the heat of reentry without it, so one less thing to break on the ship," Newman said.

"Damn good," Chandratta answered. "Maybe with the new plate, my weapons will take less damage."

"It's certainly gonna be harder for a smaller unit to punch through the Gundanium armor. We have over a meter of the plate in certain areas, and Gundanium takes a lot of damage to punch through," Sai said. "Also, since the armor isn't electrically or magnetically active, our sensors should work a bit better."

"If you can see 'em, we can hit 'em, and if we can hit 'em, for sure Chandratta can kill 'em," Newman nodded twice. "Always good to be driving three hundred eighty thousand tons of whoopass."

"And damn good to have a professional pilot along for it," Chandratta said. "You keep the ship stable for me, I'll turn our foes into hamburger and charred steel."

"Now, you guys heard that Miriallia is going to be the next Commander Badgiruel?" Sai asked.

"Oh God, the way you phrased that, you just made it sound way worse than it really is," Chandratta said. "Seriously, though, I think it'll work out well. Miriallia is on the level, and she isn't really as hard as Natarle was."

"True," Sai admitted.

"And you know anything about Dorothy Catalonia?"

"I think she stalked me, briefly," Sai admitted.

"Whoo hoo! Two points for the sensor operator!" Newman misread the comment.

"I meant, as in 'interesting' stalker, not 'pervert' stalker," Sai corrected the helmsman. "There is a difference," he concluded.

Chandratta noticed some movement behind Sai, then grimaced. "Actually, I would say, 'confused and staring at the oddity' stalker," Warrant Officer / Operator Catalonia corrected Sai's misunderstanding. "I was slightly confused as to why a ship with such a tall reputation had such oddball crewmembers as yourself and Tolle."

"And did you come to a conclusion?" Newman asked.

"Yes, sir, a ship with this strange a fate requires an equally strange crew."

"She's got us there," Chandratta admitted.

"Well, welcome to the crew, and get ready for stranger things still," Newman said.

-x-x-x-

(25 January AC196, 2200 Hours)  
(New Port City, Airport Runway 16L)

"This is it, people! Time to go for it!" Newman reached to the outside of the throttle housing and began pushing the levitator control toward the mechanical stop.

"When we are clear of ground effect, prepare for jump control," Murrue ordered.

"We will be clear in ten seconds," Sai noted.

"I suspect this will be an interesting journey," Dorothy said to nobody in particular.

"Hold onto your ass, girl, we're goin' for a wild ride," Chandratta answered the new Operator. "Where we land, nobody knows!"

"Where we hope we land, is home," Miriallia corrected Chandratta's cavalier attitude. "I just got married, I'm looking forward to settling down, you know?"

"We're clear of ground effect," Sai said. "Initiating jump in five, four, three, two, one, jump!"

For the ship, the world flashed white briefly, then flashed back to blue skies.

-x-

"Do you feel that?" a lady with pink hair noted.

"Feel what?" the nearby guy noted.

"I — " She was cut off by something that sounded like the crackle of ball lightning in the sky. Both looked up to see a bright white flash, then a massive white-gray-and-red object of some manner headed for the ground across the skies above them. "What is — "

"Get down!" the guy jump-tackled the girl to the ground before the object impacted the ground. He didn't know exactly what it was, but he expected this was not going to be a fun occurrence.

A few seconds after the two hit the ground, the object struck the surface some distance away, but even at the distance the shockwave of the crash was severe enough to blow them across the ground for several yards.

-x-

"Oh yeah, this is a habit for the ship, isn't it?" Murrue asked blearily.

"Not the first time, I think," Sai answered. "Sensors are up, not reading anything in our vicinity. If anyone noticed us hit, well, they aren't in a hurry to check it out."

"Well, another four-point-zero landing," Newman noted. "At least we struck arse first, I'm not seeing any major damage to the ship."

"We live!" Chandratta noted after he roused from a temporary red-out.

"Well, time to get to work. Newman, start her up again," Captain Remius ordered.

* * *

**Author's Chapter Afterword**:

This is where the adventures of Wing-era Gundam end and the next series begins.

First off, let me say this destination is not a one-shot run. I have several one-shot destinations planned in the future of the ship, but I was thinking about putting those in every other section or so. Several bizarre ones, several good and logical ones, and all will be 'interesting' in the usual fashion I intend. Of course, between those brief one-shots, you have the actual sections that can get pretty wild and wooly of their own right.

Now, onto the fun of this chapter. First off, it has come to my attention that some people would consider Mariemaia's actions incongruent with her position in Endless Waltz, though I wrote this from the position of an alternate theory. With the Romefeller War concluded and Treize still alive and well, all of Dekim's brainwashing to have Mariemaia 'follow her father's path' just backfired on him in no small manner. Simply stated, her father is alive, thus 'following her father's path' now effectively puts her at odds with Dekim Barton, who is out for omnicide and later control of what little would remain of human population. So, Mariemaia back-doors out a message to White Fang, who forwards it to Treize, who calls in the Archangel to sort this family feud out. Problem solved, or so they say, right?

Well, not so fast, bucko. Even with the Archangel ripping the fledgling Mariemaia Army apart, three problems are still outstanding. One: Dekim is, technically, still alive, with him not being in the colony at the time of the attack. Two, White Fang now knows of the issue, so their response to the problem is still to be seen. Three, Leia Barton or Middie Une becomes the question for Treize, and a tough question at that. At least he has his daughter by his side, and daddy's girl has all the propensity to grow up a ruthless schemer just the same as the father.

I'll leave these answers up to your discretion (and inevitable guessing), given that I am now effectively done in Wing.

On an aside, you will note that, erm, Leia Barton is alive here. It was Only after that section was written that I was informed Leia was supposed to die 2 years after Mariemaia was born, so I rolled dice on it, and came to the result that she stayed in. So, Mariemaia's mother remains in, but a second check is that Mariemaia was influenced slightly by Leia's raising her. Thus, the result here.

Now, you will note that the Archangel is back to full manning plus some new oddballs to take on the challenge of the journey. I will wager you readers wanted to see more of the Gundam pilots go for broke on the Archangel, but keep in mind that the Dice rule all and I am simply navigating the rapids on their course and speed recommendations. Kinda like flying to the Alps in a plane with no windows. Give me a map and a stopwatch, and I'm pretty sure I can get you there. Some days, that is how writing my stories feels to me, but I digress.

Dorothy was a crowd-favorite to accompany the Archangel, and the trajectory was fairly obvious from the word 'go' on her status. In fact, she rolled a 'join' result back in the chapter after she first saw screen-time here, once she correctly deduced that the Archangel was going to win and eventually leave. The Gundam Scientists were an interesting result after I started doing carte-blanche rolls on who applies and who does not; but, in essence, if anyone was likely to bail, it would be them. They kinda earned their swan-dive from the stage in the last Ep of Wing, along with Quinze, but in this case, no naval scrap no dead scientists. Trowa was the other major that came in, though given he never encountered WIng Zero, Takeshi and I had to really bend some to come up with a plausible procession. Hope it makes as much sense to you readers as it did to me.

Quickref: as of this chapter, 88,000 hits on all the chapters, 418 reviews across 37 chapters. I was never expecting this story to go anywhere, so much thank you all to the readers and reviewers!

That's roughly it for the major explanations for this chapter. **NEXT UP**: New world, new problems. And lots of explosions, both intentional and not.

* * *

**Review Replies**: 21 Reviews since the last chapter. 21! This is well beyond anything I really expected of this story, and not the first chapter in the Wing set with those kinds of reviews. THANK YOU ALL!

_Takeshi Yamato_: Gotta keep it fun, it's no fun if it isn't fun, y'know?

_chm01_: Slightly confused by your comment, so can I get an explanation?

_Crystal Flower_: I tend to reserve that for the real sj1t and fan collisions, or battling major tangos. Of course, with the hellish trajectory of this story, it will happen a lot more.

_Knight Owl 4183_: None of the clones, but the ship has been replated in Gundanium and they scored the Heavyarms and its amnesiac pilot. On the point of Mobile Doll systems, erm, NEG. Kira is the only one that speaks out against them directly, but effectively nobody on the crew likes a Mobile Doll.

_Mordalfus Grea_: They may be headed in that direction, but there will always be a fly in the ointment. Hope this chapter shows you why!

_Mega 1987_: Actually, Stravag didn't know who was going, except for Dorothy. And for Tempting Fate / Nanoha, well, any information pertaining to that is classified. You will get no comment from me, nor shall any other voices in your head be briefed on it! Har!

_C0dy 88_: I wonder what you are referring to as a completely original world. Can you reply on that subject?

_Infinite Freedom_: Well, things might be leaning in that general direction after this chapter. Stay tuned for further info!

_Knives 91_: This was definitely a fun chapter from the battles, but a tough one. Stand by, the fun is DEFINITELY not over!

_Sieben Nightwing_: Error corrected. We have some cleanup on a prior chapter to finish this weekend, then we begin in on the next story chapter.

_Rc 12 12_: The Billy Mays gag was just for fun, playing around with the television, since infomercials are so damn prevalent.

_Akalon_: Error corrected. Thank you!

_Victor M Sarks_: Your points are considered and may crop up in future chapters. Stay tuned on that note. Thanks for the long and serious review!

_Dustin_: Thanks for the quick-ref on Zoids Genesis. May have to look into it at this time. Hope this chapter is on the level for you! On the Mai-Hime thing, can you do a repeat on your concept? I don't remember it offhand.

_Flawless Cowboy 2552_: Oh so much thank you for the doorstopper of a review! I think we went over all the technical details in PMs, so I'll spare going over that in review reply here (I could do 2K on reply to that alone), but much thank you for the MAC cannon specifics. We ran those numbers in the Design Flaws forum a while back, and came to the conclusion that the Super MAC was a badass chunk of hardware. And BTW, I love that level on Halo 2 where you're literally slugging it out with Elites on the loading mechanism of the cannon.

_Death Zealot_: TWO uber-doorstopper reviews in one chapter? I must have done something either really right, or really wrong :)

NP on the lack of reviews, I figured you were in the sj1tcan in some fashion or another.

I need to make sure I have the ranks sorted out properly for everyone, so I really need to read back through and see what I presently show everyone as.

Actually, I am alternating magic/tech/magic/tech on the travels, with the occasional oddball one-shot thrown in for shits and grins.

On the side story, I may be throwing that into the rotation sometime soon, so stay tuned. The percentages have been ditched, since I could never remember to keep them updated.

Stand by for further action!

_Nick 012000_: I don't believe I actually mentioned Umi was damaged, just Selesce. Sorry to nuke that bit of drama. Stay tuned, though, things may get hairier as it goes along!

_Travys_: Thanks for the comment on detail; I try to keep it going without bleeding through too much detail, which is far too easy for me (I am, by profession, a very detail-oriented person).

Oh, there will be more AU work, trust me.

Thanks for the accolades. More kickass dice-dealing shall be had!

_Hellhound DOW_: All three of your suggestions are in the pool of possibles, but where to, the dice shall determine...

**THANK YOU ALL FOR THE REVIEWS**! You guys keep giving me gas, and I'll keep adding it to the fire and flames!

* * *

**The Gripe Sheet**:

Any typos found in last chapter were corrected. Sieben and Akalon were pretty much tied on finding the one major one outstanding. Thanks to **Sieben Nightwing**, **Takeshi Yamato**, and **Necroblade** for the beta work!

* * *

**Footnotes**:

(1): This is an old nickname for the M-60. (It loved to stop working if you didn't clean it regularly, hence why they called it the 'pig' in Vietnam.)

(2): NOTE CLEARLY: This is a design variance for this particular Strike Freedom, it does not use the MMI-GAU27 31mm CIWS guns that the 'stock' Strike Freedom uses.

(3): This is a real weapon system. You can find all manner of video of the Mark 19 automatic grenade launcher on YT.

(4): **Jacket** in this reference is referring to personnel records. (Yes, this note showed up in a prior chapter of one of the Jokers Wild series. It's important enough that we are posting it again, for those persons who read this story but don't read Jokers Wild.)

* * *

**EXTRA**: Memorial Boxes, Memorials, and the deceased

Across the hallway from the Hot Springs, a wall is dedicated only to the memorials of the fallen soldiers, pilots, crewmen, and officers of the Archangel Team. The following memorials are in place:

Dearka Elsman: Pilot, Memorial Box with Magic Knight glove

Kristen Redmond: Battlemech Pilot, Memorial Box with recovered Jade Falcon armpatch.

Ship's Crew: Wall Placard with names and ranks (Bronze)

Mechanics (Murdoch's Madmen): Wall Placard with names and ranks (Ferro-fibrous armor plate)

This hallway was chosen as the site because most of the crew would venture by it at least once in a whiule, so everyone had a chance to remember where the crew has been, and who didn't come with them.


End file.
